The role Clint Eastwood thinks he deserved an Oscar for: “The Academy had passed him up”
Despite being one of Hollywood’s most iconic actors, a legend on both sides of the camera, and playing several iconic characters who’ve become woven into the fabric of pop culture, can you still state a reasonable case for Clint Eastwood being underrated as an actor?
For a long time, he was written off as coasting through a succession of star vehicles by playing variations on the same archetype: the strong, silent, grizzled badass who knew their way around a one-liner and a six-shooter, and those criticisms weren’t without merit when he did do an awful lot of that.
However, you don’t spend as long in the spotlight as Eastwood has without being able to hold your own as a performer, and he’s shown himself to be a more than capable dramatic actor and romantic lead, and, as he got older, he opened himself up more and injected his characters with more emotion and regret.
Look at this way: he’s won four Academy Awards from 11 nominations, but he’s only been shortlisted for acting twice, in Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby. He’s won five Golden Globes from 14 nods without his acting ever being recognised, and all three of his Bafta nominations were for his filmmaking efforts.
Has he been snubbed, or have his performances simply not been to the level expected of constant accolades? ‘The Man with No Name’, ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan, Walt Kowalski, Josey Wales, Frank Horrigan, and Frankie Dunn are all memorable figures who were played to perfection, but perhaps not award-worthy.
Not many people beyond Eastwood would even contemplate John Doherty as a role that was snubbed by the Oscars, but he disagreed. Michael Cimino’s 194 caper, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, thrived on the excellent chemistry generated between the star and Jeff Bridges as the titular duo plan a daring heist and bicker along the way, with the latter gaining a ‘Best Supporting Actor’ nomination.
It was richly deserved, apart from the incredibly distracting way that Lightfoot eats ice cream like a fucking maniac, but his co-star was feeling left out. Paul Lippman, a close friend and business partner of Eastwood’s, said that he “fumed openly” when the nominations were announced and he didn’t make the cut.
“Not so much because Jeff had been nominated,” he clarified. “Clint would never show such prejudice in public, but because the Academy had passed him up.” Did Eastwood give a good performance in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot? Yes. Was it one of the five best of 1974, and would you remove any of the ‘Best Actor’ nominees to put him in? Probably not.
To do so, you’d have to get rid of either Art Carney’s winning turn in Harry and Tonto, Murder on the Orient Express‘ Albert Finney, Lenny‘s Dustin Hoffman, Chinatown‘s Jack Nicholson, or The Godfather Part II‘s Al Pacino from consideration, and it’s hard to say with any real conviction that Eastwood’s performance was better than any of them.
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