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Marlon Brando on Clint Eastwood: 'Can't Stand That Kid with the Gun'

posted 8 months ago by TMC-4 (20484)
10 replies | jump to latest

https://people.com/eddie-murphy-says-marlon-brando-didnt-like-clint-eastwood-8671904

Eddie Murphy is recalling a memorable conversation he once had with the late Marlon Brando.

In excerpts from a newly published chat for the New York Times podcast The Interview, Murphy said he was once at Brando's home following his first-ever film role, in 1982's 48 Hrs., when the actor told him he wasn't a fan of Clint Eastwood.

"This is how long ago it was: He was going, 'I can’t stand that kid with the gun.' I was like, 'What kid with the gun?' He said, 'He’s on the poster!' " recalled Murphy, 63.

"I was like, 'Clint Eastwood?' 'Yeah, that guy!' He was calling Clint Eastwood 'that kid,' " added the Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F star.

Notably, Brando — who died at age 80 in 2004 — was only six years older than Eastwood, who recently celebrated his 94th birthday in May.

Meeting up with Brando at his home was the second time the two hung out, according to Murphy. The first time, he said, was at a rooftop restaurant at the L’Ermitage luxury hotel in Los Angeles.

And the impact of those moments isn't lost on Murphy today. "I was having these famous people that I grew up watching on television wanting to have a meal with me," he recalled. "After 48 Hrs., Marlon Brando calls my agent and wants to meet me."

"Now I look back and go, 'Wow, that’s crazy. The greatest actor of all time wants to have dinner with you!' " Murphy continued on the podcast. "But back then I just thought, 'Well, that’s the way it is. You make a movie, and Marlon Brando calls.' "

[–] christomacin (4730) 8 months ago

John Wayne hated Eastwood also, and yet, he hated Brando as well. Brando didn't like Wayne either. Crazy world, huh? It seems Wayne thought Clint wasn't conservative enough, because his Westerns were more cynical.Brando didn't like Clint probably because of the Dirty Harry films being too conservative in his eyes, the gun in question being a .44 and not a Colt.

[–] ccr1633 (1538) 8 months ago

Eastwood redefined cool for the male movie star. The screen personae of Wayne and Brando were pretty much obsolete the instant the Leone westerns became well-known in the United States. I imagine this must've been a factor in their dim opinion of Clint and his work.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

"Eastwood redefined cool for the male movie star"

Nah, that was Sean Connery as James Bond.

[–] ccr1633 (1538) 8 months ago

Maybe in England. Sean Connery as the ultra-cool male icon disappeared the instant he abandoned the Bond role. Clint was macho cool personified for at least 20 years across a variety of roles.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

Connery was the coolest movie star in the world from 1962-1967, period. No one else was doing the things he was doing on screen.

And then Steve McQueen, partly because of films like Bullitt and Thomas Crown Affair (which Connery turned down), and partly because of his personal life racing became the ultimate symbol of movie cool.

[–] ccr1633 (1538) 8 months ago

But Eastwood took the mantle right after the period of time you cite. One could argue it wasn't until Dirty Harry in 1971 that Eastwood became the mega superstar. There's probably no metric that would decide between Eastwood and McQueen in the 1970s, but McQueen basically did nothing after 1973. Eastwood was at the top of his game exactly at that time. Add to that Wayne dying of cancer, and Brando becoming a fat slob and perceived nutcase, there's no question that Eastwood had overtaken them by then. Studly newcomers like Jan Michael Vincent and Jon Don Baker (see Mitchell) never could measure up.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

"John Wayne hated Eastwood also"

He didn't, he just didn't like his on-screen persona. There's photos on the net of Wayne and Eastwood mixing together at Paramount studios while Wayne was shooting True Grit and Eastwood Paint Your Wagon.

The thing about the "Wayne/Eastwood rivalry" was how idiotic both came across.

On the set of The Shootist, Wayne said he didn't like Eastwood because he shot people in the back, and on the set of The Outlaw Josey Wales, Eastwood said he did the things Wayne never did like shoot people in the back.

The irony? Wayne actually shot more people in the back than Eastwood. He shoots three people in the back in the same scene in The Searchers when he uses Jeffrey Hunter as bait. There's a few other instances too. In Liberty Valance, he doesn't technically shoot Lee Marvin in the back but he might as well have done considering he shoots him from the side, out of view.

I can only think of one instance of Eastwood shooting someone in the back and that was in Two Mules For Sister Saraa. He never even shot anyone in the back in Sergio Leone's films.

A case of two stars who believed the image the media cultivated for them, the hero vs the anti-hero, and didn't actually really pay attention to each other's westerns.

[–] [deleted] 8 months ago

Clint Eastwood > Marlon Brando

[–] Cognoscente (2778) 7 months ago

It didn't help that Clint mocked him at the 1973 Oscars by saying: "I don't know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot in all the John Ford Westerns over the years."

[–] TinaKimo (961) 2 months ago

WOW, LOL.