Lobby Card Collection - City Heat (1984)

Lobby Card Collection - The Beguiled (1971)

High Plains Drifter (1973)

Dir: CLINT EASTWOOD
Country: USA

In the baking heat of the Spanish countryside Clint Eastwood performed his duties as an actor in three spaghetti westerns that had little expectation attached to them; somehow amid the chaos of a Sergio Leone shoot Mr. Eastwood studied the Italian’s technique, absorbed the stylisations, admired the fiery filmmakers work ethic, and filed away the daily lessons he was exposed too for future reference. Eastwood was clearly determined to get more of out his three European vacations than just payment. It’s almost as if Eastwood knew that these formative experiences would be crucial in his later career. But Eastwood was not content with merely following the Sergio Leone curriculum of filmmaking, especially when the opportunity arose later in his career to work with Don Siegel. If Leone’s influence on Eastwood was visual and stylistic, then Siegel’s lay in the simplification of narrative; in a minimalist attitude to the presentation of familiar generic material. Eastwood’s first outing as a director was the atypical and unusual Play Misty for Me (1971); an intense psychological thriller in which Eastwood made his first attempt to subvert audience expectations built on his image as a tough guy action hero. His second film was High Plains Drifter, and it was his first western. It is a more instructive and intriguing film, and was his first clear opportunity to celebrate his influences and develop his own unique outlook.

Lobby Card Collection - The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966)

This months thrilling edition of the Lobby Card Collection completes Sergio Leone's trilogy of 'Dollars' film featuring Clint Eastwood as the nameless anti-hero. In comparison to previous instalments lobby card images for The Good, The Bad and the Ugly were relatively thin on the ground, but on my travels I still managed to find some interesting examples that were used to promote the film in French and Italian cinemas.

Lobby Card Collection - For a Few Dollars More (1965)

Following quickly on the heels of the lobby cards for A Fistful of Dollars (1964) I present a selection of stills for Sergio Leone's 1965 sequel For a Few Dollars More. This is my personal favourite of Leone's westerns, and the following three sets of lobby cards were used to promote the film in British, French and West German cinemas.

Lobby Card Collection - A Fistful of Dollars (1964)

Italian director Sergio Leone's rip off of Akira Kurosawa's masterful samurai flick Yojimbo (1960) has achieved a huge prominence in the bitter and cynical landscape of the European western. Although it made Clint Eastwood a star, and showcased Leone's exaggerated stylisations, it is the music by Ennio Morricone that has had a greater lasting appeal. Here is a selection of lobby cards used to promote the film in British, Spanish, French, and West German cinemas.

Trailer Tuesday: Dirty Harry Special

Dirty Harry Poster Gallery

"Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy." (Harry Callaghan, Dirty Harry, 1971)

DIRTY HARRY (Don Siegel, 1971) #1 US poster

DIRTY HARRY #2 US poster

DIRTY HARRY #3 - US poster

Gran Torino (2008)

Dir: CLINT EASTWOOD
Country: USA

The Clint Eastwood angry old man persona is dusted down again for what seems to be Eastwood’s final curtain call in front of the camera. Eastwood’s Walt Kowalski a bigoted veteran of the Korean War who never really gets beyond the stage of caricature is emblematic of the conservative values of a generation of Americans who find themselves in the throes of displacement in the age of the multi-cultural melting pot. By the end of the film Kowalski has, somewhat unrealistically, undergone a surprising liberalisation and become an unlikely martyr for a small community of Cambodian immigrants. Kowalski is far more entertaining when he growls insults from atop his right wing throne of ignorance and dismisses the feckless church with the contempt it deserves. But Kowalski does as much sermonising as the wet behind-the-ears priest, and his character trajectory ultimately seems unfeasible and somewhat populist in the age of Obama. However Eastwood continues to explore, with some measure of emotional success, the process of getting old. A thematic current that flows through all of his films from Unforgiven (1992) onwards. Kowalski’s absorption into a liberal framework at the films conclusion is a final acknowledgement by Eastwood that his days as a subversive icon of machismo are well and truly over. There is simply nowhere for the Eastwood persona to go on screen anymore.