‘Ambush at Cimarron Pass’: Clint Eastwood and “the worst movie ever made”
Hollywood’s most beloved living legend, Clint Eastwood, made a name for himself in the 1960s, tying John Wayne as one of America’s biggest western stars. Having established a tough-guy image in the formative TV series Rawhide and finessing it into a global phenomenon through Sergio Leone’s legendary set of movies known as the Dollars Trilogy, Eastwood sealed his status by portraying the iconic anti-hero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films.
Over his six decades basking in the Hollywood limelight, Eastwood branched out increasingly into production and direction, earning four Academy Awards and four Golden Globes for his duties behind the camera. The legend is still active today, aged 92, and released his most recent film, Cry Macho, in 2021.
Since his 1960s heyday as the squinting cowboy, Eastwood has taken on a broad range of successful movie roles both as an actor and filmmaker. His proudest moments include 1992’s Unforgiven, for which he won the ‘Best Director’ Oscar; 2003’s Mystic River, which won two of its six Oscar nominations; and 2004’s Million Dollar Baby, which won four Oscars, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Director’ for Eastwood.
Although Eastwood’s latter years have been swamped with success, both critically and commercially, there have been a few buttons in the piggy bank. As it is for many careers, Eastwood’s toughest tracks were laid at the very beginning.
Amid his first run of low-budget movies in the late 1950s, Eastwood took a central role in the 1958 Western movie, Ambush at Cimarron Pass. Set in 1867, the film follows the story of a Calvary Sergeant who teams up with two former Confederate soldiers to escort a prisoner through treacherous Native American territory. Eastwood played the role of Keith Williams, one of the Confederate soldiers, hoping it would mark his first big break after a run of uncredited B-movies.
Sadly, after watching Ambush at Cimarron Pass at the theatre, Eastwood was ready to call it a day and give up his Hollywood dream. “It was probably the worst film ever made,” Eastwood told The Hollywood Reporter, “But I had the second lead in it, and an actor named Scott Brady was the lead. And the film was made in eight days. So it was really el speedo grande.”
“And I saw [the movie]. I went to see it. It was playing a second feature in North Hollywood. I went to see it, and I saw that film, and I said I’m through. I’ve got to go back to school. I’ve got to do something else. I’ve got to get a job of other sorts.”
“It was so bad I just kept sinking lower and lower in my seat,” Eastwood added while speaking to Crawdaddy Magazine. “I said to my wife, ‘I’m going to quit, I’m really going to quit.”
In a twist of fortune, Eastwood stumbled upon his big break shortly after. “I accidentally [ran] into somebody out at CBS on Beverly Boulevard,” Eastwood fondly remembered. This chance meeting with a CBS executive led to Eastwood’s role in Rawhide, the golden gateway to his future.
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