If you can read an actor's early roles as a prophecy for his later work, it is Clint Eastwood.
In the spaghetti western trilogy Sergio Leones he played a nameless man who growls a few words, shoots even fewer bullets, but when he pulls the revolver, he hits too - that's why he's the only one who is still standing at the end.
Maria Wiesner
Editor in the Society department at FAZ.NET.
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The film critic Pauline Kael described him as "a slender, tough saint, with blue eyes and shaggy hair, whose jagged, wrinkled, contorted face only occasionally breaks out into a mischievous grin".
The description still applies to Eastwood at the age of 91.
He's the last great movie star who doesn't even think about stopping work.
His new film "Cry Macho" has just started in German cinemas.
Just keep going
In the beginning he had to take a lot of malice for directing. An actor who prefers to use posture than dialogue now wants to step behind the camera as a director? Eastwood was never deterred by malicious heckling. He did what his revenge cop would have done in "Dirty Harry": he just kept going; until you couldn't ignore your talent anymore. The western “Merciless” won him his first director's Oscar in 1993, and the boxing drama “Million Dollar Baby” in 2005 the second.
As much attitude as he shows in the film business, he also represents when it comes to politics. Because of Dwight D. Eisenhower, he registered as a Republican and remained loyal to the party until the Vietnam War. His childhood during World War II made Eastwood a declared opponent of the war. The topic did not let him go in his films either, only his anti-war message was sometimes misunderstood, as he sighed in interviews on the sniper drama "American Sniper". Republicans had hailed it as a film for the "War on Terror".
In 1986, when he became mayor of the small Californian town of Carmel-by-the-Sea, he proved that his politics are based on reason and personal responsibility, but also on a strong community. He donated the $ 200 monthly salary to the local youth center. He supported small businesses, promoted environmental protection, and expanded the local library. His political views turned away from the Republicans over the years, and today he is registered as a member of the Libertarian Party. Although he supported Mitt Romney again in 2012, he spoke out in favor of the Democrat Michael Bloomberg during the last presidential election. Donald Trump repelled him with his offensive tweets. Eastwood also seems to have retained this virtue from the western roles:It is better not to talk a lot and let actions do the talking.