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.