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CLINT
EASTWOOD - The Director |
 For Clint Eastwood, directing was something he
was determined to do from his very first days as an actor. It
was a process which intrigued him since the day he first
walked onto a soundstage. When starting out as a Universal
Contract Player in 1955, he found himself with a lot of
"Down/Dead Time" when on set.
He was being cast in roles
essentially one step up from an extra. His speaking roles
usually consisted of a couple lines, or more often, less, thus
the need to learn his lines, spend time in costumes, makeup,
and such, were minimal to say the least. Unlike the majority
of extras and bit players, he refrained from reading the
newspaper, playing cards, or "shooting the breeze" with others
of his ilk, choosing instead to observe all aspects of motion
picture production. It was fortunate that his early exuberance
and inquisitiveness in the processes of filmmaking usually
weren't rebuffed or ignored by the Directors with whom he
worked in his early days. He had the good fortune to work with
some of the industry's finest pro's, even at the very
beginning of his career.
C lint's very first contact with the movie
business helped his future directing career as much as his
beginning acting career. Clint's first
experience and education was at Universal, much under the
tutelage of his first mentor, Art Lubin. Fast and efficient,
minimal budget, not much different than television
productions. This style coincided nicely with Clint's economic
sensibilities.
 Lubin appreciated the young
actor's interest in his craft and enjoyed sharing his
professional experience.
Clint's next big break in his acting
career proved to be the same for his future as a director.
Break number two was when he was signed to play Rowdy Yates in
the new CBS western series, "Rawhide", This was a one hour
TV series, produced by a major network, which
immediately became one of television's biggest hits, remaining
on top for most of it's seven year run. Consequently, the
budgets were as high as any for television, which enabled the
producers to hire some of the best directors working in
Hollywood at the time.
Directors would come and go on Rawhide,
the old pros and the young hotshots, the hacks and the caring
craftsmen, Clint studied them all. Old veterans from motion
pictures, some of the best up and coming talents, budding
auteurs, they all worked on "Rawhide" at one time or another.
And Clint soaked up all the "does and don'ts" over the years.
In the later years of the show's run, Clint wanted to direct
some "Rawhide" episodes, but the producers never embraced the
idea. He did get to direct some promos and trailers for the
show.
"The things
that impress you, you remember and use yourself,"
"and
the things that don't impress you, you discard."
After
seven long years on the series, he got to see them all. Unlike
a film school graduate, or budding auteur, Clint learned the
trade from a pragmatic, professional view, always aware of
budgeting, scheduling, and the other aspects of both producing
and directing, an education that would serve him well in the
future. Consequently, he is known for always being on budget
and usually ahead of schedule. Actors love working with him
because, being an actor himself, he allows them to find their
own character interpretations, with just the occasional,
supportive suggestion.
 As intelligent and talented
as Clint Eastwood might be, I'm sure he would be the first to
acknowledge how fortunate he has been in his career choices.
Just as "Rawhide" had provided such a huge professional step
for him seven years earlier, his next step would be even
bigger. "Rawhide" had made him a television star and young
American heartthrob, but he recognized the professional
hazards he was about to face as "Rawhide" had run its course
over seven years. Even the biggest of television stars seldom
make the transition to Motion Picture stars. Typecasting is
prevalent throughout the industry and success on television
can pigeonhole an actor for the rest of their career. Because
the TV star is seen in the homes of America on a weekly basis,
fans naturally tend to equate an actor with the role he plays.
Can you imagine Roy Rogers cast as a rapist or murderer? Clint
was certainly aware of the dilemma when he accepted his role
in then unknown Italian
director, Sergio Leone's, film, "Per un Pugno di Dollari"
during the 1964 hiatus of "Rawhide". Once again, this
decision would prove to be successful beyond anyone's
expectations.
SERGIO
LEONE
Clint had the good fortune to work
with a foreign director / screenwriter who had learned his
craft working on low cost foreign "sword and
sandal" historical epics which were popular throughout the
fifties. Leone also worked as an assistant director on several
large-scale, high-profile Hollywood productions, a.k.a.
"runaway productions", filmed at Rome's Cinecittą Studios,
notably "Quo Vadis" (1951) (in which a teenaged Sophia
Loren appeared in a small role) and Academy Award winning
mega-hit, "Ben-Hur" in 1959. As a result, he was well equipped to
produce low-budget films which looked and felt like Hollywood
spectaculars. In the early 1960s, demand for historical epics
collapsed, and Leone was now fortunate enough to be at the
forefront of the genre which replaced it in the public's
affections: "The Western". It was the synergistic pairing of
Eastwood and Leone that was responsible for returning the
western to the level it had enjoyed in American cinema for the
past forty years. Once again, Clint had the good fortune to
work with a director known for his scheduling and budgeting
skills, but this time, one whose talent for panorama and
spectacle were well respected, but were destined to be
overshadowed by his long, slow, very tight, facial close-ups.
Leone also displayed an extraordinary ability to assimilate
his soundtrack into these close-up scenes to intensify the
dramatic impact. Leone also had the good taste to secure the
Italian master of cinema soundtracks, Ennio Morricone.
As if by destiny, Eastwood again was
fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from a master of
the trade.
 Not only to learn, but to
collaborate with him on so many levels. "A Fistful of
Dollars" established a screen persona which was to
become the foundation for Clint's career for decades. Most of
the costuming was Clint's (He brought the serape/poncho from
home to Spain), adding the cigar later. Leone utilized Clint's
face and movement to accent the character and Clint didn't
balk at the reduction of his dialogue when Leone chose to use
those silent facial close ups throughout the film. The
resultant anti-hero character was unlike anything previously
seen in the 40 plus year old western genre.
By the release of "The Good,
The Bad And The Ugly" (the third and final of Leone's
trilogy of "Spaghetti Westerns") in 1966, Clint Eastwood was
an international film star, one who could now choose his next
project. What better time to establish his role as Producer.
His production company, Malpaso Productions (name Malpaso is
derived from a creek south of Carmel, California, where
Eastwood has spent much of his life), was formed and Clint
hung his shingle, quickly signing a deal with United Artists.
For his first U.S. film, he wisely
selected a
Western
 "Hang 'Em
High" (1968)
Tagline: "The hanging
was the best show in town. But they made two mistakes. They
hung the wrong man and they didn't finish the job".
Plot Outline: "When an
innocent man barely survives a lynching, he returns as a
lawman determined to bring the vigilantes to
justice."
Does something sound familiar here? The "Man
With No Name" was being resurrected as an
innocent man, Jed Cooper, who survives a lynching, and comes
back as Marshal Jed Cooper, to see that "justice is done"
(revenge?). The film's presentation of the
contrast of the moral undercurrent of justice: "by a dirty
rope on the plain, or a judge in a robe standing before the
American flag" was rather striking, and continued in the
tradition of Leone's "Dollar Trilogy".
Eastwood's innate
wisdom led him to hold up on his direction aspirations for the
moment and look to his experience for the right man to direct
Malpaso
Productions' first film. The obvious choice, Sergio Leone, was
considered but he was working on "C'era una volta il
West" (Once Upon A Time in the West), the Bernardo
Bertolucci scripted epic which would become known as Leone's
"Masterpiece". Clint then turned to Ted Post, one of the
directors that he truly respected from his "Rawhide" days. In
addition to the four episodes of "Rawhide", Post had also
directed episodes of most of the top TV westerns, including
"Zane Grey Theater", "The Rifleman", "The Virginian", "The
Peacemaker", "The Westerner", 17 episodes of "Gunsmoke", and
of course, "Wagon Train". This guy knew westerns, and had
worked within television budgets for over 16 years. With a
cast of seasoned western character actors (Dennis Hopper,
Bruce Dern, Alan Hale Jr., Pat Hingle) the project was an
obvious success and established Eastwood as a producer, but
Clint still aspired for that director's
recognition.
DON
SIEGEL
"Hang Em High" was just the first of Eastwood's
many filmic collaborations with his ex-Rawhide crew. His next
film, "Coogan's Bluff" (Don Siegel, 1968), represented
a significant moment in the movement towards his subsequent
career as a director. It was the first of five films directed
by Don Siegel in which he was to appear, and these
collaborations helped to shape the development of Eastwood's
own directorial style and practice. His debut as a director
came with "Play Misty for Me" (1971), in which he gave
Siegel his first acting role, as a way of thanking the
director for sponsoring his application for membership in the
Directors Guild.
"Coogan's
Bluff" provided a stepping stone into the present day for
Clint Eastwood. The character he plays is not totally removed
from "The Man With No Name", but he is placed in an alien
environment; he is about half-way between his Western persona
and the character of Harry Callahan, which he would take up a
couple of years later. The fish-out-of-water scenario is an
effective one, and Clint portrays very effectively Coogan's
bemusement at the differences of the big city. Like Harry
Callahan, Coogan has a problem with red tape and authority,
and like nearly all of the characters Clint has portrayed,
there are definite character flaws, which make him more
believable and accessible to the common man. The film also
marked Clint's first work with director Don Siegel, a man who
was to prove very influential to Clint's directorial style.
Already Clint was very interested in the directorial process:
he passed on tips to Siegel that he had learned from watching
Sergio Leone at work, and he also got involved by helping to
choreograph and film the pool room fight, a superb piece of
action cinema.
After "Play Misty For
Me"  Clint continued to appear in films
directed by others. This was usually due to attractive
financial offers for sure-fire action films which often
contained provisions for studio support on his less commercial
ventures.
Eastwood started directing just a few
years after making his name as a movie star, although his
presence as an actor in the majority of these early projects
tended to eclipse his directorial achievements. Nevertheless,
by the mid-1970s he was already starting to be recognized as a
talented director with a consistent and idiosyncratic style.
This critical recognition was enhanced by his movement away
from genre pictures, as he showed instead an increasing
predilection for less commercial projects such as
"Bird" (1988) and "White Hunter, Black Heart"
(1990). His position as one of America's most respected
directors was cemented by his receipt of an Oscar for
directing "Unforgiven" (1992), which received
widespread critical approbation as well as achieving his
highest box office as either a director or a
star.
Thus,
Clint completed his education with Sergio Leone, and with
Don Siegel, the veteran American action director with whom he
made five films. He now was confident of his skills and has
directed almost every film he has appeared in
since.
"Unforgiven"
the picture for which Clint won his directorial
Academy Award,
which Clint, appropriately dedicated:
"To
Sergio and Don."
SOME FILMS:
The Gauntlet (1977)
The Enforcer (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974)
Magnum Force (1973)
High Plains Drifter (1972)
Joe Kidd (1972)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Play Misty For Me (1971)
The Beguiled (1971)
Kelly's Heroes (1970)
Two Mules For Sister Sara (1969)
Paint Your Wagon (1969)
Where Eagles Dare (1968)
Coogan's Bluff
(1968)
Hang 'Em High (1968)
MORE ON DON
SIEGEL:
Don Siegel's
forty-nine year career has produced some of the most memorable
films of the American cinema. The seminal prison movie
"Riot in Cell Block 11" (1954), the much imitated
sci-fi classic "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956),
the uncompromising war movie "Hell is for Heroes"
(1962) and the controversial cop thriller "Dirty
Harry" (1971) are just a few examples of the range of his
work.
Although a significant number of his feature
films have retained great popularity and his name has come to
be well known amongst film fans, there is little consistency
in the ways in which the director and his work have been
accounted for. From reading the critics, one might almost
think there were at least two Don Siegel's: at one extreme, a
workmanlike director of taut action films, technically
proficient but imparting little of his own individuality into
each project; at the other, a right-wing misogynist whose
films explicitly fan inflammatory social debates.
While his
later status as a producer-director may seem a far cry from
montage and second unit work at Warner Brothers, throughout
his career Siegel maintained some of the working methods he
had developed at that time. These practices are manifest both
in choice and execution of projects. Familiar with the
constraints of limited time, money and access to actors, he
learned to shoot fast, reportedly managing up to 55 camera
set-ups in a single day. Such productivity was possible only
by scrupulous pre-planning although, as his experience
developed, he describes the adoption of “a freer style in
which I adapted myself more to what the actor did”. This
is in spite of continuing efforts to ensure the script was
perfected before shooting started. His economical production
technique extended to editing in camera. Like the meticulous
planning of shots, it was cost-effective and also helped
maximize his creative control by limiting the scope for
producers to re-edit footage.
Instead of incessantly replicating a
particular style or pace of cutting, Siegel demonstrates an
ability to tailor his technique to the demands of theme and
narrative. Thus such character pieces as "The Beguiled"
(1971) and "The Shootist" (1976) range between their
domination by a relatively sedate camera and editing style and
rapidly cut scenes of dramatic physical action.
Siegel's films have often courted controversy
in their address of contemporary social and political issues.
As I have noted, the disavowal, so common in his films, of any
fundamental difference between hero and villain has often
proved pivotal to such debates.
John Baxter writes of the triangle Siegel
creates between hero, villain and viewer from a slightly
different perspective when he argues that in both “his
murderers and vigilantes… he encourages us to see mirrored our
own urges for violence and anarchy” . He continues:
"What Siegel illustrates in his work is the
implicit contract that exists between criminals and society.
We need criminals to act out our own fantasies of violence.
Siegel finds proof of this symbiosis in our legal system, an
imperfect tool which we ourselves sabotage. His films mock its
structures. The police force in "Madigan" [1968] is corrupt.
"Riot in Cell Block 11" and "Escape from Alcatraz" [1979]
attack the prison system. "Coogan's Bluff", like "Dirty
Harry", parodies sociology, legal procedure, and especially
the concept of rehabilitation."
*--John Baxter, “Dirty Harry” in Tom
Pendergast and Sara Pendergast (eds.), International
Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers: Films, Detroit: St James's
Press, 2000.
In Hollywood, as elsewhere, notions of good
and evil prove to be ideologically determined.
The
consistent ability of Siegel's best works to operate as
superlative entertainment as well as to provoke debate decades
after their production is a testament to his position as one
of Hollywood cinema's most interesting and accomplished
directors.
Neither of these assessments seems entirely
flattering. Yet one of the fascinations of Don Siegel's films
has been their consistent ability to provoke debate, at the
same time as skillfully delivering the pleasures required of
the action genres (war, thriller, western and so forth) in
which he regularly worked. The multitude of ways in which it
is possible to engage with these films is apparent in the
range of critical responses cited here. Through this range we
can also begin to appreciate the extent to which different
ways of approaching film authorship have helped to shape
Siegel's reputation as a director.
Siegel, like most of the
great American directors of the classic age, was a
'vernacularist', a man who worked in the humblest
genres--westerns, crime stories, science fiction. He took
strength from their sturdy conventions, while imparting to
them freshness, energy, and conviction, through his efficient
staging, his brisk cutting, his inherent belief in the
viability of the action tradition.
Of the
two directors who were mentors to Eastwood, Sergio Leone and
Don Siegel, the latter proved to be the more important
influence. Clint, who is an impatient man, easily bored on a
set, particularly loved Siegel's quickness.
"He knew exactly what
he wanted to shoot, and he would do no more. His influence on
me was being decisive in what you want to do and what your
program is for the film. He was terrific that way."
Most
of Eastwood's work has followed this same, practical
pattern.
For his first foray in
direction, Eastwood started with a small, economically
practical production, "Play Misty for Me" in 1971.
Armed with a solid script, the film was a scary story of
obsessive love that he shot near his home in Carmel with a
small cast (for luck, and in case he needed guidance, he had
Siegel play a small role in it). Next came "Breezy", a
sweet little May-September romance that starred William Holden
and Kay Lenz. Like "Misty", most of it was shot close
to home, this time in Laurel Canyon (a famed LA canyon between
the San Fernando Valley and Hollywood), and again on a low
budget.
He
directed two other slightly more expansive films ("High
Plains Drifter" and "The Eiger Sanction")
before tackling his first epic, "The Outlaw Josey
Wales", a strong confident film which was critically
lauded and finally established, beyond a doubt, his
credentials as a major motion picture director.
In the
years since, Clint has directed just about every kind of
movie--westerns, comedies, cop dramas, even a biopic--and it
would be easy to categorize him simply as a genre director.
But neither 'Pale Rider" nor "Unforgiven" is a
conventional western; "Bronco Billy" is unlike most
contemporary comedies in both tone and topic; "The
Gauntlet", with its befuddled, loser hero, unlike most cop
pictures; "Bird", much darker, less celebratory and
sentimental than most artist biographies. Maybe "Honkytonk
Man" is a road picture, maybe at heart "Heartbreak
Ridge" is a service comedy, "White "Hunter, Black
Heart", a safari adventure, "The Bridges of Madison
County", an old-fashioned romance. But none fits neatly
into a broad genre category.
"Bird" and
"Unforgiven" are the most profoundly surprising and the
most personal of his films. The former, a biography of Charlie
Parker, the self-taught, self-destructive musician making his
way up out of rural poverty to play his revolutionary music in
the jazz clubs during the '40s and '50s, is Clint's weightiest
movie. At once compassionate and objective, the film provides
a meditation on the life and work of an artist that the
director, himself a self-taught musician and a passionate
devotee of modern jazz, admired from the moment he first heard
"Bird" in concert in 1946. The film pays full tribute to the
man's genius and the sweetness of his spirit, yet offers no
easy excuses or sentimental explanations for his suicidal
behavior. "Bird", as Clint sees it, is a tragedy about
a man refusing to take responsibility for himself and his
gifts--a quality that often elicits Clint's puzzled
reflections, attributed, no doubt, to the fact that it is the
opposite of his easy-going, but always responsible, approach
to life.
"Unforgiven" can be read as a
movie in which Clint acknowledges responsibility for certain
aspects of his own life. Essentially, the film is a story
about the varied ways that a man might unintentionally drift
into violence. This path might be due to a misunderstanding,
maybe from a reckless state of machismo, or through misplaced
pride and moral rigidity. Whatever the causes of this violent
state, this film presents its costs, something seldom
unacknowledged in the majority of movies in the genre.
Clint, himself, confesses his guilt in that regard, with his
previous violence-laden films. "Unforgiven" addresses
the consequences of violence head-on, something missing in the
history of both the Western and "Police Shoot 'em Ups". It
presents an immensely, emotional statement of self-awareness
and brooding, a failed attempt of atonement, subjects absent
from films since the beginning of motion pictures; a fact
acknowledged by the industry at the year's Academy Awards
Ceremony.
All of the films Clint has directed have in
common a certain style and attitude-more of the latter than
the former. In general, they possess a sort of unforced
naturalism of manner that is glad to bend, even break, with
strict realism as well as with strict generic conventions.
Clint, the jazz aficionado, likes to riff, whether comedy or
melodrama, on a theme. He likes to do it straight-faced,
effortlessly, without giving the audience a warning or
explanation when he does insert his subtle improvisations.
Often people miss the humor in what he does, much less the
serious note he slyly interjects. At heart, Eastwood is a
subversive; an elusive director who does not care to be easily
understood, in fact, he actually prefers not to let his hand
show at all. Another trait which follows in the old,
pre-auteur tradition of American movie
craftsmanship. |
