Dirty Harry (film series)

Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood's character also helped popularize the .44 Magnum, as Harry Callahan is famously shown wielding his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver.

Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Harry, directed by Don Siegel. In this film Harry is tracking Scorpio, a serial killer. Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt-speaking, unorthodox detective set the style for a number of his subsequent roles, and the box-office success of the film led to the production of four equally successful sequels. The "alienated cop" motif was one subsequently imitated by a number of other films. This film features Eastwood intoning "You've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" (The line is often misquoted as "Do you feel lucky, punk?")

This movie became iconic, mirrored by other movies, especially the rest of the Dirty Harry films, because it was a portrayal of social protests, pointing out that it was easier for the justice system to protect potential suspects ahead of enforcing the rights of victims while ignoring citizens who were in danger or who had been murdered. It was the sixth-highest grossing film of 1971 after Fiddler on the Roof, Billy Jack, French Connection, Summer of '42, and Diamonds Are Forever.

Magnum Force (1973)

Magnum Force, directed by Ted Post. The main theme of this film is vigilante justice, and the plot revolves around a group of renegade traffic cops who are executing criminals who have avoided conviction in court. Despite Harry's penchant for strong-arm methods, he does not tolerate coldblooded murder of the accused and resolves to stop the killers. In this film Harry's catch-phrase is "A man's got to know his limitations." Although a box-office success like its predecessor, the film was given negative publicity due to the tone of violence. It was the sixth-highest grossing film of 1973 and a commercial hit.

The Enforcer (1976)

The Enforcer directed by James Fargo. In this film, Harry is teamed up with an inexperienced female partner Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), and takes on a terrorist ring calling themselves The People's Revolutionary Strike Force. The film contains feminist themes and is generally considered more "politically correct" than its predecessor^{[citation needed]}. Harry opposes introducing inexperienced inspectors to the dangers of police work, whether male or female, and sees the homicide department as too dangerous for his new partner, who worked until recently in Records. He has nothing against female police officers; he simply feels that Moore is too green. However, "by the book" Inspector Moore, though starting out overenthusiastic, proves herself valuable, and matures quickly, earning Harry's respect in the process.

By the time this film was released, the Dirty Harry series had gained attention and critical admiration, such that the makers of The Enforcer knew they had a bankable movie on their hands. With the depiction of a female inspector as Harry's partner and its realistic portrayal of the dangers of police work, this movie was a huge hit, appealing to both men and women, and it holds up today as one of the best in the series.

Sudden Impact (1983)

Sudden Impact, directed by Clint Eastwood. The film's plot revolves around an aging, but still bitter "Dirty" Harry Callahan being sent to a small town to follow up a lead in a murder case, which leads him directly to a rape victim who is out to avenge herself and her catatonic sister by killing the people who sexually assaulted them. It is best known for the phrase "Go ahead, make my day," which is often incorrectly attributed to the first film.

The Dead Pool (1988)

The Dead Pool , directed by Buddy Van Horn. In the final film of the series, Harry finds out about a game called Dead Pool, in which people bet on which celebrity will die next. Eventually, someone tries to rig the game by killing certain celebrities. The film was not a commercial success, and it remains the final entry in the series due to Eastwood's refusal to reprise the character, feeling his age would make Harry a parody. Ironically, Clint Eastwood's age in this film is close to the age Dirty Harry was supposed to be in the original movie.

A new challenge...

I've just agreed to 'ghost write' the David Wilson blog for my old school mate, Dave 'Snooks' Wilson. The URL is http://thedavidwilson.blogspot.com/ and although I have a free hand in what I report, I have been given strict boundaries including a must inclusion of Aston Villa at least once a week. As we, along with Phil Finney and Richard (1099) Phillips were the only Villa fans in our year at school, then that shouldn't be too hard.

in reference to: Bob De Bilde (view on Google Sidewiki)

Oscar Success

Clint Eastwood has won FIVE Academy Awards and been nominated for a further six. His successes have been for best picture (2), best director (2) and The Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. Of the 11 nominations, only two were for his acting ability, of which neither gained success.

Won

• 1992 Best Director – Unforgiven
• 1992 Best Picture – Unforgiven
• 1994 Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award
• 2004 Best Director – Million Dollar Baby
• 2004 Best Picture – Million Dollar Baby

Nominated

• 1992 Best Actor – Unforgiven
• 2003 Best Director – Mystic River
• 2003 Best Picture – Mystic River
• 2004 Best Actor – Million Dollar Baby
• 2006 Best Director – Letters from Iwo Jima
• 2006 Best Picture – Letters from Iwo Jima

Was it my multi-blogged moan?

Was it my multi-blogged moan that un-locked my new blog http://sequels-and-trilogies.blogspot.com/ ?
I know that blogger took the full 20 days to un-lock a blog of a friend of mine. Now his block WAS highly political but there should be no difference.
Perhaps it was my genuine threat to move to wordpress?

Who knows?

Thank You blogger for acting quickly

Bob de Bilde

in reference to: Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies (view on Google Sidewiki)

Spaghetti Westerns: The Dollars Trilogy

A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

In late 1963, an offer was made to Eastwood's co-star Eric Fleming on Rawhide to star in an Italian made western, originally to be named The Magnificent Stranger (A Fistful of Dollars) to be directed in a remote region of Spain by a relative unknown at the time, Sergio Leone.

However, the money was not much, and Fleming always set his sights high on Hollywood stardom, and rejected the offer immediately.

A variety of actors, including Charles Bronson, Steve Reeves, Richard Harrison, Frank Wolfe, Henry Fonda, James Coburn and Ty Hardin were considered for the main part in the film, and the producers established a list of lesser-known American actors, and asked the aforementioned Richard Harrison for advice.

Harrison had suggested Clint Eastwood, whom he knew could play a cowboy convincingly. Harrison later said: "Maybe my greatest contribution to cinema was not doing Fistful of Dollars, and recommending Clint for the part".

Bob de Bilde gets his 15 minutes of fame...

on IS A C*NT...

http://isacunt.blogspot.com/2010/01/bob-de-bilde.html

Thanks to GOT & the crew

in reference to: Bob De Bilde (view on Google Sidewiki)

The Bridges of Madison County

"Go on Punk, Make me cry!!!"

The Bridges of Madison County is a 1995 romantic drama film based on the best-selling novel by Robert James Waller. It was produced by Amblin Entertainment and Malpaso Productions, and distributed by Warner Bros.. The film was produced and directed by Clint Eastwood with Kathleen Kennedy as co-producer and the screenplay was adapted by Richard LaGravenese. The film ranked 90 in the AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions and tied with Goodbye South, Goodbye and Carlito's Way to be dubbed the best film of the 1990s in a poll by Cahiers du cinéma^[1].

The film stars Eastwood and Meryl Streep, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1995 for her performance.

Plot

The film is set in the summer of 1965. It tells the story of Francesca (Meryl Streep), a lonely, insightful Italian housewife in Iowa. While her husband and children are away at the Illinois State Fair, she meets and falls in love with a photographer (Clint Eastwood) who has come to Madison County, Iowa to create a photographic essay for National Geographic on the covered bridges in the area. The four days they spend together are a turning point in her life and she writes of her experience in a diary which is discovered by her children after her death.

Cast

• Clint Eastwood ... Robert Kincaid
• Meryl Streep ... Francesca Johnson
• Annie Corley ... Carolyn Johnson
• Victor Slezak ... Michael Johnson
• Jim Haynie ... Richard Johnson
• Sarah Kathryn Schmitt ... Young Carolyn
• Christopher Kroon ... Young Michael
• Phyllis Lyons ... Betty
• Debra Monk ... Madge
• Richard Lage ... Lawyer Peterson
• Michelle Benes ... Lucy Redfield
• Alison Wiegert ... Child #1
• Brandon Bobst ... Child #2
• Pearl Faessler ... Wife
• R.E. 'Stick' Faessler ... Husband

Bob says:

Well not many Clint films can bring a tear to Bob's eye like this one did. Meryl Streep recieved an Academy Award nomination for her role here. She and Eastwood both gave full on tear-jerking performances and both should have won Oscars!

My Disgust at Blogger

Blogger has marked one of my blogs (Prequels, Sequels & Trilogies) as spam...

It will be deleted within 20 days if I do not lodge a review

WTF Blogger... I am seriously considering moving all my blogs to the more versatile Wordpress !

I am reposting this on ALL my other open blogs using the sidewikibar thingy!!!

in reference to: My Sony Ericsson Sucks: My Disgust at Blogger (view on Google Sidewiki)

Rawhide (1959–1964)

Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide

Eastwood learned from Bill Shiffrin that CBS were casting an hour-long Western series and arranged for a screen test. With screenwriter Charles Marquis Warren overlooking, Eastwood had to recite one of Henry Fonda's monologues from the William Wellman western, The Ox-Bow Incident in his audition. A week later, Shiffrin rang Eastwood and informed him he had won the part of Rowdy Yates in Rawhide. He had successfully beaten competition such as Bing Russell and had got the break he had been looking for.

Filming began in Arizona in the summer of 1958. His rivalry onscreen with Eric Fleming's character, Gil Favor, was reportedly initially echoed offscreen between the two actors. However, Eastwood has denied that the two ever had a scuffle and especially after Fleming's death by drowning in Peru some years later, has revealed he had much respect for his co-star. Although Eastwood was finally pleased with the direction of his career, he was not especially happy with the nature of his Rowdy Yates character. At this time, Eastwood was 30, and Rowdy was too young and too cloddish for Clint to feel comfortable with the part. Although boyishness was a key element in his casting, Eastwood disliked the juvenile overtones of the character and privately described Yates as "the idiot of the plains" According to co-star Paul Brinegar, who played Wishbone, Eastwood was, "very unhappy about playing a teenager type".

It took just three weeks for Rawhide to reach the top 20 in the TV ratings and soon rescheduled the timeslot half an hour earlier from 7.30 -8.30 pm every Friday, guaranteeing more of a family audience. For several years it was a major success, and reached its peak as number 6 in the ratings between October 1960 and April 1961. However, success was not without its price. The Rawhide years were undoubtedly the most gruelling of his life, and at first, from July until April, they filmed six days a week for an average of twelve hours a day. Although it never won Emmy stature, Rawhide earned critical acclaim and won the American Heritage Award as the best Western series on TV and it was nominated several times for best episode by the Writer's and Director's Guilds. Eastwood received some criticism during this period and was considered too laidback and lazy by some directors who believed he relied on his looks and just didn't work hard enough.

By the third season of Rawhide, the Hollywood press began to speculate on Eastwood tiring of the series and that he was anxious to move on. Eastwood made several guest appearances in the meantime on TV, including a cameo in Mr Ed poking fun at himself as a neighbor of Mr. Ed in an episode directed by his old mentor Arthur Lubin and the western comedy series Maverick, in which he fought James Garner in the "Duel at Sundown" episode. Although Rawhide continued to attract notable actors such as Lon Chaney Jr, Mary Astor , Ralph Bellamy, Burgess Meredith, Dean Martin and Barbara Stanwyck, by late 1963 Rawhide was beginning to decline in popularity and lacked freshness in the script. In regards to the character of Rowdy Yates, he had evolved to upstage that of Gil Favor and became increasingly tough like him, not a trait in which his character had began. Rawhide would last until 1966, but a change of direction in Eastwood's career would occur in late 1963.

Clint Eastwood in popular culture

American film actor and film director Clint Eastwood has had a lasting influence on popular culture, and either his name, characters or acting mannerisms have been emulated or parodied.

In film and television

Clint Eastwood is the name used by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part III (1990), which parodies a western, though the other characters do not find it intimidating ("What kind of stupid name is that???"). Marty also used a piece of metal as a bulletproof vest in a duel with Buford Tannen (as foreshadowed in Part II when Biff is watching A Fistful of Dollars in his hot tub). When McFly returns to the future, it is thought that he died in the process, and as such a ravine is named "Eastwood Ravine" after him.

Two Japanese people in the film Crocodile Dundee II mistook the main character, Mick Dundee, for Clint Eastwood.

In the 1994 parody film Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, Eastwood's iconic squint is emulated by Leslie Nielsen as he walks into Alcatraz prison, in the way that Eastwood does in Escape from Alcatraz (1979).

In Casper Dr. James Harvey (Bill Pullman) is being harassed by ghosts. At one point his image in the mirror changes into Clint Eastwood saying "I'm gonna kill you... your momma... and all her bridge-playing friends" before the image changes again, this time to Rodney Dangerfield .

Actor Jeremy Bulloch has stated that he based his portrayal of the Star Wars bounty hunter Boba Fett on Eastwood. As he put it:

"I think the secret to playing Boba Fett -- if you can say I played (him) -- is the less you do, the better. There is no point in Boba Fett waving his gun around and saying, 'Look at me.' He was very cool, and he didn't move much. I always thought of Boba Fett as Clint Eastwood in a suit of armor."

Something Awful featured a four part article titled "Four Days in Winter", focused on a mercenary hired to protect teenagers on an MTV series. There are overt references to Eastwood, such as the main character carrying a .44 Magnum and yelling "Do you feel lucky?". An MTV cast member also says to him "We hear you have a famous grandfather". At the conclusion he reveals his identity saying "My name is Eastwood" before being gunned down.

In the simpsons, the tough police character, McGarnicle, is an obvious parody of Eastwood.

Eastwood's portrayal of the Man With No Name is also credited as an inspiration for the character Master Chief in the popular Halo series.

Professional wrestler The Undertaker portrayed Clint Eastwood in his "Dirty Harry" persona in advertisements leading up to the WrestleMania 21 Pay Per View event.

In the 2007 Transformers film, the Autobot Ironhide makes a Clint Eastwood impression, pointing his firearms at Sam Witwicky and Mikaela Banes, saying "You feelin' lucky, punk?"

In the movie Bruce Almighty, Jim Carrey's character's personality briefly changes into that of Eastwood's and says one of Eastwood's well known lines "be careful what you wish for. Punk".

In literature

Stephen King stated in interviews, as well as in forewords and afterwords for the respective books, that one of the inspirations for Roland Deschain, a.k.a. Roland of Gilead, the Gunslinger in his popular The Dark Tower opus, is Clint Eastwood. He said that Roland is meant to embody a gritty, melancholy persona, like that of Eastwood's "The Man With No Name" in The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett features a scene in which Vimes threatens a mob with a swamp dragon in a parody of the famous "do you feel lucky" scene. Fan art often depicts Vimes as resembling Eastwood, even though Pratchett has stated that he himself does not imagine Vimes that way.

In music

Reggae/dub musician Lee Perry recorded a song entitled "Clint Eastwood" in 1969 Virtual band. There is a reggae deejay called Clint Eastwood who made an album with General Saint called Two Bad DJ in 1981. Gorillaz recorded songs called "Clint Eastwood" and "Dirty Harry". Gorillaz' frontman Damon Albarn released an album called The Good, the Bad and the Queen with the help of Paul Simonon, Simon Tong, Tony Allen, and Dangermouse. Rock band "The Transplants" make reference to Hang 'Em High and A Few Dollars More in some of their songs. The theme song to the television show The Fall Guy, "The Unknown Stuntman", references Eastwood with the line "I'm the unknown stuntman that makes Eastwood look so fine."

Adam and the Ants chant Clint Eastwood's name as part of the chorus of "Los Rancheros", which appeared on their 1980 album titled "Kings of the Wild Frontier". He also dressed up as Eastwood's character from "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly" in the music video for his song "Prince Charming". There is also a demo version of a song by them called "Dirty Harry" that appears on the remastered version of Strip.

Van Halen's song, "Hang 'Em High", from their 1982 release Diver Down, is inspired by Eastwood and Def Leppard used the famous speech from Dirty Harry, as an introduction to their concerts on several tours. Beastie Boys released the High Plains Drifter in 1989.

A Swedish metal band from the 1980s was named after him: The Clint Eastwood Experience. The band featured members of Dismember and Entombed. In the computer game Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, one of the characters in the second allied mission (which is set in Hollywood) is named Flint Westwood. The character is also named for the game's produced, Westwood Studios. The song "Coca-Cola Cowboy" by Mel Tillis refers to Eastwood with the line, "you're just a coca-cola cowboy, you gotta Eastwood smile and Robert Redford hair"

In Lil Wayne's song "LaLa" the lyrics includes the line "Yeah we stay clean, but we get dirty like Harry."

In video games or animation

Eastwood appears as an audio-animatronic in the Disney's Hollywood Studios Theme Park at Walt Disney World on one of the park's most iconic attractions, The Great Movie Ride, along with other classic actors. In the computer game Serious Sam: The Second Encounter, there is a mention of the "East Clintwood Institute, named after the famous movie star". The final boss in the computer game Fallout 2 is called Frank Horrigan, a reference to Clint Eastwood's character in the movie In the Line of Fire. Also in Fallout 2, a .44 Magnum Revolver weapon that, when observed, bears the description, "Being that this is the most powerful handgun in the world, and can blow your head clean-off, you've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?". A reference to the famous line from Dirty Harry. There are several references to Eastwood the Polish post-apocalyptic role-playing game Neuroshima. Eastwood, in cybernetic form, is the main character/driver in the game Nitro for the Commodore Amiga and Atari-ST computers, by Psygnosis (1990). In Fallout 3 DLC Broken Steel it is possible to obtain "Callahan's magnum", which is an obvious reference to Eastwood's character, Dirty Harry's Magnum .44. In DotA Allstars, a custom map of Warcraft III TFT, a hero is named Clinkz Eastwood. The protagonist from Rockstar Games' Red Dead Revolver and Red Dead Redemption, Red Harlow and John Marston respectively both bear an uncanny resemblance to Clint Eastwood's portrayal of The Man Without a Name. The second song on Anthrax's album, Spreading the Disease is called Lone Justice, referring to Clint Eastwood's many movies in which he portrays a nameless law bringer. In Red alert 2 there is a character named "Clint Westwood", an obvious referenece to the star.

Other

Eastwood's image for appearing in Old Western films was met with hilarity when it was discovered that an anagram of Clint Eastwood is Old West Action.

Eastwood's Dirty Harry films and the .44 Magnum revolver portrayed in the films were the inspiration for U.S. Patent 5,333,531 issued to Roger C. Field for minimizing the cylinder gap of a revolver in an economical way, long a problem in revolver design.

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor, film director, film producer and composer.

He has received five Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award and five People's Choice Awards—including one for Favorite All-Time Motion Picture Star.

Eastwood is primarily known for his alienated, morally ambiguous, anti-hero acting roles in violent action and western films, particularly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

Following his role on the long-running television series Rawhide, he went on to star as the Man With No Name in the Dollars trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns and as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry film series.

These roles have made him an enduring icon of masculinity.

Eastwood is also known for his comedic efforts in Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and Any Which Way You Can (1980), his two highest-grossing films after adjustment for inflation.

For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director, producer of the Best Picture and received nominations for Best Actor.

He also received Oscar nominations as Best Director for Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2007), along with a Golden Globe for his direction of Bird (1988).

These films in particular, as well as others such as Play Misty for Me (1971), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995) and Gran Torino (2008) have all received great critical acclaim and commercial success.

He has directed most of his movies since the early 1970s and produced and directed all of his films dating back to 1993's A Perfect World.

He also served as the non-partisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California from 1986–1988, tending to support small business interests on the one hand and environmental protection on the other.