Skip to main content

The Good, the bad, & the meh. CLINT Eastwood's Universal box set

 TWO MULES FOR SISTER SARA

Clint Eastwood, Shirley MacClaine. Dir. Don Sigel, Universal, 1970

Five years ago, my friend Jay, tired of hearing me gripe smoking weed sucked without music, gave me an old 16" TV & a dvd player. I quickly found a wealth of films I wanted/needed to see burdened the shelves of local thrift & dollar stores, so I gave myself standing orders, #2 of which states, "BUY ALL CLINT EASTWOOD TITLES."

In the 70s, as a kid, I saw OUTLAW JOSEY WALES alone at 8, & ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ with my dad a few years later. Mom & Dad didn't quite hold with the former TV cowboy, or his later work. Personally, I think they missed what most Eastwood detractors miss: that his archetypal-hero roles all offer wry commentary on the absurdity of one-dimensional heroes. There IS a joke, & Clint's in on it.

After two years, I had copies of all but Clint's Universal releases, lensed before his Malpaso Prod. moved to Warners for life. Comprising a clutch of Clint titles I'd needed to see forever, I broke down & got Clint's Universal Bluray Box for Xmas two years ago, without ever commenting.

I ve decided to classify the films as follows: The Good, The Bad, & The Meh. Only one of the eight sinks as low as "meh," but both Don Seigel's TWO MULES & John Sturges's JOE KIDD more than earn a "bad" rating. Siegel, the B-picture auteur who taught Clint his craft, and Sturges, auteur of THE GREAT ESCAPE, turn in less than their best work, and less than Clint's best performances. Of the two, Siegel at least finds gorgeous cinemtagrophy & a sparks-struck chemistry between Clint & MacClaine. Sturges, years from THE GREAT ESCAPE, fashions a chase movie wherein Eastwood's so obviously right from the first the ensuing 90 minutes only belabor the point.

Clint goes on to do exemplary work at Universal, with Seigel & with his own early work, but JOE KIDD & TWO MULES don't measure up even to Ted Post's AmeriItalian HANG 'EM HIGH. Universal struggled to see Eastwood as anything other than a basic, square-jawed leading man. Clint had other, more interesting ideas, as the others films in this set establish. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cuck Fiction: Charles Vidor's GILDA

 Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George MacReady, Steven Geray. Dir. Charles Vidor, Columbia, 1946 My favorite erotic fiction deals with cuckolding. The stories fascinate me. As people, cuckolds don't seem to think they're worth nice things. Or happiness. On the other hand, the cuckolding partners and their multiple lovers don't come over as the clear victors, either. Part of the fascination - maybe most of it - lies in trying to decide which party comes out the MOST degraded.  Is it the submissive, sensitive husband and his unsatisfactory size/staying power? Is it the "slutwife" who finds satiety in being transformed into a fuckdoll to humilate her husband? Or is it the lover - often black - who gets to degrade the sexy white lady but who doesn't otherwise matter? As in bdsm scenes, if the cuck is most degraded, that means he also "wins," as his desires to see his wife turned into a promiscuous slut while he gets to be bi without shame are most fulfi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Mediocre be thy name: John Gulager's Zombie Night

 Anthony Michael Hall, Daryl Hannah, Alan Ruck, Shirley Jones. Dir. John Gulager, The Asylum, 2013 For those unaware, The Asylum is a film production company specializing in cheapo horror and action titles, most subgeneric ripoffs of whatever horror/scifi/action titles are popular that year. Referred to as "mockbusters," these low budget achievers look like their big-money brethren, often featuring solid B-list casts, as Zombie Night does. Though The Asylum has attracted a following, the more serious, hardcore fans of el cheapo horror (et al) tend to turn up their noses at most Asylum product. Marc Edward Heuck, Our Man in the Valley, summed it up thusly: "I don't watch much Asylum fare, because frankly they're not awful enough, they're just mediocre. Like, they're not content to just have the monster or the topless girl and the requisite scenes therein and otherwise leave talent alone to be unique like Roger Corman was, they micro-manage all the pe...
Post a Comment
Read more

All That Fame:Alan Parker's FAME/Bob Fosse's ALL THAT JAZZ

  FAME. Irene Cara, LeRoy Jones, Richard Belzer, Linda Allen. Dir. Alan Parker, MGM/UA, 1980 The first thing that must be said of Alan Parker's sleeper hit of summer '77 is that, if you're new to it and expect the TV version's "hey kids let's put on a show" vibe, or the later remake, think instead of Bob Fosse's '79 ALL THAT JAZZ. Parker's FAME, & Fosse's picture, are films-with-music moreso than traditional H'wood productions. If that's at once unappealing, I urge that reader to withhold judgment until I'm done loving it. By 1980, my parents deemed me old enough to see an occasional R-rated movie with them, but not FAME. My folks, half a generation out of a working poor life, saw in me an advertising man, maybe a newpaper editor. But not an actor. I had mentioned a desire to audition for Cincinnati's School for Creative & Performing Arts (SCPA, pron. SKUHPAH) which had gone over badly. Not taking me to see FAME n...
Post a Comment
Read more