Including Hang Em High, what are currently your 4 personal favorite film Clint Eastwood directed or acted films made so far and please say WHY (for either the directing, the acting, the story, the script, or a combo of all these factors), for each film named ?
1. Head and shoulders above everything is 'UNFORGIVEN'. It's a superbly crafted film and one of the best Westerns out there (and perhaps the best example of a 'revisionist' Western). Eastwood has rarely been better, as he takes his fabled 'Man With No Name' persona and gives him heart, humanity, frailty, flaws, and gravitas. The pacing is exquisite - very measured, deliberate, brooding, without being heavy-handed or lethargic. The supporting cast - from the late great Richard Harris through Frances Fisher and Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman - is top-notch and on the money. It's the film that exposed the hidden qualities in a number of his earlier films and first really showcased his deft directorial style. For me it's his best film overall.
2. 'MILLION DOLLAR BABY' b'cos, while 'Unforgiven' is the quintessential Eastwood film, this is represents the best example of the quintessential Eastwood style: not a trace of fat or excess in this film, it's barebones and lean to borderline perfection. Plus, it is possibly even darker than 'Unforgiven', and boasts his best performance ever (not relying on his previous persona, he crafts a 3D, believable, human character that is flawed, contradictory at times, but winning. And it's just a heartbreaking performance. Plus, it boasts the best performance he has ever directed, namely Hilary Swank's turn as Maggie.
3. 'THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY': It's the film Tarantino would've been proud to make, as it's so much better and fresher than anything even he's put together. Eastwood doesn't do too much deep acting here, allowing his incredible presence - along with Eli Wallach's scene-stealing performance - to lift what little hasn't already been lifted by Sergio Leone's remarkable direction and wonderful script as well as Ennio Morricone's brilliant score.
4. 'THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES': Perhaps his most underrated, it's easily the second-best western he's ever directed, and one of the greats of the last 30+ years. The way it deals with Native Americans - as people, not caricatures - and the futility of violence and war are just so commendable. It's deep but incredibly rousing and exciting.
Honorable mention would have to go to 'Mystic River'. Sorry, I do get carried away, which tends to happen when I go on about Eastwood.
I'd only change the order: #1 tie - UNFORGIVEN #1 tie - THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY #3 THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES #4 MILLION DOLLAR BABY (I've only seen this one once so far)
Also note that I haven't yet seen his two recent world war II movies.
While the GBU is one of my all time favorite clint movies it is actually a very average performance by clint himself. I think lee van cleef and eli wallach surpass him.
#4: JOE KIDD 7/10 used his only real ability, which was just action hero marketability, and had a good supporting cast. As an action flick, it excelled, because of the various interesting characters. It is minor characters, like Mongo and the sheriff, who make this worth watching. And to be brutally honest, at 7/10, it's just the only Eastwood film not in the top 3 that isn't totally pathetic movie making.
#3: DIRTY HARRY 7/10. Aside from the Number 1 pick, it's the only "groundbreaking" film he ever did. The others were all the same Hollywood formula, the same old depressing crap we get in 95% of the movies made. This one was a response to ultra radical liberalism, the sort that even most of us liberals are against. And it came much before its time.
#2: TARANTULA 8/10. He isn't in it long enough for his lack of acting skill to deduct its value. Great science fiction classic, made in the heyday of sci fi, when directing, writing, and editing was far superior than after about 1970.
#1: HANG EM HIGH 10/10 is his classic, just undeniably his greatest film ever. It is a modern OX BOW INCIDENT, a SOUTHERN COMFORT, a JUNGLE FIGHTERS, a film about lynch mob mentality, and very deep, with the biggest all star cast Eastwood ever appeared with (maybe KELLY'S HEROES had a bigger one, but it flailed). The characters are more identifiable and realistic than any movie Eastwood has EVER been in. Simply the best written piece he's ever been involved with, mostly because of the three dimensional characters, and lets face it, the only other Western he's ever done which wasn't a completely predictable Hollywood cliche of one dimensional stereotyped cardboard cutouts was PALE RIDER, and perhaps UNFORGIVEN to a lesser extent, though UNFORGIVEN still was a Hollywood cliche of predicatbility, but with believable characters. HAND EM HIGH was the most classic material Clint has ever done. It just reigns supreme over his other works.
Wow, this is a tough question with so many great movies to pick from. 1. Outlaw Josey Wales: great story and so many memorable lines and not just from Mr. Eastwood. "It's not for eaten' it's just for lookin through." I don't know why but something about the delivery just makes the "chief" an interesting human character and something to the effect about his horse surrendering and pulling a wagon in Kansas I bet. Not to mention, "well Mr. Carpetbagger we got somethin around her called a Missouri boat ride. I could go on an on. 2. The Good the Bad and the Ugly 3. High Plains Drifter - vengeance is mine and not just to the cowboys that killed him but the town that allowed it. Paints the town red and renaims it hell. Awesome and make the picked-on midget mayor/sherrif! 4. Every Which Way But Loose - Right turn Clyde! But there are so many great one's this is really an impossible list to make.
My name's Pitt. And your ass ain't talkin' your way out of this *beep*