DVD Patrol: Our favorite Eastwood movies
Go ahead and make my Patrol! One of the biggest icons in movies over the past 50 years is “Dirty Harry” himself, Clint Eastwood. From early roles in TV like Rowdy Yates on “Rawhide” and playing the hero in roles like “The Outlaw Josey Wales” and “High Plains Drifter” to acting and directing in movies such as “Space Cowboys” and “Gran Turino,” Eastwood’s amassed such a range of work over the last 50 years. Finding such an actor with a resume like this is unheard of today, but the man is still going. The Patrol Trail Boss, the Toddster, has brought his posse together and they’ve given their favorite Eastwood movies and memories right here. Do you feel lucky? Take a look.
PATRICK NEWELL
“Million Dollar Baby” 2004
As a young kid, watching Clint Eastwood for the first time, I failed to comprehend the significance of his presence on the silver screen. It was one of those “Dirty Harry” movies that established Eastwood as a tough on-screen hero who was more than willing to shoot down a bad guy. Eastwood was the forerunner to future stars cast in tough-guy hero roles such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I have to thank my dad for piquing my interest in future Eastwood flicks. I cannot think of too many movies over the past 30 years in which Eastwood starred that I missed. His mere presence in any celluloid feature – even his turns in “Bronco Billy” “Any Which Way but Loose” – made the caliber of it much better.
Over the last decade, Eastwood has spent more time behind the camera than in front of it. I was glad he stepped out in 2004 to play aging boxing trainer Frankie Dunn, who takes Hilary Swank’s “Maggie Fitzgerald,” and transforms her from a struggling waitress to a contender.
This movie was more than Clint Eastwood in another starring vehicle (he also won the Oscar for best director), but a brilliantly told story where you find yourself completely invested in each character. Morgan Freeman plays a former boxer who is long on advice and experience, but short on the amenities of life – even socks without holes.
While this story has a sports theme, it’s not a pure sports story. It’s about friendship; it’s about a bond that develops between a young woman with a horrific family and a father figure who finds an outlet to appease a fractured relationship with his own daughter. It’s about love, courage, and perseverance against long odds, and it’s about the reality of a brutal sport that can lead to tragedy.
“Million Dollar Baby” justly won the Oscar for best picture, but the sentimentalist in me wished it had a happier ending.
BRIAN GOLDEN
“Gran Turino” 2008
Nothing is more inspiring to me than someone ending a prolific career while at the top of their game, and the Clint Eastwood directed Gran Torino (he has stated this movie will be his last as an actor) is an excellent example of this.
When I first saw the trailer for this 2008 release, with Clint speaking the gruff words “get off my lawn” in that unmistakable gravely voice (while holding a rifle no less), I immediately imagined this movie would be a kind of “Dirty Harry as an old man.” It would be bloody and violent, with a copious amount of clear-cut bad guys for Clint to gun down.
What can I say, I was way off.
Instead, this movie is an inspiring piece of work documenting elderly Korean War veteran and retired auto worker Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), who recently lost his wife, thinks the neighborhood has gone down the tubes (as it’s populated primarily by the Hmong people now) and really just wants to be left alone with his dog, the occasional smoke and his Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Things change quickly when Walt finds his young neighbor, Thao, attempting to steal his beloved 1972 Gran Torino, which only increases his racist attitude. However, when Walt realizes Thao and his older sister Sue don’t have a chance for a meaningful life growing up in the gang infested neighborhood, he gradually forms a bond with the family next door and takes the young man under his wing.
As the movie winds toward its end, Walt discovers he has lung cancer and decides, after the beating and rape of Sue, to take matters into his own hands, even if it’s in a way viewers least expect.
An absolutely wonderful motion picture which should’ve won Oscars by the handful, I highly recommend this flick, which teaches us we’re never too old to learn to love and that sacrifice can be a noble and honorable thing.
MELISSA STAGNARO
“Magnum Force” 1973
Clint Eastwood and I go way back. My father, who, incidentally, bears a striking resemblance to the actor, has always been a huge fan. Which is why I can claim to have seen each and every one of his movies at least a dozen times each.
I thoroughly enjoyed the “spaghetti westerns” which elevated Eastwood to movie stardom, but the Dirty Harry movies are my all time favorite.
My coworkers were disappointed in my choice not to select the 1971 movie in which Eastwood first portrayed this title role. But my favorite installment of the series is Magnum Force (1973), the second movie in which he played the 44-wielding, rough and ready San Francisco homicide inspector Harry Callahan.
Callahan returns to a city under siege by criminals who seem immune to prosecution. Frustrations run deep as law enforcement and the people they are sworn to protect and serve begin to question why the criminals seem to have more rights than the populace. When a string of vigilante style murders takes place, Callahan begins to suspect the perpetrator may very well be one of their own. Still sidelined by his lieutenant for his attitude and insubordination, Dirty Harry takes matters into his own hands and finds himself up against a group of rogue motor cycle cops who have set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner. But not before he foils the plot of a couple of home-grown terrorists set on hijacking an airplane bound for New York. It’s moments like those, and lines like, “a man’s got to know his limitations,” make the movie as memorable as the first installment in the series.
TYLER MURPHY
“Unforgiven” 1992
The wildest of days in the west are slowly being eclipsed by a more modern time and a murdering gunfighter retired from his bloody past finds himself tempted by a good cause and justice to again pick up the revolver. But nothing is as simple as is seems, especially for the infamous outlaw William Munny (Clint Eastwood). Like in so many roles, Eastwood’s few words, cold glances and rugged demeanor fill the shoes of an intimidating killer like few can.
The movie, as its title implies, focuses on Munny constantly coping with his dark and cruel deeds- on even his own account he’s slaughtered men, women and children without a second of remorse. None except Munny’s closest and only friend Ned (Morgan Freeman) believe he’s reformed.
Having fallen in love with a good woman many years earlier, Munny gave up all the violence in his life to raise a family. His wife died young and now he’s left with two young children and a struggling pig farm. Munny looks toward a more glorious life for his son and daughter. The movies starts with a lone rider, The Schofield Kid, offering to collect a bounty with Munny on two drunken cowboys accused of brutally slashing up a call girl’s face.
After much internal debate and grief over his wife’s anit-violence stance Munny takes the job for his kid’s sake figuring the two cowboys deserve it anyway.
As the plot develops with Ned, The Kid and Munny tracking the two cowboys the entire story line changes from classic western of good versus evil to the gray reality I love so much in great movies.
The cowboys turn out to be not-so-bad blue-collar-productive members of society that had a very bad night of drinking and the sheriff of their town, Little Bill (Gene Hackman) becomes obsessed with protecting the two men and punishing the bounty hunters coming to collect on their heads, referring to them as “bad men.” Hackman’s methods of keeping the peace involved armed posses, torture and several other harsh tactics in a time of harsh reality. Not that Munny, Ned or the Kid are saints, no one in this movie is.
After learning the details of the incident Munny still decides to kill the two cowboys because his kids still need a future. As the film comes to what I can only describe as one of the best western climaxes ever, you see Munny’s evil colors come to bear. After Ned gets cold feet on killing one of the cowboys he heads home but is picked up by a very vindictive sheriff who’s dealing with the fresh murder of one of his community members. What happens to Freeman’s character next isn’t nice. Even the boasting, puffed up Kid gets second thoughts after they murder the second cowboy and he has a hard time dealing with the guilt. Again the movie offers an opportunity to see Eastwood’s true character.
It’s harsh, it’s real, it won’t disappoint. Watch it.
TODD CAMPBELL
“Firefox” (1982)
It’s never easy trying to find a number #1 movie you like. Especially for an actor who’s been around for years and has so many to choose from. When I came up with this one, it sure wasn’t easy. My father was always a big Clint Eastwood fan. We went to a few movies when I was a kid and this one always stands out. We went to the Hamilton Theater to see it and when you’re an 11 year old, movies are just magic.
Eastwood plays Michell Gant. Gant was an Air Force officer who served in Vietnam and was caught by the enemy. During a raid to save prisoners of war, an air strike came in and he witnessed a little girl lose her life which convinced him that he would never fly again. Never say never. The U.S Government needs him again to serve his country. Intelligence reports have surfaced that the Russians have developed a new type of aircraft with a new type of weapons system that has a thought guided system that the pilot operates.
Our Government thinks that Gant is the only one that can pull it off. As he works his way into Russia, Gant meets many people who work to make sure that he can do his job. After he gets to the plane, it becomes a game of cat and mouse to see if the Russians can stop him before he gets away with their pride and joy. Can he do it?
Eastwood produced, directed, and starred in this one. Rumors around the business always suggest that he might be something of a control freak but this guy really makes it work for him. He’ll always be one of my favorites
Our Toddster team-ups always bring quite a range of movies but my posse always does an amazing job and I’m proud to do these once a month with them. Next week a lot of great and new DVDs including a new one with a certain caped crusader, a Greek god, and a motorcycle riding crimefighter. What will be here? Be here next time. The Toddster shall be back.
PATRICK NEWELL
“Million Dollar Baby” 2004
As a young kid, watching Clint Eastwood for the first time, I failed to comprehend the significance of his presence on the silver screen. It was one of those “Dirty Harry” movies that established Eastwood as a tough on-screen hero who was more than willing to shoot down a bad guy. Eastwood was the forerunner to future stars cast in tough-guy hero roles such as Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger.
I have to thank my dad for piquing my interest in future Eastwood flicks. I cannot think of too many movies over the past 30 years in which Eastwood starred that I missed. His mere presence in any celluloid feature – even his turns in “Bronco Billy” “Any Which Way but Loose” – made the caliber of it much better.
Over the last decade, Eastwood has spent more time behind the camera than in front of it. I was glad he stepped out in 2004 to play aging boxing trainer Frankie Dunn, who takes Hilary Swank’s “Maggie Fitzgerald,” and transforms her from a struggling waitress to a contender.
This movie was more than Clint Eastwood in another starring vehicle (he also won the Oscar for best director), but a brilliantly told story where you find yourself completely invested in each character. Morgan Freeman plays a former boxer who is long on advice and experience, but short on the amenities of life – even socks without holes.
While this story has a sports theme, it’s not a pure sports story. It’s about friendship; it’s about a bond that develops between a young woman with a horrific family and a father figure who finds an outlet to appease a fractured relationship with his own daughter. It’s about love, courage, and perseverance against long odds, and it’s about the reality of a brutal sport that can lead to tragedy.
“Million Dollar Baby” justly won the Oscar for best picture, but the sentimentalist in me wished it had a happier ending.
BRIAN GOLDEN
“Gran Turino” 2008
Nothing is more inspiring to me than someone ending a prolific career while at the top of their game, and the Clint Eastwood directed Gran Torino (he has stated this movie will be his last as an actor) is an excellent example of this.
When I first saw the trailer for this 2008 release, with Clint speaking the gruff words “get off my lawn” in that unmistakable gravely voice (while holding a rifle no less), I immediately imagined this movie would be a kind of “Dirty Harry as an old man.” It would be bloody and violent, with a copious amount of clear-cut bad guys for Clint to gun down.
What can I say, I was way off.
Instead, this movie is an inspiring piece of work documenting elderly Korean War veteran and retired auto worker Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), who recently lost his wife, thinks the neighborhood has gone down the tubes (as it’s populated primarily by the Hmong people now) and really just wants to be left alone with his dog, the occasional smoke and his Pabst Blue Ribbon.
Things change quickly when Walt finds his young neighbor, Thao, attempting to steal his beloved 1972 Gran Torino, which only increases his racist attitude. However, when Walt realizes Thao and his older sister Sue don’t have a chance for a meaningful life growing up in the gang infested neighborhood, he gradually forms a bond with the family next door and takes the young man under his wing.
As the movie winds toward its end, Walt discovers he has lung cancer and decides, after the beating and rape of Sue, to take matters into his own hands, even if it’s in a way viewers least expect.
An absolutely wonderful motion picture which should’ve won Oscars by the handful, I highly recommend this flick, which teaches us we’re never too old to learn to love and that sacrifice can be a noble and honorable thing.
MELISSA STAGNARO
“Magnum Force” 1973
Clint Eastwood and I go way back. My father, who, incidentally, bears a striking resemblance to the actor, has always been a huge fan. Which is why I can claim to have seen each and every one of his movies at least a dozen times each.
I thoroughly enjoyed the “spaghetti westerns” which elevated Eastwood to movie stardom, but the Dirty Harry movies are my all time favorite.
My coworkers were disappointed in my choice not to select the 1971 movie in which Eastwood first portrayed this title role. But my favorite installment of the series is Magnum Force (1973), the second movie in which he played the 44-wielding, rough and ready San Francisco homicide inspector Harry Callahan.
Callahan returns to a city under siege by criminals who seem immune to prosecution. Frustrations run deep as law enforcement and the people they are sworn to protect and serve begin to question why the criminals seem to have more rights than the populace. When a string of vigilante style murders takes place, Callahan begins to suspect the perpetrator may very well be one of their own. Still sidelined by his lieutenant for his attitude and insubordination, Dirty Harry takes matters into his own hands and finds himself up against a group of rogue motor cycle cops who have set themselves up as judge, jury and executioner. But not before he foils the plot of a couple of home-grown terrorists set on hijacking an airplane bound for New York. It’s moments like those, and lines like, “a man’s got to know his limitations,” make the movie as memorable as the first installment in the series.
TYLER MURPHY
“Unforgiven” 1992
The wildest of days in the west are slowly being eclipsed by a more modern time and a murdering gunfighter retired from his bloody past finds himself tempted by a good cause and justice to again pick up the revolver. But nothing is as simple as is seems, especially for the infamous outlaw William Munny (Clint Eastwood). Like in so many roles, Eastwood’s few words, cold glances and rugged demeanor fill the shoes of an intimidating killer like few can.
The movie, as its title implies, focuses on Munny constantly coping with his dark and cruel deeds- on even his own account he’s slaughtered men, women and children without a second of remorse. None except Munny’s closest and only friend Ned (Morgan Freeman) believe he’s reformed.
Having fallen in love with a good woman many years earlier, Munny gave up all the violence in his life to raise a family. His wife died young and now he’s left with two young children and a struggling pig farm. Munny looks toward a more glorious life for his son and daughter. The movies starts with a lone rider, The Schofield Kid, offering to collect a bounty with Munny on two drunken cowboys accused of brutally slashing up a call girl’s face.
After much internal debate and grief over his wife’s anit-violence stance Munny takes the job for his kid’s sake figuring the two cowboys deserve it anyway.
As the plot develops with Ned, The Kid and Munny tracking the two cowboys the entire story line changes from classic western of good versus evil to the gray reality I love so much in great movies.
The cowboys turn out to be not-so-bad blue-collar-productive members of society that had a very bad night of drinking and the sheriff of their town, Little Bill (Gene Hackman) becomes obsessed with protecting the two men and punishing the bounty hunters coming to collect on their heads, referring to them as “bad men.” Hackman’s methods of keeping the peace involved armed posses, torture and several other harsh tactics in a time of harsh reality. Not that Munny, Ned or the Kid are saints, no one in this movie is.
After learning the details of the incident Munny still decides to kill the two cowboys because his kids still need a future. As the film comes to what I can only describe as one of the best western climaxes ever, you see Munny’s evil colors come to bear. After Ned gets cold feet on killing one of the cowboys he heads home but is picked up by a very vindictive sheriff who’s dealing with the fresh murder of one of his community members. What happens to Freeman’s character next isn’t nice. Even the boasting, puffed up Kid gets second thoughts after they murder the second cowboy and he has a hard time dealing with the guilt. Again the movie offers an opportunity to see Eastwood’s true character.
It’s harsh, it’s real, it won’t disappoint. Watch it.
TODD CAMPBELL
“Firefox” (1982)
It’s never easy trying to find a number #1 movie you like. Especially for an actor who’s been around for years and has so many to choose from. When I came up with this one, it sure wasn’t easy. My father was always a big Clint Eastwood fan. We went to a few movies when I was a kid and this one always stands out. We went to the Hamilton Theater to see it and when you’re an 11 year old, movies are just magic.
Eastwood plays Michell Gant. Gant was an Air Force officer who served in Vietnam and was caught by the enemy. During a raid to save prisoners of war, an air strike came in and he witnessed a little girl lose her life which convinced him that he would never fly again. Never say never. The U.S Government needs him again to serve his country. Intelligence reports have surfaced that the Russians have developed a new type of aircraft with a new type of weapons system that has a thought guided system that the pilot operates.
Our Government thinks that Gant is the only one that can pull it off. As he works his way into Russia, Gant meets many people who work to make sure that he can do his job. After he gets to the plane, it becomes a game of cat and mouse to see if the Russians can stop him before he gets away with their pride and joy. Can he do it?
Eastwood produced, directed, and starred in this one. Rumors around the business always suggest that he might be something of a control freak but this guy really makes it work for him. He’ll always be one of my favorites
Our Toddster team-ups always bring quite a range of movies but my posse always does an amazing job and I’m proud to do these once a month with them. Next week a lot of great and new DVDs including a new one with a certain caped crusader, a Greek god, and a motorcycle riding crimefighter. What will be here? Be here next time. The Toddster shall be back.
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