Open Forum Friday: Clint Eastwood… Brilliant Filmmaker or Inconsistent at Best?

Posted by on October 22nd, 2010   Filed under: Open Forum Friday

At 80 years old, it’s pretty remarkable that Clint Eastwood is still putting out as many new movies as he is, as frequently as he is. Ever since he made the transition to spending more time behind the camera than in front of it, he has seemingly become driven to tell as many stories as possible with the time that he has left. Now that his latest film Hereafter is hitting theatres this weekend, however, it leaves me wondering if his time is being spent in all the right places. The film currently sits at 50% on Rotten Tomatoes, and there seems to be very little hype around it despite the fact that it stars Matt Damon. Is it safe to say that Eastwood’s best days are now behind him?

The truth is, Clint Eastwood has directed quite a few movies over the years, and not all of them are great, but in recent years he’s become known for his Oscar-nominated work such as Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby and Letters from Iwo Jima. He also won Best Picture and Best Director for Unforgiven back in 1992. However, his latest movies Invictus, Changeling and even Gran Torino generated mixed reviews, and people’s opinions of him as a filmmaker seem to be wavering a bit. What do you think, are these recent movies just flukes, or is Clint Eastwood ultimately a hit or miss director? Do you still look forward to each of his films or are you starting to lose interest? What is the deal with Hereafter? Give us your thoughts here on Open Forum Friday.



  • Aaron

    I’m starting to think of Eastwood as another Woody Allen in terms of his busy schedule. Perhaps his work is suffering as a result of spreading himself too thin. I’ve enjoyed quite a few of his films, but his most recent two, Invictus and Hereafter, haven’t interested me that much.

  • Xidor

    He didn’t direct “Every Which Way But Loose”, but any movie with a monkey is critically acclaimed in my book.

    “Space Cowboys” is also one of the finest space genre movies of all time.

    “The Unforgiven” is an awesome movie, so all joking aside I say he is inconsistent at best. I wonder how much of a role he really has in his movies anymore due to his age.

  • Jordan

    Sean and his questions: brilliant or inconsistent?

  • Steve

    Gran Torino might have come out to mixed reviews, but I still loved it. And even Eastwood at his worst is still better than most crap coming out these days.

    We also have to realise that film reviews are NEVER objective, regardless of the old mantra. It’s impossible to separate the human bias from it. It’s the very reason why directors like Shyamalan, Bay, Cameron Crowe etc are absolutely SAVAGED the second they let slip. It’s a natural human tendency to maintain the status quo and that includes trimming the tall poppies.

    Critics will lie in wait for a director like highwaymen, especially if he’s made a string of classics, because he’s ‘had his hour’

  • Nick Robertson

    He’s amazing. It doesn’t matter if he makes a few bad films in someone’s opinion, the fact is the he is making new films for the world to enjoy. I applaud him for working as hard as he does, when he does go we’ll all miss him so I feel that the more he gives us the better, regardless of the quality.
    He’s varied obviously skilled at many genres and ideas, he’s an absolute fucking legend and deserves to make whatever the hell he wants.

  • projectgenesis

    Amen Nick Robertson. If the haters are confused, go back and watch White Hunter, Black Heart or Honkeytonk Man.

  • I believe he is very inconsistent. Changeling was a solid film but I’ve yet to see Iwo Jima and I didn’t care for Flags of Our Fathers, which I hear is the lesser of his two WWII films. I thought Torino was amateurish on so many levels, especially the acting by the asian characters. I love asians but they were bad. But I like that he has so much output coming from him even if it is hit or miss. Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby were both brilliant films.

  • Justice

    Can’t you be both? He will forever be held in the highest regard if only for Unforgiven and Mystic River and then you have his “second tier” work like Josey Wales and Million Dollar Baby. Sure, he has some misses, Gran Torino was fucking awful and shit like The Rookie, but find me another director that has 30+ films under his belt who doesn’t have a few clunkers.

  • Fatbologna

    The ending credits song in Gran Torino. ‘Nuff Said. Genius.

  • Brilliant Filmmaker

  • del91

    Clint is a brilliant filmmaker, no question about it. Yes, he has screwed up sometimes, but let’s face it, who doesn’t?

    Clint has a natural approach to filmmaking. He doesn’t ask his actors or crew to be angry or happy, focused or blurry, he just shoots a film as it goes. This is both his strength and weakness – strength because if he uses talented actors and crew it will be a terrific film as the actors will be comfortable and play their parts terrificly, such as “Mystic River” and “Letters From Iwo Jima”; weakness when he uses people who have never acted before, like the Asians in “Gran Torino”. Still, Eastwood’s very worst (“The Rookie” being an example) films are far from being horrible, and I would be glad to pay to see a Clint Eastwood film for as long as he can make ‘em.