Original subtitles

Clint Eastwood is an undisputed icon of

the western genre. So much so that I've

spent the past year attempting to

document his incredible career with

retrospectives of all of his American

westerns. From his lesserknown films

like Two Mules for Sister Sarah all the

way through to his unforgettable

masterpieces like Unforgiven. So if you

have an hour or so to kill and are

interested in the behind-the-scenes

story of how Clint Eastwood became a

legend of the western genre, then this

compilation is for you. And it all kicks

off in 1968 with Hangam High.

>> You a law man, ain't you?

>> So Hangam High was written by Mel

Goldberg and Leonard Freeman, who are

both experienced TV writers, with the

latter actually being the creator of the

popular TV crime drama Hawaii 5. But

despite this, neither writer had all

that much experience writing movies,

especially westerns. Even though Leonard

Freeman did previously appear in an

episode of The Lone Ranger. Now,

although Hangam High was largely a

fictional movie, it did draw heavily on

real historical themes and events from

the Old West. For example, the character

of Judge Fenton was actually based on a

real life judge called Isaac Parker,

also known as the hanging judge, who

sentenced 160 people to death, believing

that strict law enforcement was the

pathway to successful civilization.

So, by 1967, Clint Eastwood had rocketed

to stardom thanks to his role as the man

with no name in Sergio Leone Stalles

trilogy. However, as a result, Eastwood

spent much of his time dubbing for the

English language versions of those

movies while doing endless interviews

about them on the side, which left the

actor feeling angry and frustrated. So,

when Sergio Leone flew out to LA to

pitch him the role of harmonica in Once

Upon a Time in the West, Clint Eastwood

turned him down, uninterested in

starring in yet another ensemble

Spaghetti Western. But ultimately the

decision proved costly as the movie

ended up being a cinematic masterpiece

and is widely considered one of the

greatest westerns ever made. Around this

time Clint Eastwood also turned down

starring in another high-profile western

called McKenna's Gold featuring an

all-star cast included Gregory Peek,

Omar Sheriff, and Telly Seal. And

although the project might have

initially seemed like a safe bet on

paper, Eastwood was wise to pass on it

as the film ended up being a complete

critical and commercial failure, but

might well have damaged his career. So

Clint Eastwood clearly gave a lot of

consideration to what film he should

star in next. Likely well aware that

most people only really knew him for his

role as the man with no name. For that

reason, he was very wary of being typ

cast, but still wanted to take on a role

in the same sort of tough guy mold that

had made him so famous. That was why he

was so impressed upon reading the script

for Hangam High, as it was an American

revisionist western that felt like a

cross between rawhide and a spaghetti

western. He also liked that it had a

similar plot to the Oxbow Incident,

which was one of his all-time favorite

westerns. So Clint Eastwood ultimately

agreed to star as the character of Jed

Cooper, but under the condition that he

also serve as a producer, granting him

some level of supervision over every

level of the production. So once Clint

Eastwood agreed to star, he had a big

say over the decision of who should

direct the movie. And in the end, he

opted to go with a director that he knew

he could trust and picked Sergio Leone.

However, the Italian director was

already deep in production on Once Upon

a Time in the West. So, he had no choice

but to turn eastward down. So, during

the search for a director, the studio

behind the film, United Artists, put

together a long list of established

directors that they felt would be a good

fit, including Robert Aldrich and John

Sturgis. However, Clint Eastwood was

adamant about finding a director that he

knew he could trust, leading him to

endorse Ted Post instead. a

wellestablished TV director that he'd

worked with in the past, having

previously helmed over 20 episodes of

Rawhidede. But this was met with a lot

of push back given that Post had very

little experience directing feature

films. However, Clint Eastwood used his

considerable influence to force through

the appointment. Now, when it came to

casting, director Ted Post was keen to

hire actors that he and Eastwood had

already worked with in the past. So, a

lot of the actors from Rawhide were

offered roles in the movie, including

Pat Hingle, Ed Begley, and Charles

McGro. Another important casting to get

right was the character of Rachel

Warren, the customary love interest of

the movie. So, Ted Post decided to go

with the relatively unknown television

actress, Ingga Stevens, who was somewhat

reluctant to work on the movie, given

that she had no idea who Clint Eastwood

was. This later proved ironic as it was

widely reported that the actress ended

up having an affair with Eastwood during

their time working on the movie. Hangam

High also featured some pretty bigname

cameos of actors that would later go on

to become huge stars. For instance, a

young Bruce D makes an appearance ahead

of his long career in the western genre

in films such as The Cowboys, Wild Bill,

Django Unchained, and The Hateful Eight.

Dennis Hopper also has a minor role in

the movie months before filming his

breakout role in Easy Rider. Another

important element of the film to get

right was its location. Because although

most of the interiors would be shot at

MGM Studios, they still had to find

somewhere to shoot that could pass for

1873 Oklahoma. So writer Leonard Freeman

took a drive out to Las Cruus, New

Mexico in order to scout locations and

that same day managed to find the tree

that was used for the hanging scene at

the start of the movie, which nowadays

is no longer standing. Likewise, the

river next to it has since completely

dried up and is now overgrown with thick

brush. An equally important element of

the movie was its music. So they decided

to go with composer Dominic Frontiieri

who was reportedly given just 8 days to

compose an NOI type score. Despite this,

he did an excellent job with the title

theme even going on to become a top 10

hit for the group Booker T and the MGs.

It also featured in a medley of

spaghetti western music by the band Wall

of Voodoo. and My Chemical Romance also

referenced Hangam High with a 2004 song

of the same name. So once filming on the

movie began, Clint Eastwood took a very

active role in its production,

especially with its script, often

altering dialogue and other minor

elements. For example, this scene was

originally set in a saloon, but Eastwood

had its setting changed to make it more

believable. Equally, the fight scene

with Bruce Dan was choreographed almost

entirely by Eastwood. However, probably

the most significant change he made to

the script was the addition of an early

scene in which Jed rescues a car from

being swept away by the river. This is

because Eastwood knew that he was going

to spend the rest of the movie playing a

vengeful, cold-blooded killer. So, he

felt that there needed to be a scene

early on that established him as a hero

and an innocent guy, making it clear

from the outset that his character was a

lot different to the self-serving

anti-hero that he'd played in his last

three movies.

Now, Clint Eastwood wasn't the only one

working on the movie who wanted to make

changes to it during the shoot because

at one point its writer and producer

Leonard Freeman appeared on set

requesting all sorts of creative

changes. This frustrated director Ted

Post so much that he decided he needed

to confront him. However, Clint Eastwood

stopped him and said that he would go

speak to the writer instead. And true to

his word, Eastwood calmly walked over to

Freeman and said, "If you come on this

set again, we all walk." Following this,

the writer was never seen on set again.

Now, as much as Clint Eastwood viewed

Hangam High as a chance to branch out

from his iconic role as the man with no

name, the actor still managed to include

a sneaky reference to the Dollars

trilogy because the holster that his

character wears in those movies is

identical to the one Jed wears in Hangam

High. So, another reason why Hangam High

was so important for Clint Eastwood and

his career was because it was the first

movie out of his new production company

titled Mal Paso Productions, which he

was able to set up with the money that

he made from the Dollars trilogy. And

the basic idea behind it was that it

would give Eastwood a lot more leeway

over the films that he was starring in,

given that he'd also be producing them,

which was the case with Hangam High. And

this arrangement suited Eastwood so much

that Mal Paso ended up serving as the

production company for almost all of his

movies moving forward, including his

westerns. Now, Hangam High was not

without its controversy because it was

actually considered a pretty violent

movie for its time. So much so that it

earned the film an M rating in the US

and even had some of its more graphic

scenes cut whenever it was broadcast on

TV. So, when Hangam High finally

released in 1968, it was a big box

office success, making $10.8 million on

a budget of just $1.6 million. In fact,

there was so much excitement for the

film that it had a record-breaking first

day, becoming the biggest opening for

the studio in its history, exceeding all

of the James Bond films that had

released up to that point. It even

earned more at the box office than any

of the Dollars trilogy films as well as

Once Upon a Time in the West. So, Hangam

High delivered Clint Eastwood quite the

payday as he reportedly signed onto the

film for a salary of $400,000

as well as 25% of its net earnings. So,

following its record-breaking success,

Hangam High went down pretty well with

critics and audiences alike. For

instance, Arthur Winston of the New York

Post described it as a western of

quality, courage, danger, and

excitement. But not everyone was so

complimentary with variety calling it a

poor Americanmade imitation of a poor

Italian-made imitation of an

Americanmade western. Nowadays though,

Hangam High is widely viewed as a solid,

if not groundbreaking, Clint Eastwood

western that's unfortunately pretty

overshadowed by his earlier and later

work within the genre, which will prove

to be far more memorable in the long

run. Now, even though Hangam High didn't

quite have the legacy that Clint

Eastwood might have hoped, it still

proved to be a significant film in his

career. For instance, his turn as an

intense, morally ambiguous law enforcer

very much feels like a precursor to his

role as Dirty Harry 3 years later and

likely had a big influence on that

casting. And more importantly, the

success of Hangam High proved that

audiences were willing to watch Clint

Eastwood in a western even if he wasn't

playing the man with no name. A reality

that Eastwood made the most of moving

forward, starring in another western

just 2 years later called Two Mules for

Sister Sarah. Sister, I don't mind

shooting them for you, but I'll be

damned if I'm going to sweat over them

for you.

>> You're as stubborn as my mule, you know,

>> so two mules for Sister Sarah was

actually originally written by Bud

Bodicher, an American director best

known for his highly acclaimed

low-budget westerns that often starred

Randolph Scott. And apparently the

director initially planned for two mules

for sister Sarah to star Robert Mitchum

and Deborah Kerr in a plot that follows

a female Mexican aristocrat who enlists

the help of a capable cowboy to escort

her to the United States in hopes of

escaping the vengeance of the Mexican

Revolution. So given that he wrote the

script and was a long-term resident of

Mexico, Bud Bodic was very keen to

direct the movie himself and eventually

sold the screenplay with the provision

that he would be the one to direct it.

But unfortunately, this never came to

pass. So the original screenplay that

Bud Bodder wrote ended up being sold to

producer Martin Raken, who opted to

remove the director from the project

altogether and hire Albert Moltz to

rewrite his script. Now, at the time,

this might have seemed like a strange

move given that Bodic was one of the

most well- reggarded directors in the

genre, having previously helmed films

like The Tall Tea and Ride Lonesome.

But, it's believed that the reason for

this move was because Rakin wanted to

tap into the growing popularity of

spaghetti westerns. So, the story was

ultimately reworked to feature a

mysterious cigar- smoking gunslinger who

comes to the rescue of a prostitute

posing as a nun during the French

intervention in Mexico. And although Two

Mules for Sister Sarah ended up being a

lot less crude and cynical than other

spaghetti westerns of that time, it was

clearly heavily inspired by the work of

Sergio Leone and as a result ended up

being far removed from the kind of

western that Bud Bodicher first set out

to make. So, with the whole film now

going in a very different direction, Two

Mules for Sister Sarah was in need of a

new director that would be capable of

capturing the spaghetti western style

that its producer was so keen on

emulating. So, they decided to go with

Don Seagull, who had just directed the

1969 western Death of a Gunfighter. And

perhaps more importantly, Kugan's Bluff

starring Clint Eastwood, who had

developed a strong working relationship

with the director while working on the

movie. Now, as perfect of a casting as

Clint Eastwood was for the character of

Hogan, he wasn't actually directly

approached about the role. Instead,

Eastwood first found out about the movie

from actress Elizabeth Taylor while

working on the 1968 war movie Where

Eagles Dare. This was because Taylor had

already been cast as Sister Sarah and

showed Eastwood the script in the hope

that they might be able to work

together. And this was very nearly the

case. But when Elizabeth Taylor heard

that the movie was set to be shot in

Mexico rather than Spain like she

expected, the actress dropped out. So in

the end, the role of Sister Sarah was

eventually filled by Shirley Mlan, an

American actress famous for her Oscar

nominated performances in The Apartment

and Some Come Running. Now, although

there was no doubt that she was a

talented actress with her red hair and

pale complexion, she didn't exactly seem

like an obvious candidate to play a

Hispanic character. However, the studio

were apparently dead set on MLAN for the

role, believing her to be a big draw,

especially given that they had high

hopes for her most recent movie, Sweet

Charity, that was releasing around the

same time. So ultimately the character

of Sister Sarah was rewritten to

accommodate her casting and Mlan was

even given top billing over Clint

Eastwood despite his previous success in

the genre. So at this point, Two Mules

for Sister Sarah was about as close to

being a spaghetti western as it could be

without actually being one. But one

important missing ingredient was the

music. So rather than trying to emulate

the famous scores of composers like Neo

Moroni, they decided instead to just

hire him outright. And this really paid

off as Moroni ended up delivering a

score that was just as iconic and

memorable as his previous work on films

like The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly and

Once Upon a Time in the West. Now, given

how big of an influence Sergio Leone was

on Two Mules for Sister Sarah, you'd be

forgiven for assuming that he might have

directed the film or that the movie

somehow connects to his Dollars trilogy,

which Clint Eastwood also famously

starred in. But this simply isn't the

case. Although, there is one hidden

reference that you might have missed, as

the character of Hogan actually wears an

all but identical gun holster to The Man

with no name, making it even easier for

casual movie goers to assume that the

characters are one of the same.

So, if it wasn't already easy enough to

mistake Two Mules for Sister Sarah for a

spaghetti western directed by Sergio

Leone, when the movie released in

Finland in 1970, it was actually titled

the following, which in English

translates to A Handful of Dynamite,

which happens to be very similar to A

Fistful of Dynamite, the alternative

title for Duck You Sucker, another

completely unrelated spaghetti western

from Sergio Leone that released just a

year later. Now, as for the actual title

of Two Mules for Sister Sarah, it would

be easy to assume that it's referring to

the mule that Sarah rides at the

beginning of the film and the smaller,

younger one that she picks up later on.

But this is actually a burrow rather

than a mule. So, the second mule in the

title is actually intended to be a

tongue-in-cheek reference to Hogan,

given that in the film, Sarah says,

>> "All right, Mr. Mule. You know, you were

right. You are as stubborn as my mule."

So when the movie finally started

filming, it was shot in Mexico, which

was Don Seagull's first time directing

in the country. However, at this point,

many other famous westerns had taken to

shooting there, such as the Wild Bunch

and the War Wagon, forcing Seagull to

steer clear of familiar loces in favor

of more unusual locations in the

country. And although this lent the film

a sense of authenticity and originality,

the 65day shoot proved grueling with

many of the cast and crew, including

Shirley Mlan, all falling ill due to

having to adjust to the local food and

water. Now, another way in which Two

Mules for Sister Sarah wanted to emulate

famous spaghetti westerns was for its

visuals. So they decided to hire Gabriel

Figureroa, one of Mexico's most renowned

cinematographers, who had already worked

on over 100 films across all kinds of

genres, including westerns. So he did a

great job of making the movie look

visually unique and interesting, while

also including lots of shots and

techniques that pay homage to the

spaghetti western genre. In fact, he

apparently even went as far as to use

various color and diffusion filters to

specifically try and capture the muted

dusty pallets that you would find in

Sergio Leone's movies. Another talented

individual working behind the scenes on

the movie was Bruce Certis, who at the

time was just a camera operator, but

over the course of the shoot forged a

strong working relationship with Don

Seagull and Clint Eastwood. So this led

to him teaming up with the pair again in

the future, serving as the director of

cinematography on the beguiled, Dirty

Harry, and Escape from Alcatraz. And off

the back of this, he essentially became

Clint Eastwood's go-to cinematographer

moving forward, going on to shoot Joe

Kid, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw

Josie Wales, and Pale Rider. So despite

the undeniable amount of talent that

worked on the movie, like most films,

there were quite a few mistakes that

made it into the final cut. For

instance, one of the trio that Hogan

shoots dead at the start of the film is

clearly still breathing after being

shot. And the cult peacemaker that was

used to kill him shouldn't even really

exist yet, given that the film is set

years before it was made readily

available, much like the Winchester

rifles and dynamite that also heavily

feature. Equally, Bastile Day wasn't

actually celebrated during the 1860s,

nor were railways built anywhere near

Chihuahua during the time in which the

movie set. Now, the making of Two Mules

for Sister Sarah was not always smooth

sailing, especially for director Don

Seagull, because during the shoot, he

frequently got into spats with Shirley

Mlan, allegedly arguing over all sorts

of different creative decisions, no

matter how trivial, including

disagreements about how long her fake

eyelashes should be and what side she

should dismount her mule. So later when

asked to reflect on his time working

with Mlan, Seagull said it's hard to

feel any great warmth to her. She's too

unfeminine and has too much balls. She's

very, very hard. One shot in particular

that Don Seagull really struggled with

was the scene in which Hogan had to kill

a rattlesnake in front of Sarah so that

the pair could camp safely for the

night. And the reason for this was that

he simply couldn't get a believably

frightened reaction out of Shirley Mlan,

who in real life wasn't scared of

rattlesnakes in the slightest, given

that she was used to seeing them in her

backyard. So, it was only once Clint

Eastwood killed the real snake and gave

it to her that Mlan finally reacted with

the fear and revulsion that Seagull had

been looking for, which was lucky as

they only had one snake at their

disposal. And the only reason that

Eastwood reluctantly agreed to kill it

for real was because the Mexican

authorities didn't want the animal

released in the area. Another person on

the film that Don Seagull reportedly had

issues with was its producer Martin

Racken, who ironically was the one who

hired him as director in the first

place. And this was because the pair

were apparently in a constant fight for

creative control of the movie, rarely

seeing eye to eye. As such, when the

movie was finished shooting, Raken

apparently made a point of shutting

Seagull out of the post production and

cut together the final edit of the movie

himself without the director's

involvement. So, when Two Mules for

Sister Sarah was finally released, Bud

Bodic got his first proper chance to see

what had come out of the screenplay that

he had originally written. And it's safe

to say that he wasn't happy outright

dismissing the film given that it was

nothing like his original vision which

was more of a traditional earnest love

story. And to make matters worse, Bodhic

was actually given a story credit on the

movie presumably leading many to believe

that he had much more involvement in the

final film than he actually did. In

fact, to this day, Two Mules for Sister

Sarah is listed as one of the top films

that he's known for on IMDb.

So upon the release of the movie, Two

Mules for Sister Sarah received

relatively mixed reviews. For instance,

Roger Greenspan of the New York Times

said, "I'm not sure it is a great movie,

but it is very good, and it stays and

grows on the mind the way only movies of

exceptional narrative intelligence do."

But not everyone was so positive about

the movie. For example, Stanley Kaufman

of the New Republic said, "It doesn't

matter to Seagull that the characters

are cliches, the acting is atrocious,

the plot laughable, the dialogue dumb,

and the patriotic theme only a peg to

hang killings on. However, nowadays, Two

Mules for Sister Sarah is generally

viewed as a western classic, even

recently making it into the New York

Times guide of the best 1,000 movies

ever made. So although the film wasn't

exactly a critical darling upon its

release, Two Mules for Sister Sarah was

a success, making 4.8 million on a

budget of $2.5 million. This meant that

the movie was at least a modestly

profitable hit and a worthwhile endeavor

for all those involved. But the question

remains as to whether Bud Bodic's

original version of the movie would have

performed better or worse in the long

run. So after two mules for Sister

Sarah, Clint Eastwood opted to work with

Don Seagull again just a year later on

the beguiled, establishing a strong

friendship with the director, which saw

them collaborate on big hits such as

Dirty Harry and Escape from Alcatraz.

Two Mules for Sister Sarah also proved

to be one of the last westerns that

Clint Eastwood would star in that he

didn't direct himself, with the final

one being Joe Kid that released just 2

years later.

>> Mr. Adam doesn't want me around anymore.

You let me know, oh boy.

>> So, Joe Kid actually shares a lot of DNA

with The Great Silence, a 1968 spaghetti

western directed by Sergio Kabuchi,

who's best known for directing Django.

But in many ways, The Great Silence was

his more impressive film, following a

mute gunslinger defending a group of

outlaws against a vicious bounty hunter

exploring the thin line between right

and wrong. So, having essentially become

the face of spaghetti westerns in the

US, Clint Eastwood was reportedly

interested in starring in an English

language remake of the movie. And rumor

has it that 20th Century Fox bought the

rights to The Great Silence with the

hope of luring Eastwood away from

Universal Studios. even going as far as

to hold off on releasing the original

Italian version in the States to make

way for its impending remake. However,

when the studio head actually sat down

to watch the movie, he was apparently

deeply unimpressed with the film,

especially its infamously cynical

ending. As a result, talks of any remake

quickly dried up. But Clint Eastwood

made a point of paying tribute to what

could have been by including lots of

references to the great silence in Joe

Kidd, including its wintry setting, the

hat that Eastwood wears, and the

appearance of a Mousa C96 pistol. Now,

the story for Joe Kidd originally

started out as a screenplay called The

Sola Courthouse Raid, written by Elmore

Leonard, a veteran western writer who

previously penned the stories that

inspired 310 to humor, the tall tea,

Hombre, and even Justified. And Joe Kidd

was actually one of the first times that

Leonard wrote an original story

specifically for the big screen with the

second coming two years later in Mr.

Majestic starring Charles Bronson, which

was similar to Joe Kid in that it also

starred an iconic western actor playing

a nononsense tough guy who defends

vulnerable Mexican characters. So Joe

Kid is actually partly based on real

events as Elmore Leonard was very much

inspired by a famous activist who headed

up a movement by Mexicans to reclaim

their ancestral lands from Anglo

ownership which led to the storming of a

new Mexico courthouse in 1967 which is

somewhat reminiscent of the opening

scene in Joe Kidd where Lewis Charmer

and his followers break into the Sola

courthouse to protest their stolen land.

So once the script was picked up, it was

retitled Joe Kid and Universal decided

to go with John Sturgis as director.

Best known for westerns such as Bad Day

at Black Rock, Gunfight at the OK

Corral, and The Magnificent 7. However,

probably his most famous film was The

Great Escape, which was widely

considered a masterpiece, setting

expectations skyhigh for Joe Kid. So,

when it came to casting the main

character of Joe Kid, John Sturgis

clearly wanted to go for an actor that

he'd worked with in the past,

approaching Charles Bronson and Steve

McQueen to star, but both of them turned

him down. As a result, the part was

offered to veteran actor Robert Mitchum,

but he too said no. So, following his

failed attempt to remake The Great

Silence, Clint Eastwood was approached

by Universal about starring in Joe Kid,

which had a somewhat similar premise on

paper. But the biggest draw for Eastwood

was the fact that Elmore Leonard had

written the script, considering how many

of his stories had gone on to inspire

classic western movies. But with that

being said, Eastwood still wasn't 100%

sold on the project, mainly because the

movie didn't yet have an ending. But

director John Sturgis proved to be a

talented salesman, convincing Eastwood

that it wasn't a problem and that it

would be figured out along the way. So

eventually Clint Eastwood accepted the

role of Joe Kidd was believed to have

been granted significant creative

influence over the movie in return.

Another issue that they had with casting

was for the character of Frank Harland,

a wealthy land owner that acted as the

central villain of the film because

initially they were dead set on Gene

Hackman, but he had to turn the role

down as he was already busy shooting for

the Poseidon adventure. This led to

Robert Devour being cast instead, who

ultimately did a good job of elevating

what could have been a fairly

one-dimensional villain. So, even though

Clint Eastwood wasn't the first choice

for Joe Kidd, upon joining the film, he

was reunited with more than a few

familiar faces. For instance, actor Don

Strad had already shared the screen with

Eastwood in Kugan's Bluff. Likewise, the

film's composer, Lelo Shiffron, had

already worked with Eastwood as a

composer on Kelly's Heroes, The

Beguiled, and Dirty Harry. Even the

cinematographer, Bruce Certis, was a

frequent collaborator of Eastwoods,

having previously shot The Beguiled,

Play Misty for Me, and Dirty Harry. So,

with Clint Eastwood now in the starring

role, it would make sense for those

behind the movie to want to lean into

his iconic turn as the man with no name,

given how popular those movies proved to

be. So much like a fistful of dollars,

the movie positions Clint Eastwood as a

nononsense gunslinging anti-hero caught

between two waring factions and even

features a character called Raone.

Likewise, the film's score feels very

much inspired by the work of Eno

Moriconei, giving Joe Kid a pseudo

spaghetti western flavor. Despite being

an American production, Joe Kidd also

showcased a lot of unique firearms that

didn't typically appear in all that many

westerns at the time, with perhaps the

most eye-catching being the C96 broom

handle mouser, which later in the movie

is fitted with a stock so that it can be

shouldered like a rifle, much like its

appearance in The Great Silence. The

movie also features a notable amount of

scoped rifles, including a Savage 99, a

Remington Keen Frontier, and a Canadian

Ross model 1910, which for the most part

were historically accurate. So, when Joe

Kidd finally started filming, it was

mainly filmed in the Alabama Hills at

Lone Pine, California, but the fictional

town of Sola was actually shot in

Arizona on a western town set used for

famous John Wayne movies such as Rio

Bravo and Elorado.

So once production on the movie began,

it quickly became clear that Clint

Eastwood was not at all well. Apparently

showing symptoms of a bronchial

infection. But it turned out that he was

actually suffering from a debilitating

allergic reaction originally believed to

be brought on by horses. However, it

eventually became clear that it was in

fact being caused by cats that were

sneaking into the hotel that he was

staying in while filming. Another thing

that apparently caused tension behind

the scenes was the lean economical

directing style of John Sturgis who was

viewed by some as treating film making

as just a day job especially towards the

end of his career. In fact, in an

interview, actor Don Strad even went as

far as to say that Sturgis just wasn't

there and wasn't in charge during the

making of Joe Kid. He also claimed that

one day Clint Eastwood personally

arranged for an ice cream truck to drive

out to where they were shooting in the

middle of nowhere just to try and cheer

everybody up. Even writer Elmore Leonard

was disappointed with how the filming

went, believing that the cast was so

aruck by Sturgis and his reputation as a

director that they simply surrendered

authority to him. Now, one person on set

who certainly wasn't handsoff was Clint

Eastwood, who was believed to have had

quite a lot of creative control over the

movie, which ended up being noticeably

different to the original script. For

instance, the character of Lewis Charmer

was apparently far more layered and

heroic in the script compared to how he

appeared in the final film. And some

believe that the reason for this was

that Clint Eastwood wanted to make it

more obvious to the audience that Joe

Kid was the main hero of the film and

therefore Charmer was ultimately made to

look more opportunistic and less

sympathetic as a result. Perhaps as a

consequence of the changes to his

character. Actor John Saxon apparently

later regretted playing Lewis Chararma,

especially as he wasn't actually of

Mexican descent like his character.

There are even rumors that he attended a

meeting of a Latin American organization

opposed to stereotypes to publicly

apologize for playing such a dubious

character. So even when Joe Kid was

filming, nobody working on the movie

knew for sure how the film was actually

going to end. But one day on set, John

Sturgis noticed a railway track that ran

straight through town which stopped

yards away from a saloon. This

apparently led him to half jokingly

suggest that the train should crash

through the barroom in the climax of the

movie. To which Eastwood responded,

"Jesus, anything at this point, let's

end it." Capping off the movie with

probably its most memorable moment. So,

considering all the reports of problems

on set, it probably shouldn't come as a

surprise that Joe Kid features quite a

few mistakes. For instance, at the start

of the film when Joe's lying on the cart

in jail, his cellmate pours coffee into

a mug on the corner of the table, but

then proceeds to fill it again in the

next shot. Also, during this shot of

Joe, you can see a priest exit the

church in the background. And in the

very next scene, you can see the same

priest coming out of the church again.

Then later on in the film during the

shootout in the village when one of the

henchmen is shot in a doorway, you can

actually see the brick wall he lands

against shake like it's made of rubber.

So when Joe Kidd finally premiered in

1972, the movie gross $6.3 million

worldwide, making it one of the highest

grossing westerns of that year. So, not

only did John Sturgis beat out the

sequel to his most famous western, but

Joe Kidd also became his second most

successful film at the box office just

behind The Great Escape. So, despite a

strong box office showing, Joe Kidd

received a very mixed reception from

fans and critics alike. For instance,

Roger Greenspun of the New York Times

said, "For perhaps its first half hour,

John Sturgis' New Western Joe Kid looks

surprisingly good. Nothing remarkable,

but modestly decent. A feeling that

persists with continuingly diminishing

assurance almost until the climax when

everything is thrown away in a flash of

false theatrics, foolish symbolism, and

what I suspect is sloppy editing. But

nowadays, there's a general acceptance

that although Joe Kid is certainly one

of Clint Eastwood's weakest western

outings, it still has a lot going for it

and plenty of potential, but for

whatever reason, clearly fell short of

what it could have been. So following

the release of Joe Kid, Clint Eastwood

rarely spoke about the movie. Unlike his

other westerns that he was clearly a lot

more proud of. In fact, in his

biography, Joe Kidd is described as a

totally conventional western, utterly

without distinguishable characteristics.

And perhaps tellingly, Joe Kidd was the

last western that Clint Eastwood ever

starred in that he didn't direct

himself. With his next movie being High

Plains Drifter, which proved to be a

huge critical and commercial success,

>> you can't turn all these people out into

the night. It is inhuman, brother.

Inhuman. I'm not your brother. So, High

Plains Drifter actually started out as

an original screenplay written by Ernest

Tidyman, an Oscar-winning screenwriter

and author best known for writing Shaft

and the French Connection. And he was

apparently inspired to write the story

upon hearing about the infamous real

life murder of Kitty Genevies, whose

death was believed to have had over 38

witnesses. Yet, not a single one of them

reported anything to the police. So,

this is very similar to the way in which

the town's people of Largo stood idly by

as their marshall was brutally murdered

with the film really delving into themes

of community cowardice and silent

complicity. So, in 1972, Clint Eastwood

had just finished up starring in Dirty

Harry and Joe Kid and had recently made

his directorial debut with the 1971

psychological thriller Play Misty for

Me. And for his next film, Eastwood

decided it was time to try his hand at

making a western. So upon reading the

original 9-page proposal for High Plains

Drifter, he approached Universal about

directing it, apparently really liking

the story's offbeat quality. But with

that being said, once the film got the

green light, Eastwood brought in

screenwriter Dean Rynner to provide

uncredited revisions to the screenplay,

apparently filling in various plot holes

with allegory and black humor. very much

influenced by Sergio Leone. So when it

came to casting, Clint Eastwood opted to

play the main character himself despite

also being a director, which was the

start of a larger trend in his career,

especially in regards to westerns. But

for the rest of the cast, he typically

went for actors that he'd already

previously worked with. For instance,

William O' Connell, who played the

barber, had already worked with Eastwood

on Paint Your Wagon. And Paul Brineer,

who played the saloon keeper, previously

starred alongside Eastwood in Rawhide as

the character of Wishbone. Also, Buddy

Van Horn, who plays Marshall Duncan, was

actually Eastwood's longtime stunt

double. So given that High Plains

Drifter was only the second film that

Clint Eastwood had ever directed, it was

important for him to put together a

talented, trustworthy team to help him

behind the scenes. So for his

cinematographer, he went for Bruce

Certis, who first met on the set of Two

Mules for Sister Sarah before working

together again on the beguiled Play

Misty for Me and Dirty Harry. And for a

composer, he hired D. Barton, who had

previously composed parts of the score

for his latest movie, Play Misty for Me.

Now, one thing that Clint Eastwood and

Universal didn't agree on in the early

stages was where High Plains Drifter

should be shot because Universal wanted

the movie to be filmed on its back lot.

But Eastwood was keen to shoot on

location. The only problem was that he

didn't know where. However, one day when

he was out scouting locations alone in

his pickup truck, he came upon the Mono

Lake area in California, which he

thought would make for a highly

photogenic and original setting for a

western. Now, the only problem with the

location that Clint Eastwood picked was

that there wasn't really any

pre-existing settlements in the area

that could pass for a Wild West mining

town. So Eastwood decided to build one

from scratch, hiring over 50 technicians

and construction workers to build 14

houses, a church, and a two-story hotel.

And what was even more impressive is

that rather than just building facades,

Eastwood requested that the buildings

have fully fitted interiors so that he

could seamlessly shoot indoor scenes on

site.

So, in the end, the town of Largo took

18 days to construct, but proved to be a

huge undertaking that ended up using

150,000 ft of lumber. And later on in

the shoot, when the town needed to be

painted red, again, Eastwood refused to

cut corners and had the whole set

painted for real, using 380 gallons of

paint in the process. Now, although

Clint Eastwood was clearly willing to do

whatever it took to make High Plains

Drifter look as authentic as possible,

he still managed to be surprisingly

efficient in his film making. For

instance, in the end, the film actually

came in under budget and 2 days ahead of

schedule as Eastwood filmed the movie in

sequence and apparently even edited the

movie on location in a log cabin on the

shores of Mono Lake. And once the film

was complete, Largo was burned to the

ground, leaving no sign that it ever

even existed. So, as impressive as the

movie was, High Plains Drifter was not

without its fair share of mistakes. For

instance, in the iconic scene where the

stranger is stood on the porch watching

the town's people practice shooting, he

takes a sip of his half-finished beer

and says, "I know you're going to look

awfully silly with that knife sticking

up your ass." and then in the next shot

takes another sip from the same glass

that's now nearly full. Also, during the

scene in the general store where the

stranger gives two children jars of

candy, you can clearly see that they

have plastic lids despite plastic not

yet being invented. So, at this stage in

Clint Eastwood's career, he was quickly

becoming the face of the western genre,

having already played the stoic cigar

smoking gunslinger in countless other

films. As such, it was easy for casual

movie goers to assume that Eastwood was

essentially playing the same character

in each movie, especially given that

they often shared similar outfits and

mannerisms. And High Plains Drifter very

much continued that trend as the

stranger wears a very similar hat to the

man with no name and is once again armed

with a cult single action army that the

character of Hogan uses in two mules for

Sister Sarah. So considering that High

Plains Drifter was the first western

that Clint Eastwood ever directed, it

makes sense that he would be heavily

influenced by Sergio Leone given how

many spaghetti westerns they made

together. So whether intentional or not,

High Plains Drifter is littered with

callbacks to the Dollar Trilogy from the

way the stranger shoots hats off heads,

lights fuses with cigars, and goes

through the whole movie without ever

even telling anybody his name. Another

reference in High Plains Drifter that's

easy to miss can be found in Largo's

Cemetery because on two of the

tombstones are the names Don Seagull and

Sergio Leone which was Eastwood's way of

humorously paying tribute to the two

directors that ended up having a huge

impact on his career thanks to his roles

as Dirty Harry and The Man with No Name.

So, in most English-speaking countries,

the movie was known exclusively as High

Plains Drifter, a vague, non-specific

title that played into the mysterious

open-ended nature of the movie. However,

this was not the case in other

countries, as High Plains Drifter went

by lots of other names, but all had very

different connotations. For instance, in

Italy, its title loosely translates to

the Nameless Stranger, while in Spain,

the movie was known as Hell of Cowards.

Meanwhile, in Poland, it was simply

called the Avenger. And in Sweden, they

went with the title that means the man

with the oxhip.

So, probably the most famous element of

High Plains Drifter is its twist ending,

which forces you to look at the events

of the movie in a completely different

light because it's strongly suggested

that the stranger is the avenging spirit

of Marshall Jim Duncan, who was brutally

whipped to death by outlaws while the

town's people just stood back and

watched. And we see hints of this in how

much the stranger seems to know about

the murder and the biblical manner in

which he delivers justice to those

responsible. There's also the scene in

the hotel where the inkeeper's wife

brings up the dead marshall to the

stranger and says,

>> "Have you ever heard the name Jim

Duncan? He was town marshall here. He's

lying out there in an unmarked grave.

They say the dead don't rest without a

marker of some kind."

This is then followed up with the scene

in which Morcai says,

>> "I never did know your name."

>> "Yes, you do."

>> And then the camera pans to reveal the

name Marshall Jim Duncan, suggesting

that this was the stranger's identity

all along. However, despite all of this,

Clint Eastwood actually always intended

for the stranger to be the brother of

the Marshall. Hence why he cast his

stunt double to play the character. But

on reflection, Eastwood liked that the

ending proved ambiguous enough that it

allowed for different interpretations

and has since invited viewers to make up

their own minds on who the stranger

really was. So when High Plains Drifter

finally released, for the most part, it

was very wellreceived by critics and

general audiences alike. For instance,

Derek Adams of Timeout said this was

supposed to be Eastwood's fondue to the

worlds of Sergio Leone and Don Seagull.

And indeed, he cuts the oporatic excess

of the former with the punchy economy of

the latter. Equally impressed was Kim

Newman of Empire magazine, who called it

a funny, brutal, scary movie, daringly

surreal in its mix of western and horror

themes. But of course, the movie still

had its detractors. For instance, Nigel

Andrews of the monthly film bulletin

said, "After playing Misty for Me, High

Plains Drifter emerges as a

disappointingly sterile exercise in

style, suggesting that the first thing

Eastwood should do as a director is

forget the lessons he has learned from

other filmmakers and start to forge a

convincing style of his own. So

ultimately, High Plains Drifter went on

to make $15.7 million on a budget of

just $5.5 million, making it a big box

office hit and remains one of the top

grossing westerns of the 1970s.

Now, as popular as High Plains Drifter

was, it was not without its controversy

due to the graphic, brutal way in which

Eastwood approached scenes that involved

sex and violence. So, Universal had no

choice but to release the movie with an

R rating. And some of the scenes were

deemed so extreme that High Plains

Drifter would often air on TV with lots

of parts dramatically cut down and

trimmed to avoid offense.

Now, possibly the harshest critic of

High Plains Drifter ended up being none

other than the legendary western actor

John Wayne. Cuz when Eastwood wrote to

Wayne about the possibility of them

starring in a western together in the

future, Wayne sent back a scathing

letter about the movie, denouncing it

for its violence and revisionist

portrayal of the Old West. And so

Eastwood decided it best not to reply

and ultimately gave up on the idea of

ever starring in a movie alongside

Wayne. However, on reflection, Clint

Eastwood was able to understand why John

Wayne hated the film so much, given how

far removed it was from a traditional

western, saying, "High Plains Drifter

was meant to be a fable. It wasn't meant

to show the hours of pioneering

drudgery. It wasn't supposed to be

anything about settling the West." With

Eastwood later going on to say, "I

realized that there's two different

generations and he wouldn't understand

what I was doing." So although John

Wayne wasn't a fan of the movie, High

Plains Drifter found plenty of

high-profile fans elsewhere. For

instance, Shaun of the Dead and Baby

Driver director Edgar Wright called it

his favorite Clint Eastwood American

western, even above Unforgiven, and felt

that it had a big influence on Quentyn

Tarantino's Kill Bill. Also to this day,

High Plains Drifter still features in

the book of 1,01 movies you must see

before you die. So, following the

success of High Plains Drifter, Clint

Eastwood opted to direct another western

6 years later called Pale Rider. And

even now, many still assume that the two

films are somehow connected, given that

they both feature Clint Eastwood as a

mysterious, vengeful stranger in a plot

that includes similar supernatural

biblical undertones. On top of this,

both films open and close in an

identical manner with a stranger riding

in from the distance at the start and

away into the background at the end.

However, Clint Eastwood has confirmed

that the two films are entirely

standalone and not narratively

connected. Although he did admit that

High Plains Drifter heavily inspired

Pale Rider, as Eastwood wanted to

revisit the idea of a western about a

ghostly avenger with a mysterious

origin, but in a way that was a lot less

cynical and nihilistic than his previous

movie.

>> Well, you're going to pull those pistols

and whistle Dixie. The origin of the

movie can be traced back to a book

called The Rebel Outlaw: Josie Wales, a

privately printed novel that was

submitted to Clint Eastwood's production

company, Mal Paso Productions, with the

hope that it might get picked up and

adapted into a film. But the chances of

this were very slim, as the office was

always flooded with submissions, and any

unsolicited manuscripts were typically

sent back unread. But on this occasion,

producer Robert Daly was intrigued by

the unusual cover letter that was

included with the novel, which referred

to Clint Eastwood's kind eyes and humbly

requested his consideration. So, the

producer took the book home to read, was

absolutely blown away by its quality,

feeling that the lead role was a perfect

fit for Clint Eastwood. So, he

immediately flew the novel out to him.

And Eastwood loved it, even going as far

as to personally contribute funds to

secure the screen rights. So once they'd

obtained the rights to the novel,

producer Robert Daly reached out to its

unknown author, a Cherokee man called

Forest Carter, who was rewarded a

lucrative republication of his book by a

mainstream publisher under the new title

of Gone to Texas. But when Daly finally

met the author face to face, he was

shocked by his behavior, believing him

to be a sociopath after he drunkenly

urinated in a public bar and later

professed his love to a woman at Knife

Point. Despite this, Carter was able to

publish a second book called The

Education of Little Tree, which became

an award-winning bestseller, marketed as

a memoir of his childhood in the

Appalachin Mountains, where he was

raised by his Cherokee grandparents.

However, this turned out to be just as

fictional as Josie Wales, as it was

later discovered that Forest Carter was

in fact Asa Earl, a former KKK leader

and segregationist speech writer for the

American politician George Wallace. A

shocking discovery that probably never

would have been made if not for the

overwhelming success of the outlaw Josie

Wales. Now, although the movie was based

on a book, it was transformed into a

screenplay by Sonia Churnis, as well as

its director, Philip Kaufman, who is a

big fan of the original novel. So, he

wanted to keep the script as close to

the source material as possible,

maintaining its depiction of Josie Wales

as a straighttalking, tobacco spitting

gunslinger. Equally, side characters

from the book, such as Lone Wait, Laura

Lee, Little Moonlight, and Grandma

Sarah, all ended up featuring heavily in

the movie, but he did make some key

changes. For instance, the Union

soldiers chasing Josie at the start of

the film essentially drop out of the

story halfway through the novel. So, in

the film, he decided to keep them around

as an ongoing threat to facilitate the

action-packed shootout at the end of the

movie. Kaufman also did his best to

strip the screenplay of most of its

political ideology, but did retain much

of the pro-s South anti-north sentiment

that originated in the novel. But

ultimately, the screenplay juggled all

of these elements surprisingly well,

resonating across the political spectrum

while also being praised for its

refreshingly nuanced and respectful

portrayal of Native Americans.

So, when it came to who should direct

the movie, Clint Eastwood decided to go

with Philip Kaufman. very much impressed

by his underrated 1972 western, The

Great Northfield, Minnesota Raid.

However, as soon as production began,

Clint Eastwood realized that he might

have made a mistake, as Kaufman proved

to be a very particular, meticulous

filmmaker, which was practically the

opposite to Eastwood, who was big on

efficiency and working things out

through trial and error. It also didn't

help that during the first scene that

they shot where Laura Lee is attacked in

the desert, Eastwood apparently felt as

if Kaufman lost control of the scene and

didn't agree with the way the actress

Sandre Lock had been treated during its

filming. But the moment that really

seemed to break their working

relationship was when it came time to

shoot the scene in which Josie rides

over the dunes against the sun. This was

because Kaufman had already scouted the

perfect hill to shoot the scene on and

it even left a bottle there as a marker

to find it later on. But due to the

shifting sands, it eventually became

buried and impossible to find. Yet

Kaufman apparently refused to shoot the

scene anywhere else and was adamant

about finding the exact hill that it had

originally spotted. As a result,

Eastwood suggested that the director

take a car out to go search for it. And

the moment that he left, the actor

immediately took charge. quickly filming

the scene in question while they still

had light. But when Kaufman eventually

returned, he was furious, feeling as if

his authority as a director had now been

fatally compromised.

Another issue that came between the pair

was the casting of actress Sandre Lock

as Laura Lee, a casting that Clint

Eastwood had really pushed for against

the wishes of the director, who couldn't

understand why a 32-year-old woman was

being cast for a 22-year-old character.

But the irony was that when filming

started, there were rumors that Kaufman

actually developed an infatuation for

Loach right around the same time as

Clint Eastwood, who went on to have a

13-year relationship with the actress

while starring alongside each other in

numerous movies. So, it eventually

became clear that Philip Kaufman just

wasn't the right fit for Clint Eastwood,

who arranged a private meeting with the

director and fired him after just 10

days of shooting. And the decision

apparently didn't go down well on set

with several members of the cast and

crew holding it against Eastwood,

feeling as if he took a lot of credit

for Kaufman's work, such as his location

and costume decisions, as well as the

casting of Chief Dan George. Now,

unbeknownst to Clint Eastwood, his

firing of Philip Kaufman ended up having

much bigger ramifications beyond the

film itself because news of the sacking

was met with outrage from the Director's

Guild of America. given that Kaufman had

already put a lot of work into the film,

including completing all of its

pre-production. In fact, the backlash

was so bad that when Warner Brothers and

Clint Eastwood refused to reinstate

Kaufman, they were reportedly fined

$60,000. And to stop the same thing from

happening again in the future, the guild

decided to pass a new rule known as the

Eastwood rule, which prevents an actor

or producer from firing the director in

order to take the position for

themselves. So, in a whirlwind of

controversy, Clint Eastwood officially

became the director of The Outlaw Josie

Wales moving forward, making it just the

second Western that he'd ever directed.

So, when it came to casting, Clint

Eastwood made a point of hiring actors

that he'd already worked with before and

knew he could trust. For instance, John

Vernon, who played Fletcher, also played

the mayor in Dirty Harry. Likewise, John

Quaid, who plays the outlaw leader,

famously appeared in High Plains Drifter

as one of the town's people, and Shb

Wooie had already starred alongside

Eastwood in multiple episodes of

Rawhide. Also, another noteworthy

casting is Matt Clark as a bartender,

who later played a similar role in Back

to the Future 3, in which he says he

only serves whiskey to Marty, which some

believe is a subtle call back to when he

tells Josie that he's run out of

whiskey. Now, perhaps one of the most

memorable castings in the movie was that

of Chief Dan George, who totally stole

the show as the character of Lone Wait,

and the reason that he was hired was all

because of his memorable performance in

Little Big Man, for which he earned a

supporting actor nomination at the

Academy Awards. However, when filming

started on the Outlaw Josie Wales, the

76-year-old actor was clearly having

trouble memorizing his lines. So much so

that Clint Eastwood got into the habit

of ruining takes by mouthing the actor's

lines to try and help him. So in the

end, Eastwood told the actor to just

forget his lines and instead perform his

interpretations of them, which ended up

sounding far more authentic and

compelling than what was written in the

script. So over the course of the shoot,

Eastwood forged a genuine admiration for

the actor, even getting emotional when

it came time to shoot their final scene

together. Now, a big reason why the

outlaw Josie Wales looked so visually

impressive was because Clint Eastwood

hired his most trusted cinematographer,

Bruce Certis, who previously shot High

Plains Drifter. So, he knew exactly how

to get the most out of the film's

various shooting locations that included

Arizona, Utah, and California. They also

made a point of shooting in the fall

when there are a lot more natural

shadows, which ended up being a big part

of the visual identity of the movie.

Another really important aspect of the

film was its music. So Clint Eastwood

hired composer Jerry Fielding who

already had a history working on

westerns such as The Wild Bunch and

Cheato's Land. And for the outlaw Josie

Wales, he delivered a memorable yet

understated score that really added to

the film, earning him an Academy Award

nomination for best original score. So,

although Clint Eastwood hadn't

originally planned on directing the

movie, at this stage in his career, he'd

already had a lot of experience in how

to do so, having previously worked under

many famous directors. But perhaps none

proved as influential on this film as

Sergio Leone, with the character of

Josie Wales feeling very much like the

man with no name. The movie also shared

a lot of visual DNA with the Dollars

Trilogy, including its panoramic

landscapes, expressive close-ups, and

distinctive quick cuts. In fact, in an

interview, Clint Eastwood went as far as

to directly compare the movie to The

Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, except for

one major difference, saying, "Jossi

Wales is a hero, and you see how he gets

to where he is, rather than just having

a mysterious hero appear on the planes

and become involved with other people's

plight." So, as wellade as the outlaw

Josie Wales was, it isn't without its

mistakes. For instance, during the

climax of the movie, despite only 15

soldiers crossing the creek to confront

Josie, he and his allies somehow kill

well over 20 men in the gunfight that

follows. Also, at the start of the

movie, when Josie starts using the

Gatling gun, despite the weapon only

being able to hold between 20 to 50

rounds, Josie fires way more, killing

numerous soldiers while their horses

stand unconcerned in the line of fire

behind them. So, following the

high-profile firing of Philip Kaufman,

it was very clear who was in charge on

set with Clint Eastwood now serving as

the movie's lead actor, producer, and

director. And although Warner Brothers

were generally very pleased with how the

movie was shaping up, they did have some

notes after being shown a screening of

the finished film, with perhaps the

biggest being that they would like it to

be shortened by half an hour. But when

the studio sent an executive to give

this feedback to Eastwood, the director

told him that you would have to do it

himself as he was busy. And when the

executive asked where Eastwood would be,

he replied, "I'll be across the street

at Paramount cutting a new deal." So, it

seemed the studio got the message loud

and clear as the film was left uncut and

ended up being 2 hours and 15 minutes

long. So, around the time that The

Outlaw Josie Wales released, westerns

had dramatically declined in popularity,

especially one centered around the Civil

War. So, there was a real skepticism in

Hollywood about the movie. However, The

Outlaw Josie Wales was a big commercial

hit, earning $31.8 8 million against the

$3.7 million budget, making it one of

Clint Eastwood's most profitable films

at the time. So, a big reason why The

Outlaw Josie Wales was such a success

was because it was universally embraced

by audiences and critics alike. For

instance, Phil Hardy of Timeout said it

demonstrated Eastwood's ability to

recreate his first starring role as the

mythic man with no name of the Italian

westerns and to subtly undercut it

through comedy and mockery. Likewise,

Tony Slowman of the Radio Times said

Clint Eastwood seized the directorial

reigns from Phil Kaufman and fashioned

this tough, sprawling post civil war

western epic into something approaching

a personal testament. Now, considering

its overwhelmingly positive reception,

it's probably no surprise that the

outlaw Josie Wales has left behind a

considerable legacy. For instance, the

famous TV host Johnny Carson called it

the greatest western of all time.

Likewise, the legendary director Orson

Wells admitted to seeing it four times,

claiming it belongs with the great

westerns of John Ford and Howard Hawks.

Since then, the movie was selected for

preservation in the National Film

Registry and is still widely considered

one of the greatest westerns ever made.

So, given how popular the outlaw Josie

Wales proved to be, Clint Eastwood is

often asked about the meaning of the

movie. So, in an interview in 2011, he

finally revealed that he intended the

movie to be an anti-war film, saying,

"As for Josie Wales, I saw the parallels

to the modern day at the time. Everybody

gets tired of it, but it never ends. A

war is a horrible thing, but it's also a

unifier of countries. Man becomes his

most creative during war. Look at the

amount of weaponry that was made in four

short years of World War II, and just

the urgency and the camaraderie and the

unifying. That's kind of a sad statement

on mankind if that's what it takes.

So, shortly after the rebel outlaw Josie

Wales was republished, its author

actually released a follow-up novel

called The Vengeance Trail of Josie

Wales. Set shortly after the events of

the first movie, the book picks up with

Josie Wales living quietly with his now

wife Laura Lee and their baby son until

news reaches him that a close friend of

his has been murdered and captured by a

Mexican emperor. So Josie decides to

come out of hiding to travel to Mexico

and confront a corrupt law man in order

to break his surviving friend out of

jail. And Clint Eastwood actually

intended to adapt this novel into a

sequel to The Outlaw Josie Wales.

However, the plans ultimately fell

through. So instead, the book was

adapted into the 1986 film The Return of

Josie Wales, directed by Michael Parks,

who also played Josie. And upon its

release, the film received universally

negative reviews with critics across the

board panning it as a cheap, uninspired

cash grab. Hence why nowadays it's all

but forgotten. So despite its

controversial origin and turbulent

production, nowadays Clint Eastwood

considers the outlaw Josie Wales one of

the best films of his career and one of

the most satisfying movies he's ever

made. It also proved that he was no

longer an upand cominging unproven actor

turned director and was more than

capable of directing himself in movies

moving forward, especially when it came

to westerns. But even so, he decided to

wait 9 years before making another

western with 1985's Pale Rider, which

proved to be just as well-made and

wellreceived as the outlaw Josie Wales.

Well, there's nothing like a nice piece

of hickory.

>> So, after the release of the outlaw

Josie Wales, Clint Eastwood was keen to

direct another western, but was aware

that the genre had really fallen out of

favor. However, Eastwood felt that if he

could come up with a western that had a

modern twist that defied what people

typically expect from the genre, then

people would want to see it. So with a

clear theme in mind, Clint Eastwood got

in touch with screenwriters Michael

Butler and Dennis Shriak, who'd

previously written his 1977 movie, The

Gauntlet, and he commissioned them to

write an original western script that

was ultimately titled Pale Rider. So,

anybody that's watched High Plains

Drifter will likely notice that the film

shares a lot in common with Pale Ryder,

with both films following a nameless

gunslinger who appears out of nowhere to

defend a desperate community, doing so

in a manner that suggests that they have

a hidden supernatural biblical origin.

On top of this, both films open and

close with the exact same shots. But

this crossover wasn't by accident as

Clint Eastwood consciously wanted to

revisit the other worldly themes that

featured in that movie, saying, "I guess

maybe I felt I hadn't explored it

enough." So although the two films are

not directly connected, it would be fair

to call Pale Rider a spiritual sequel to

High Plains Drifter. Another western

that Pale Rider is remarkably similar to

is the 1953 classic Shane. With both

centering on a mysterious gunslinger who

arrives in a troubled frontier community

to help defend peaceful settlers with a

teenage girl Megan standing in for the

hero worshiping young boy Joey. In fact,

the films are so alike that they even

share the same ending with the heroes

riding off into the distance as their

young admirers cry out their names.

>> Preacher.

So although Clint Eastwood was confident

in his idea for Peril Rider, he still

had to overcome the challenge of getting

it made at a time in which westerns were

simply not in demand. And Eastwood

apparently believed that this decline

was due to the masters of the genre no

longer directing such as Anthony Man,

Howard Hawks, and John Ford. But there

was no doubt that the infamous box

office failure of Heaven's Gate 5 years

prior also played a big role in their

decline. Either way, Clint Eastwood

still had to convince the studio to make

Power Rider, arguing that popular films

at the time, like Star Wars, were

essentially just westerns set in space

and that nobody had as good of a track

record in the genre as him, pointing out

that the outlaw Josie Wales was one of

the last financially successful westerns

at that time. So eventually, the studio

agreed and allowed Clint Eastwood to

make Pale Ryder despite the very real

possibility that it could flop at the

box office. Now, with so much riding on

the movie, Clint Eastwood was keen to

put together a talented cast that could

lend the film some gravitas. So, for the

character of Hull Barrett, he cast

Michael Mariotti, who had an

award-winning career in theater, but was

still waiting for his breakthrough role

in film. And for the character of Sarah

Wheeler, Eastwood went for actress

Carrie Snodgrass, who had earned an

Oscar nomination for a performance in

Diary of a Mad Housewife with Perl Rider

acting as her long overdue return to

major cinema. Eastwood was also keen to

cast new talent as well, such as

13-year-old Sydney Penny, who had

already won awards for her work on the

Formirds. Likewise, Eastwood handed

Chris Penn his first big break, allowing

him to step out of the shadow of his

famous older brother and go on to bag

roles in The Young Riders, Reservoir

Dogs, and True Romance. Now, one of the

more important roles in the movie was

that of its villain, the corrupt lawman

Stockburn, which required an actor

steely enough to believably go

toe-to-toe with Eastwood on the big

screen. So, the director decided to go

with the American actor John Russell, an

ex-Marine who'd already had an

impressive career in the western genre,

even appearing in the outlaw Josie Wales

as Bloody Bill Anderson. and he proved

to be the perfect casting for Stockburn,

delivering a masterclass in restrained

menace that really elevated the tension

of the final duel. Another casting that

shouldn't be overlooked is that of

Richard Keel as club. Having previously

risen to stardom in the James Bond

franchise as the metal-mouthed henchman

Jaws. And as much as his 7-ft height was

a big reason for his casting, it did

prove problematic at times as the first

horse that he was given to ride actually

collapsed under his weight. Also, due to

ongoing back problems, the actor found

it difficult getting up into his saddle.

Hence why the preacher helps club back

onto his horse. Now, as for the team

behind the camera, Clint Eastwood opted

to hire Bruce Certis as a

cinematographer, given that he'd shot

all three of his last westerns. And once

again, he did an excellent job of

evoking the beauty and harshness of the

Old West, making use of natural light

and shadow while really capturing the

majesty of the breathtaking scenery.

However, Pale Rider proved to be the

last western that Bruce Certis ever shot

for Clint Eastwood, ending a 12-year

tradition that all started with High

Plains Drifter. So although Pale Rider

was set in California's Sierra Nevada

Gold Country, it was actually primarily

filmed in the Sawtooth Mountain Range in

central Idaho. And this proved to be a

perfect pick with the location offering

lots of majestic mountain backdrops,

untouched woodland, and secluded

valleys. It was also very convenient for

Clint Eastwood, who actually owned a

home nearby in Sun Valley. So, as

experienced as Clint Eastwood was at

filming westerns, while shooting Pale

Rider, he ended up suffering one of the

worst injuries of his career up to that

point because while filming a riding

scene, Eastwood's horse suddenly fell

through thin ice and launched the actor

forward, dislocating his shoulder. But

thankfully, Clint Eastwood made a speedy

recovery, was able to continue filming.

So Clint Eastwood was not exactly known

for including all that many direct

references to other movies in his

westerns. Yet Pale Rider includes quite

a few tributes to other famous films.

For instance, the scene in which the

preacher dispatches a group of henchmen

with an axe handle is believed to be a

reference to the samurai genre. In

particular, the work of Akira Kawasawa,

the director of Yojimbo, which served as

the direct inspiration for A Fistful of

Dollars. Also, Stockburn's men all wear

beige dusters that's very reminiscent of

the gunman that feature in the iconic

opening scene of Once Upon a Time in the

West, directed by Sergio Leone, who gave

Clint Eastwood his breakout role as the

man with no name. Also, another visual

callback can be found at the climax of

the movie when the preacher travels

alone through town towards a door that

he seems guaranteed to lose, just like

Gary Cooper in the 1952 western High

Noon. Another movie that Peril Ryder has

a lot in common with is Back to the

Future 3. For starters, they share a lot

of the same cast, including Richard

Daert, Marvin J. McIntyre, and Teddy

Conway. Even the train station in Peril

Rider is the same one that features in

Back to the Future 3. And the scene

where Stockburn's men make Spider Dance

is exactly what happens to Marty, who

funnily enough spends the entire film

using the alias of Clint Eastwood. So

once Pal Ryder was done filming, a

trailer was released to promote the

movie, which was perfectly wellreceived

in the States, but really confused

viewers in the UK because in the

trailer, a song is used called Best

Endeavors, which any Brit like me will

instantly recognize as the opening theme

music to the Channel 4 News. But because

the network failed to secure permanent

exclusivity rights to the music, it was

perfectly fine for the theme to be used

in the trailer, making for a bizarre

watch for anybody from the UK.

So, when Power Rider finally hit cinemas

in October 1985, it was very unclear how

the movie would perform given the stigma

that surrounded the genre at the time.

However, the movie ended up being a big

success, making $41.4 million at the box

office against the $6.9 million budget.

And as a result, it became one of the

highest grossing westerns of the 1980s

and proved Clint Eastwood was still a

considerable box office draw as an

action star even in his 50s. Now,

despite its strong box office showing

and popularity with general audiences,

Pale Rider didn't actually go down all

that well with critics who felt it was a

rehash of older, better westerns. For

instance, Rita Kempley of the Washington

Post said, "The trail is all too

familiar, and pretty soon we recollect

why Westerns lost their appeal."

Although other critics were a lot

kinder, such as Robert Eber of the

Chicago Sun Times, who said Eastwood

understands so well how he works on the

screen that the movie has a resonance

that probably was not even there in the

screenplay. But either way, nowadays,

Pearl Rider is regarded as one of Clint

Eastwood's most well-crafted, intriguing

westerns. has really managed to stand

the test of time. Now, as mentioned

earlier, the western genre was in a big

slump around the time that Pale Rider

was releasing. So, the media really

latched on to the idea that the genre

could be on the verge of making a

comeback, especially given that Lawrence

Casden's star-studded western Silverado

was releasing around the same time. So

the fact that both movies were

wellreceived and turned a profit was a

big boost for the genre moving forward,

paving the way for the likes of Young

Guns and Lonesome Dove, which proved

that there was still a significant

appetite for westerns even in the 80s.

So Pearl Rider ended up having quite the

legacy, eventually being nominated by

the American Film Institute as one of

the top 10 best Western films of all

time. And you can even spot posters for

the movie and other 80s films that

wanted to pay tribute to it, such as Top

Gun and National Lampoon's European

Vacation. Clint Eastwood himself also

capitalized on the buzz by launching his

own beer brand called Pale Rider Ale.

So, another knock-on effect of the

success of Pale Rider is that it's

believed to have inspired the 2007

action thriller Missionary Man starring

Dolph Lungren. And in the film, he plays

a mysterious religious gunslinger who

fights for justice for a group of Native

Americans against a greedy developer who

wants to force them off their land. But

perhaps unsurprisingly, the movie was

panned by critics and audiences alike

and would likely be all but forgotten

nowadays if not for its striking

similarity to Pale Rider. Now, a big

reason why Pale Rider has been such an

enduring success is because of its

ambiguous, open-ended story, which

offers just enough clues and hints for

you to form theories about what's going

on without ever truly confirming

anything. And at the heart of this

mystery is Clint Eastwood's character,

the Preacher, who presents himself as a

man of the cloth, despite clearly having

a violent past and a score to settle,

while also possessing powers that appear

to verge on the supernatural. So, this

has led to lots of theories about his

identity with some of the most popular

being that he's death himself, an

avenging angel, or perhaps even the

stranger from High Plains Drifter. But

Clint Eastwood did eventually open up

about the true origin of the preacher in

an interview, saying

>> he's a reincarnation of a of a preacher

who was killed by the uh the force of

evil, the uh marshall in the story. So,

it would seem that the preacher was in

fact a ghost all along, which gives a

whole new context to the movie,

especially in regards to his seemingly

superhuman abilities and his unspoken

history with the character of Stockburn,

who clearly recognizes the preacher just

before his death. So although Clint

Eastwood had well and truly made his

point that there was still an audience

out there for westerns, after Pale

Rider, he decided to once again step

away from the genre and pursue other

projects, leading some to believe that

Pale Rider was his last western.

However, little did anybody know at the

time that even while he was directing

Pale Rider, Eastwood already knew for

sure that he would be making another

western as he was secretly sitting on a

script for one that he believed could be

something really special, but required

him to be an older age for it to truly

resonate in the way that he felt it

could. And this film was of course

unforgiven, a western that many still

believe was his magnum opus as a

director and the perfect swan song for

his career in the genre. It's a hell of

a thing killing a man.

You take away all he's got

and all he's ever going to have.

Unforgiven started out as an original

screenplay titled The William Money

Killings and it was written by an upand

cominging screenwriter called David Webb

Peoples. It was apparently inspired to

write the script upon reading the 1975

western novel The Shootest, which was

later adapted into a film starring John

Wayne, in which he plays an aging

gunslinger forced to confront his past

while reckoning with the influence he

has on a younger man fascinated by his

violent reputation. Peoples also took a

lot of inspiration from Taxi Driver,

especially in regards to its grounded

approach to violence and death. However,

once he finished the script for

Unforgiven in 1976, it was not

immediately picked up. Instead, his big

break came when he was hired by Ridley

Scott to rework the script for

Bladeunner before going on to co-write

other films such as Lady Hawk and

Leviathan.

So, sometime later, the script for

Unforgiven was eventually optioned to be

made into a film by the famous director

Francis Ford Coppa, best known for The

Godfather and Apocalypse Now. And upon

acquiring the script, the director

approached actor John Malkovich about

playing the role of William Money. But

Coppa was ultimately unable to raise the

money required to develop the project,

which in hindsight proved to be a

blessing for Malovich, who said, "I

would have been a total total failure.

Who would have wanted to see that? I

wouldn't." Now, following this failed

attempt to get Unforgiven made, the

script was eventually sent to Clint

Eastwood, but it instead landed on the

desk of his trusted associate, Sonia

Churnis, who previously worked on the

story for the outlaw Josie Wales. And

after reading the script for Unforgiven,

she made it very clear to Clint Eastwood

just how much she hated it, criticizing

it for its rough language and basic

story before sending a now infamous memo

that read, "It really is an insult to

this company, which has always had high

standards, even to accept a property

like this, which isn't worth your time

or my time. I can't think of one good

thing to say about it, except maybe get

rid of it fast." But luckily, Eastwood

decided to ignore the memo and read the

script anyway. immediately falling in

love with it. So, after acquiring the

script for Unforgiven in the early 80s,

Eastwood was keen to get the movie made,

but he ultimately decided to put the

script away in a drawer for the future

and focus on other movies instead. And

apparently, the reason for this was that

although the script described the

character of William Money as a man in

his late 30s, Clint Eastwood felt that

the story would make a lot more sense if

the character was older. So, he decided

to wait until he was in his 60s before

tackling the role. And in the meantime,

he directed and starred in other popular

westerns such as The Outlaw Josie Wales

and Pale Rider, as well as numerous

other movies. But the whole time he knew

that he had Unforgiven in his back

pocket, saying, "It was kind of a little

plum I was savoring. It's like you have

something good on your plate, and you're

saying, "I'll eat this last." So, it

took until 1992 before Clint Eastwood

finally decided to direct Unforgiven,

returning to the genre that made him a

star. following a series of box office

disappointments, including The Rookie

and Pink Cadillac. Now, ever since Clint

Eastwood first read the script for

Unforgiven, he'd always been quietly

confident that the movie was going to be

something special and wanted a cast that

would reflect that. So, rather than

going for reliable, lesser-known

character actors like he'd done for most

of his previous westerns, Eastwood

instead went for bigname stars straight

off the bat. So for the role of English

Bob, Eastwood initially reached out to

Jeremy Ions, but he turned him down. So

he called Richard Harris to offer him

the role instead, who just happened to

be watching High Plains Drifter when

Eastwood called, leading him to believe

that it was a prank. But when Harris

realized that it was genuine, he

immediately said yes, later believing it

to be fate. Meanwhile, around the same

time, Morgan Freeman was filming Robin

Hood: Prince of Thieves with Kevin

Cosner, who told him that there was a

part in Unforgiven that he felt Freeman

would be perfect for. So, the actor

reached out directly to Clint Eastwood

about playing the character of Ned

Logan, which Eastwood apparently felt

was such a great fit that he didn't even

consider anyone else. Likewise, actor

Saul Rubenneck also heard about

Unforgiven while filming a romantic

comedy called Man Trouble with Jack

Nicholson, who apparently advised his

co-star to make an extra effort to

ensure his audition tape looked

professional, which ended up being the

thing that helped it stand out when

Clint Eastwood eventually picked him.

Now for the Chafield kid, Eastwood did

consider Sam Rockwell, but eventually

opted for the relatively unknown TV

actor James Wolvid, handing him the

biggest role of his career to date. And

for the role of Strawberry Alice, Clint

Eastwood cast Francis Fischer, who

happened to be dating at the time before

later having a daughter together called

Francesca Eastwood, who just recently

appeared in her father's latest film,

Jura Number Two. Now, easily the most

important casting in the movie was that

of its main antagonist, Little Bill

Daget. And Eastwood was set on the late

great Gene Hackman for the role. But

he'd actually already been approached

about starring in the film by Francis

Ford Coppa, and he just wasn't

interested, as he felt he'd already

taken on too many violent roles. But

Eastwood insisted that Hackman

reconsider, which he did, eventually

coming round to the idea of playing a

villainous lawman, as he felt that it

was timely and important after the

recent Rodney King incident in which a

black American was the victim of police

brutality. And as a result of this

change of heart, Gene Hackman absolutely

stole the show as Dagard, even winning

an Academy Award for best supporting

actor. Now, when it came to who should

shoot the movie in the past, Clint

Eastwood would have typically called

upon the services of cinematographer

Bruce Certis, who' shot all of his

westerns from Joe Kidd through to Pale

Rider. However, for Unforgiven, he

decided to go with the cinematographer

Jack N. Green, having previously worked

together on Heartbreak Ridge, The

Deadpool, and Pink Cadillac. and Green

did an excellent job using muted tones

and natural light to invoke a richly

atmospheric gritty realism that really

played into the themes of the movie. And

as a result, Unforgiven was nominated

for best cinematography at the Academy

Awards. But since then, Green has turned

his attention to shooting much more

light-hearted films such as 50 First

Dates, 40-year-old Virgin, and Hot Tub

Time Machine. Now, as for the score,

Clint Eastwood hired composer Lenny

Nyhorse, who'd met while serving in the

US Army in the 1950s. And although he

was only a jazz musician at the time, he

later worked as a composer on Pale Rider

and an orchestrator on other westerns

such as Cheato's Land and Bring Me the

Head of Alfredo Garcia. So, Eastwood

felt that he would be a perfect choice

for Unforgiven. And their working

relationship was so good that Nihorse

actually allowed Eastwood to compose the

main theme himself, laying the

foundation for them to work together

again on numerous other movies,

including Mystic River, Million-Dollar

Baby, and Gran Torino. So, despite

Unforgiven being one of the most famous

American westerns of all time, it was

actually shot entirely in Canada, even

though that was never originally the

plan. And this was apparently all

because of its cinematographer, Jack N.

Green who while working on other films

in Canada was asked by an official from

their film making union why Clint

Eastwood had never once shot a movie in

the country. So Green explained that

whenever Clint Eastwood makes a film he

always uses the same loyal crew behind

the scenes which wouldn't be possible in

Canada as shooting in a foreign country

usually requires the director to hire

locals. So after hearing this, the

Canadian Union offered Eastwood a deal

in which they would wave the normal work

rules and allow him to use his own crew

members as long as they had already

worked with him on at least five movies,

which all of his team had. As a result,

Unforgiven was ultimately filmed in

Alberta, Canada, 60 mi away from the

nearest city, providing the film with

picturesque sweeping prairies and

untouched landscapes that really added

to the visual identity of the movie.

Another advantage of shooting in Canada

was that there was plenty of room for

the fictional town of Big Whiskey. And

just like with High Plains Drifter,

Clint Eastwood insisted on building a

full scale western town, complete with

no false fronts and totally authentic

interiors, which all in all ended up

taking 32 days to construct. So given

how much effort Clint Eastwood is

putting into making Unforgiven feel like

an authentic western, he decided to go

one step further by banning all

motorized vehicles on set. And the main

reason for this was to avoid any

anacronistic tire tracks making it into

the final film. But Eastwood also

believed it would be a good way of

psychologically locking his cast and

crew into the time period, actively

encouraging them to use horses and

wagons instead of cars.

So, one big disadvantage of shooting in

Alberta is that it was an area prone to

unpredictable weather, especially rain

and flash flooding. But, ironically,

Unforgiven was filming during a rare dry

period, meaning that Clint Eastwood was

forced to fake the dramatic rainstorm

that features at the climax of the

movie. There was also an unexpected

snowstorm that hit the area towards the

end of the shoot which Eastwood smartly

decided to make the most of featuring

the snowfall in the scene where Money's

recovering from his wounds.

So once Clint Eastwood finally finished

the film, he felt compelled to dedicate

it to Sergio and Dawn. This of course

referred to the famous directors Sergio

Leone and Don Seagull with the latter

having passed away just months before

production started on Unforgiven. And

the reason Eastwood felt the need to pay

tribute to them in this way was because

he viewed them as his biggest filmmaking

mentors who between them provided him

with his most iconic roles as the man

with no name and dirty Harry. It also

proved fitting in that Unforgiven was

the first movie that Clint Eastwood had

directed that was universally regarded

as a masterpiece, cementing his

reputation as a director who was now

just as talented as the pair that he

learned his craft from. Now once

Unforgiven was complete, the finished

film was presented 4 days ahead of

schedule to Warner Brothers who were

delighted with how the movie had turned

out. But apparently there were

discussions internally between

executives about the idea of slightly

trimming its runtime. However, the

problem was that nobody had the nerve to

broach the topic to Eastwood out of fear

of how he might react. So in the end,

Unforgiven remained uncut with a run

time of 2 hours and 11 minutes. So, as

much as Clint Eastwood loved the

original script for Unforgiven, he never

actually got a chance to meet its

writer, David Webb Peoples. So, Eastwood

decided to invite the screenwriter to

the studio to watch the final film. And

when he arrived, he made the decision to

sit away from Eastwood during the

screening so that the director couldn't

see his face as he was genuinely worried

about how his script had been adapted.

But upon watching the film, he realized

that he need not have worried as he was

amazed with what Eastwood had done with

the script, saying, "Without changing a

word, Clint made the script tougher,

more uncompromising, without slickness,

and the heart was still in it. If there

was ever a picture that belonged to its

director, it's Clint Eastwood's

Unforgiven."

So, when it came time to release

Unforgiven, Clint Eastwood insisted on a

low-key pre-release campaign for the

movie, as he was apparently confident

enough in its quality that he felt it

would naturally find an audience. He

also wanted people that did go to see it

to come away from the cinema with a

sense of discovery so as to encourage

word of mouth buzz. So, following a

summer of blockbusters, including Batman

Returns, Sister Act, and Lethal Weapon

3, Unforgiven hit cinemas in August 1992

with very little fanfare. However, it

ended up having one of the highest

August opening weekends of any film up

to that point, performing better than

any Clint Eastwood film that had come

before, ultimately grossing $159.2

million on a budget of just $14.4

million. Now, despite its box office

success and popularity with general

audiences, critics were generally more

undecided about the movie. For instance,

how Hinson of the Washington Post said,

"By now, Eastwood has little more than a

paint by numbers approach to acting. As

a result, we relate to money more as a

compendium of Eastwood's earlier

characters. But easily unforgiven's most

famous detractors were the wellrespected

critics Robert Eert and Jean Cisll who

said

>> I thought that the picture really was

over overdrawn. And then I couldn't

understand some of the characters uh why

they were stuffed in there. The Richard

Harris character isn't really necessary

at all. Uh it could have been more of a

showdown with Hecman and Eastwood. I

wanted Eastwood's character to be

enlarged. Frankly, I thought he was sort

of small within the picture. um and

greatl looking to be sure but lifeless.

>> Now in fairness to their credit they did

eventually re-evaluate the movie as

Robert Eber later praised the movie in

the Chicago Sun Times saying it has the

elements of a crime picture but the

freedom of an art film. Unforgiven uses

a genre as a way to study human nature.

That implacable moral balance in which

good eventually silences evil is at the

heart of the western and Eastwood is not

shy about saying so. So nowadays,

Unforgiven is universally adored by

critics and audiences alike, and viewed

by many to be Clint Eastwood's finest

achievement as both a director and an

actor. Now, following the critical and

commercial success of Unforgiven, the

movie slowly but surely became an

unlikely awards contender. And the

reason it was unlikely was because

westerns were typically overlooked in

that regard. Despite his long memorable

career in cinema, Clint Eastwood had

never so much as been nominated for an

Oscar, leading him to believe that he

would never win one. But that all

changed with Unforgiven, as it was

nominated in nine categories at the 65th

Academy Awards, winning Oscars for best

picture, director, supporting actor, and

film editing. So, not only was

Unforgiven the first Clint Eastwood

movie to win an Oscar, but it was also

the third Western in history to ever win

best picture alongside Simmeran and

Dances with Wolves.

So, over 20 years after the release of

Unforgiven, the iconic western got an

unexpected Japanese language remake

starring Ken Watanabi, which essentially

transported the plot into a samurai

movie set in postfudal Japan. Yet,

despite this, the movie manages to

retain the tone and moral complexity of

the original while hitting most of the

same story beats and at times even

recreating shots from Unforgiven. So,

the movie went down really well with

critics and audiences alike, boasting

beautiful cinematography and excellent

performances. It also proved to be a

fitting fullcircle moment in that Clint

Eastwood would never have risen to

stardom in the western genre if not for

his breakout role in A Fistful of

Dollars, which was famously an

unofficial remake of a Japanese samurai

movie called Yo Jimbo. So given all the

themes of aging and redemption that

Unforgiven explores, many naturally

assumed that the movie was intended to

be Clint Eastwood's final western. But

that wasn't necessarily the case because

at no point during its production did

Eastwood consciously view the film as

his farewell to the genre. Although on

reflection, he conceded that if he were

to try and make another western, it

would likely end up being either a

rehash of previous plot lines or an

imitation of someone else's work,

leading him to say that if there is

going to be a last one, this is a

perfect one. So outside of his 2021

neo-western cry macho, Clint Eastwood

has never properly returned to the

western genre, despite continuing to act

and direct well into his 90s. But this

restraint has only made Unforgiven feel

all the more significant, as Eastwood

managed to leave the genre on an

all-time high, ultimately respecting the

fact that Unforgiven was the perfect

conclusion to his legendary career in a

genre that he'll forever be the face of.

But let me know below. Do you think he

should have made another western or was

Unforgiven really the perfect ending?

And if you made it this far, thank you

so much for watching and it would be

massively appreciated if you could leave

the video a like. Also, if you're a fan

of Clint Eastwood, you might want to

check out this video right here.