| Clint Eastwood: A Life In Film
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This series is an Aero Theatre Exclusive!
"I am who I want to be," said Bronco Billy, the New Jersey
shoemaker who shed his former self to run a Wild West show. That could be Clint
Eastwood talking today. From his adolescent wanderings to his Hollywood triumphs,
it’s been an amazing story, the odyssey of a child of the Great Depression who rises
to the top of his profession to become an American icon. Along the way, the freewheeling
young man would be elected mayor of Carmel, and the novice actor whose creativity was
stifled under his Universal Studios contract would end up controlling every phase of the
filmmaking process on his own films. Only a consummate "smuggler" could navigate
in such treacherous waters so deftly. He didn’t need to operate underground though -
only to master every tool of his trade while keeping his cards close to the vest. His
celebrity was his best shield. Before we knew it, the professional had turned into an
artist and was on his way to winning every possible film award, including a couple of
Oscars.
"Today, Eastwood belongs to an endangered species - like his favorite
characters! He’s one of our last filmmakers making meaningful films for adults, films
that challenge all our preconceived notions about justice, heroism and the American way.
Over the years, he’s become the most enduring maverick of Hollywood: a jazzman who is
able to conjure up Charlie Parker’s wounded soul as well as Dirty Harry’s; an
iconoclast who dares to revisit the battle of Iwo Jima from both the American and Japanese
sides; an eternal outsider who keeps challenging his audience. With Eastwood one has come
to expect the unexpected." -- Michael Henry Wilson (director of CLINT
EASTWOOD: A LIFE IN FILM).
Thursday, June 5 - 7:30 PM SOLD OUT
Clint Eastwood In Person!
Double Feature:
Los Angeles Premiere! CLINT EASTWOOD: A LIFE IN FILM, 2007, 81
min. Dir. Michael Henry Wilson. Using the post-production of Eastwood's
World War II diptych as his springboard, Wilson engaged the notoriously reticent director
in a surprisingly easygoing and intimate dialogue. Never before has Eastwood recounted his
personal odyssey with such passion. In attempting to capture the essence of a great
filmmaker, this simple, thoughtful portrait illuminates his human side as well as his
untamed creativity.
THE BEGUILED, 1971, Universal, 105 min. Don Siegel
(DIRTY HARRY) directed this hypnotic American Gothic of a wounded Yankee soldier (Clint
Eastwood) holed up in a rural finishing school of sexually frustrated Southern belles
during the Civil War. Eastwood’s complex, double-edged performance is one of his
greatest. Geraldine Page is the tragically repressed schoolmistress who finds
herself falling for her "prisoner," and Elizabeth Hartman is the delicate
flower who might just end up being Eastwood’s salvation. Critics were initially
divided on the film, but its reputation has grown steadily, many now believing it to be
one of Siegel and Eastwood’s best. With Jo Ann Harris, Mae Mercer.
"Combining the conventions of both western and Grand Guignol chiller, and often
directed as if it were an art movie, this is one of Siegel and Eastwood's strangest - and
most beguiling - collaborations." – Time Out. Discussion in between films with Clint Eastwood
and film historian and filmmaker Michael Henry Wilson.
Friday, June 6 -7:30 PM
Double Feature:
DIRTY HARRY, 1971, Warner Bros., 102 min. Director Don
Siegel turns San Francisco, ‘60s hippie mecca, into an unforgettable 70s war zone
of bank robbers and psycho-killers, governed only by the long gun of the law - in the form
of magnum-toting Clint Eastwood. A master of minimalism, of packing the fiercest
punch into the fewest moves, Siegel transformed the genre film like no other American
director. With Andy Robinson.
A PERFECT WORLD, 1993, Warner Bros., 138 min. In
1963, fugitive thief Kevin Costner takes a young boy hostage while being pursued by
laconic Texas Ranger Clint Eastwood; before long, the criminal and the boy become
surprisingly close friends, but their relationship is destined to end in tragedy. Director
Eastwood's follow-up to UNFORGIVEN continues his exploration of the gray area between good
and evil and right and wrong; it's also one of his most moving, powerful, and ambivalent
examinations of American masculinity and law and order. Film
historian/filmmaker Michael Henry Wilson will introduce the screening.
Saturday, June 7 - 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, 1976, Warner Bros., 135
min. Dir. Clint Eastwood. Long considered an Eastwood masterpiece, WALES tells the
story of a farmer (Eastwood) who sets out to avenge the murders of his family. With
a refreshing blend of heart-pounding action, complex characters and offbeat humor. The
film still stands as one of the greatest westerns ever to hit the screen.
HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER, 1973, Universal, 105 min.
Clint Eastwood directs himself as the hardboiled stranger hired by a town to
protect it from outlaws. But this stranger may not be who he seems to be. As the hypocrisy
of the townspeople is stripped away layer by layer, we learn Eastwood has his own tragic
past there, which may just be the reason he’s returned. Suspense mounts to the
surprising conclusion in Eastwood’s first western as director and an affectionate
tribute to the spaghetti oaters that brought him stardom. Editor Joel Cox will not be available to appear as was
originally announced.
Sunday, June 8 - 7:30 PM
Double Feature:
BREEZY, 1973, Universal, 108 min. Clint Eastwood the
director helms his first film that does not feature Clint Eastwood the star in this
visually elegant romance. William Holden plays a disillusioned businessman who
rediscovers his vitality when he falls in love with flower child Kay Lenz in the first of
Eastwood's many unusual romances (THE GAUNTLET, BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY, and others
would eventually follow). Eastwood's typically subtle and restrained direction keeps the
story from tipping over into sugary melodrama, and Holden gives one of his great
late-career performances.
HONKYTONK MAN, 1982, Warner Bros., 122 min. Dir. Clint
Eastwood. Eastwood plays Red Stovall, a struggling country-and-western singer hoping
to make it to the Grand Ole Opry before he dies; his nephew Whit (Kyle Eastwood)
accompanies him on the road, and their journey allows Eastwood to craft some indelible
images of Depression-era America. A sweet and quiet but powerful drama that, as Roger
Ebert noted upon its release, "makes you feel good without pressing too hard."
Wednesday, June 11 – 7:30 PM
Kevin Thomas’ Favorite:
UNFORGIVEN, 1992, Warner Bros., 131 min. Eastwood
once again directs Eastwood, this time as reformed killer William Munney, a widowed single
father trying to keep his farm. When a young loudmouth who idolizes Munney tells him about
a reward for killing some sadistic cowboys who have cut up a whore, he finds himself being
dragged back into the old life. Enlisting reluctant, old comrade Ned (Morgan Freeman),
the trio head for town, unaware of its brutally self-righteous sheriff, Little Bill (Gene
Hackman). This harrowingly dark and beautiful film is one of the most complex,
uncompromising westerns ever made, and it won four Oscars in 1993, including Best Picture
and Best Director. "…a classic western for the ages…a tense, hard-edged,
superbly dramatic yarn that is also an exceedingly intelligent meditation on the West, its
myths and its heroes..." – Todd McCarthy, Variety. Film Critic Kevin Thomas will introduce the screening. |
