Why Clint Eastwood was concerned with hanging around in Hollywood for too long
The cruellest aspect of any actor’s career is the passage of time.
As much as they might like the idea of continuing to innovate as they get older, there has to be a point where any thespian looks at their body of work and wonders if they have anything else to say. And while many of them would be glad to have worked for even a decade in the business, Clint Eastwood remembered having those moments of self-doubt even when he was pumping out one classic after another.
But, really, the thought of Eastwood getting insecure is kind of like looking at Snoop Dogg campaigning for anti-drug policies. He was always the consummate badass whenever he came onscreen, and even when he could get vulnerable, he will always go down in history for those moments in Dirty Harry where he simultaneously looked like the most dangerous and coolest person in the room half the time he performed.
Then again, that was only one string to Eastwood’s bow half the time. He had the potential to get a lot more open-hearted, but a lot of those times were reserved for when he stepped behind the camera. Even if he couldn’t always pull off the sensitive type that could get more than a little bit scared, seeing him guide actors through those quiet moments is the reason why he should be as revered for his work behind the camera as he is for his time in front of it.
Once the clock starts moving a little bit faster, though, there are bound to be a handful of times where things could get more than frustrating. Despite what a movie like The Mule would imply, Eastwood couldn’t play the stoic badass forever, and for all of the talent that he still had to give, he started to wonder how much longer his luck would last in Hollywood by the turn of the millennium.
Even before we reached the 2000s, Eastwood was already wondering if he had run out of fresh angles on his work, saying, “What the hell am I still working for in my 90s? Are people going to start throwing tomatoes at you? I’ve gotten to the point where I wondered if that was enough, but not to the point where I decided it was. If you roll out a few turkeys, they’ll tell you soon enough.”
And as much as Eastwood fans might not like to admit it, he’s actually pretty accurate. Not everyone is going to want to keep an actor around if they keep pumping out subpar material, but the beauty of Eastwood’s career is being able to tell stories that are far more blunt about the world than most are willing to go.
There’s a pure heart behind a story like American Sniper, but judging by the harsh reality of what happened to Chris Kyle, it’s not like Eastwood sugarcoats anything, either. He knew that the best stories were the ones that didn’t pull their punches, and even if not everything he made was absolutely groundbreaking, the reason why a movie like Gran Torino works is because you can still feel the passion that Eastwood has for films.
He’s not going to be as spry as he used to be, but was there anyone out there looking for him to be the same badass that he was in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly? No. All great artists are meant to evolve over time, and while Eastwood never had any major cinematic transformations or anything, you could always feel the heart behind what he was doing.
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