Clint: The Life and Legend

by Patrick McGilligan

Like The Man With No Name, one of his most famous roles, Clint Eastwood has always had an aura of tight-lipped mystery. He has long been an internationally famous star, first of television and then of the movies, and he has more recently joined a select group of Oscar-winning actor-directors, including Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin and Woody Allen.

But the real Clint has always been an enigma-until now. With this gripping and scrupulously researched biography, Patrick McGilligan, one of America's top film writers, has revealed the man behind the indelible image.

Throughout his remarkable near-half century career, Eastwood has tended to play characters who are cold, hard and morally ambiguous-from Sergio Leone's "spaghetti westerns" through Hang Em High and Dirty Harry to In the Line of Fire and Unforgiven . No star is more the hero to his audience: a symbol of simple solutions, law & order, and rebellion against bureaucracy. But offscreen, Clint Eastwood has always been an arch manipulator: of women, friends and colleagues, publicity and finance.

Always even-handed, managing to steer clear of both fawning over and unfair excoriation of its fascinating subject, this biography sheds definitive light on Clint as actor, director and human being.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Autobiography, Media Tie In, Film

634 pages, Hardcover

First published April 19, 1999

About the author

Patrick McGilligan is the author of Clint one of America’s pre-eminent film biographers. He has written the life stories of directors George Cukor and Fritz Lang — both New York Times “Notable Books” — and the Edgar-nominated Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. His books have been translated into ten languages. He lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Reviews

[Hans Brienesse · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an interesting read stripping away the layers of the actor's aura to reveal the real person beneath. It shows that far from the shining knight he portrays in his films he is just a basic (and base) human underneath. The author does tend to dwell on Eastwood's sexual exploits to the extent that it almost seems a cross between voyeurism and titillation. But then again that is probably the person the actor really is. Brutally frank in the assessment of Clint Eastwood's films finding the odd gem within the straw of the barnyard. For fans of movie stars and celebrities this is an enrapturing read.

[Romulus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Świetna biografia, jeśli kogoś interesuje ten aktor. Tym lepsza, że Eastwood postanowił nie dać jej swojego błogosławieństwa. Nic dziwnego, gdyż autor postanowił nie pisać jej na klęczkach w uwielbieniu dla gwiazdy i legendy kina.

Bowiem Clint Eastwood jest legendą i autor wcale nie zamierza jej obalić. Co najwyżej odbrązowić. Jak wiadomo legendy mają to do siebie, że często z rzeczywistością nie mają wiele wspólnego.

Jeśli chodzi o filmy, w których Eastwood grał i reżyserował, autor krytycznie się do nich odnosił, nie tylko ze swojej perspektywy, ale i z perspektywy wielu innych krytyków. Nawet w odniesieniu do tych najważniejszych dzieł tego reżysera, w tym moich ulubionych ("Co się wydarzyło w Madison County", czy "Rzeka tajemnic"). Co nie zmieniło mojej opinii na ich temat i nie taki chyba był tego cel. Ogólnie, pod tym względem jest to poprawna i rzetelna biografia.

Jest jednak drugie oblicze Eastwooda: męża, partnera, ojca i producenta. To w tych "działach" odbywa się odbrązawianie. Jako mąż Eastwood był notorycznie niewierny - w zasadzie jego kochanki należałoby liczyć w tabunie. Chyba żadnej z żon i partnerek nie był długo wierny. Liczba jego dzieci ślubnych i nieślubnych oficjalnie wynosi siedem (w tym dwoje ślubnych), ale jest prawdopodobnie wyższa. Dzieci na ogół zaniedbywał. Jedną z partnerek dwukrotnie skłonił do aborcji. Pierwszy raz nie musiał długo się starać, za drugim był to już szantaż emocjonalny. Żonę i partnerki oraz przyjaciół - pardon my French - rżnął na kasie i cynicznie rozgrywał.

Pytanie, dlaczego miałoby to kogokolwiek obchodzić. Z pewnością ja jestem w stanie oddzielić artystę od dzieła. Kevin Spacey to szuja w życiu osobistym, ale znakomity aktor. Marion Zimmer Bradley napisała jedną z moich ulubionych powieści, "Mgły Avalonu", a molestowała swoją córkę. I tak dalej. Mam to gdzieś, nie wiem, czy dobrze to o mnie świadczy.

Dlaczego zatem Eastwooda się czepiam. Właśnie z powodu jego wizerunku i przyjmowania publicznie postawy pouczacza, który lubi prawić ludziom o zasadach według których należy żyć, ale jakoś te zasady nie odnoszą się do niego. Można napisać złośliwe: typowy republikanin. :)

Dodać należy, że ta biografia jest uzupełniona w stosunku do pierwszego wydania i autor opowiedział o Eastwoodzie do 2020 r. Z uznaniem, że mimo dziewięćdziesiątki na karku dalej reżyseruje i ma nową partnerkę. :) Tak trzeba żyć. :)

[Christopher Saunders · Rating 3 out of 5]

Muckraking biography of Clint Eastwood, by a biographer whose work veers schizophrenically from the responsible (his Hitchcock book) to tabloid sensationalism (Fritz Lang). McGilligan has it out for Clint, painting him in as bad a light as possible. In fairness, he demonstrates some of Clint's less appealing traits, like his flagrant womanizing and thin skin towards critics, but everything about Eastwood's actions (from his working relationships to the quality of his films) are slanted against him. At least there's nothing so flagrant as his accusing Fritz Lang of murder in his earlier biography... Worthwhile as a corrective to Richard Schickel's worshipful authorized biography, but dubious on its own merits.

[Julesreads · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great, big, juicy biography (not the greatest written, but not annoying and terrible or anything — moves quickly). Honestly if you’ve seen a lot of Eastwood’s films, you should already intuitively know some of what McGilligan illustrates. Clint is a bit egomaniacal, conservative leaning, a womanizer, and a star who made many films that are great on their own or “great” because he’s in them (and then plenty that are subpar). His vindictiveness and his entitlement are something to behold as this book details. A great read that still falls short about thirty years of Clint’s career. Once he leaves us for good, another biographer will have to cover the rest.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

My review of this book appeared here:
http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/2...

[Aaron · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book earns points for entertainment value and readability. The writing most of the time favors insight over muckraking, except in its last chapters where the author obsesses over Eastwood's impressive siring and Olympic womanizing. But, considering it's Clint Eastwood, keeping tabs on all the partners and spouses becomes fatiguing to read. I understand the writer wanting to de-mythologize the actor, but applying moral standards to the movie star is like reprimanding James Bond. After all, it's more disturbing Eastwood's pro-development politics and disregard for wildlife in favor of building endless properties. Or his sponsoring of a line of golf clubs exclusively for Walmart. Most interesting is the analysis of the man's over-rated directing and the endless 1980s/1990s plaudits, this continuing into the time after "Unforgiven" and before his higher quality films to come. On a humorous note, it's hard to believe pretentious fare like "White Hunter, Black Heart", "Bird" and even "Bronco Billy" were gushed over by sycophants in America as well as bigshot European film panels. Meanwhile, absolute crap like "The Rookie" out-grossed them all. Fascinating material also covers Eastwood's favoritism and impressive cruelty shown toward his "disbelievers", meaning crew members, friends, and too many early supporters to count. Sondra Locke earns sympathy points for being spurned, misled, and exploited with bogus studio contracts and other deceitful measures, ending with some semblance of justice. Overall, the Cult of Clint is a complex one. Too much soap opera makes for some redundancy in the book, but there's a lot of engaging biography. If anything, it beats Richard Schickel's authorized bio, which is nothing more than a fountain of worship and cherry-picked sources.

[Frompage2screen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Whilst I wouldnt say this is a bad book. Not at all.
I only ever really knew Clint Eastwood from his films and the odd interview that I have read. This is the largest amount of information about Clint that Ive checked out.
I couldnt help but feel that the book was balanced heavier towards sharing the kiss n tell details about Clints lovelife rather than the film making side of his life. So if you want to learn about his personal life rather than his working life, then this book is for you.
However I wanted more in the film making and less on the bed making.
But as my first line of this review states. This isnt a bad book. Just not what I had in mind.

[A Cesspool · Rating 5 out of 5]

Definitive Eastwood biography/tell-all.

Much like the author's Robert Altman monograph, plenty of new [previously unreported] behind-the-scenes trivia and movie making anecdotals. Team Eastwood not only refused to cooperate with this book, he later litigated both author and publisher -- making sure this couldn’t be another PR-friendly, Edit-the-Sad-Parts Celebrity bio-fiction.

[Oscar O'Sullivan]

By far the most scathing of the film biographies/memoirs I’ve read this year, fully recognizing Clint’s talents and importance as an artist while mercilessly digging up all the personal flaws and improprieties that three decades of myth-making have tried to obscure. Another 20 years on from this book, the idealized image of Clint feels even more firmly entrenched.

[Michelle · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at page 200. Honestly never read a more boring book and can’t face fighting through another 400+ pages of this. If the author had cut the insignificant details, this would have been a whole lot better.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

La meilleur biographie de Clint Eastwood : extrêmement fouillée avec des centaines de témoignages qui n’épargnent pas le coté sombre de l’ acteur-réalisateur (donjuanisme effréné, pingrerie, dureté froide, etc.).

[Luis Javier Capote Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un repaso a la vida y milagros del cineasta estadounidense, con sus luces y con sus muchas sombras.

[J. Ewbank · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is an apparently balqanced review. But is Clint different than what he appears to be in his publicity? An interesting read.

J. Robert Ewbank author "John Wesley, Natural Man, and the 'Isms'"

[Malcolm Frawley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Painstakingly researched &, if accurate, Clint might need to join the l & the i together to form a u.