“Some people got it and some people didn’t”: the movies Clint Eastwood called his “problem pictures”
After getting his start in a few minor television roles, Clint Eastwood introduced himself to American audiences with a leading part in the series Rawhide. The western show paved the way for Eastwood’s career, which would soon be dominated by other jobs within the genre. In 1965, he broke into the film industry by playing the main character in the Three Dollars trilogy.
As The Man With No Name, Eastwood appeared in A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few More Dollars, and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The series was directed by Sergio Leone, becoming incredibly influential and successful. Although the movies weren’t met with unanimous critical acclaim, now it is hard to ignore its influence on filmmakers like Martin Scorsese and Quentin Tarantino.
Eastwood played the anti-hero archetype well, something that he continued into other roles, such as in the Dirty Harry series. He was this all-American figure, tough and able to be violent when he needed to be, but someone you still root for nonetheless. Throughout this career, Eastwood has portrayed this kind of character various times, earning considerable praise as a result.
The star is a true Hollywood icon, these days better known for his prolific directing career as well as his acting. He has won several ‘Best Director’ Academy Awards and made movies that have received lots of critical attention, from The Bridges of Madison County to Million Dollar Baby.
Yet, that doesn’t mean that everyone has liked what Eastwood has chosen to do, or even believed certain movies were good ideas. He calls some of the movies that he has previously starred in “problem pictures,” whether that be because his fans didn’t like the direction he chose to go in, or because his agent advised against certain acting choices.
Talking to Interview Magazine, he explained: “I’ve made problem pictures before and sometimes people tell you they’re a problem and other times they don’t.”
He added, “I have to assume that some Dirty Harry fans like different types of movies. Honkytonk Man was definitely a problem picture, and even with The Gauntlet, people didn’t necessarily want me to play a dumb detective. The woman in that film was much smarter than he was, so that became a problem.”
Evidently, Eastwood can’t please everyone, whether that be because some viewers have some rather outdated opinions about gender roles in cinema or simply because they weren’t used to seeing the man known for playing a rugged anti hero portraying a singer, for example.
He continued: “You have to lead the audience in different directions, otherwise they might dump you eventually. Everybody—my agent, my lawyers—they said don’t do Every Which Way But Loose, and even once they saw it, one of the studio execs thought it was going to be a flop. I always thought it was kind of a hip script with the orangutan and stuff. Some people got it and some people didn’t, but the public seemed to enjoy it.”
Certainly, Every Which Way But Loose, in which Eastwood starred alongside an orangutan named Clyde, was a bold acting decision unlike anything he’d ever done before. It ended up being incredibly commercially successful, even if critics thought it was terrible. It appears as though Eastwood wanted to explore new avenues, and he didn’t care what anyone had to say.
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