USS Port Royal (CG-73), a Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser, launched in 1992

A cruiser is a type of warship. The term has been in use for several hundred years, and has had different meanings throughout this period. During the Age of Sail, the term cruising referred to certain kinds of missions – independent scouting, raiding or commerce protection – fulfilled by a frigate or sloop, which were the cruising warships of a fleet.

From the middle of the 19th century, cruiser came to be a classification for the ships intended for this kind of role, though cruisers came in a wide variety of sizes, from the small protected cruiser to armoured cruisers which were as large (though not as powerful) as a battleship.

By the early 20th century, cruisers could be placed on a consistent scale of warship size, smaller than a battleship but larger than a destroyer. In 1922, the Washington Naval Treaty placed a formal limit on cruisers, which were defined as warships of up to 10,000 tons displacement carrying guns no larger than 8 inches in calibre. These limits shaped cruisers up until the end of World War II. The very large battlecruisers of the World War I era were now classified, along with battleships, as capital ships.

In the later 20th century, the obsolescence of the battleship left the cruiser as the largest and most powerful surface combatant. The role of the cruiser varied according to ship and navy, often including air defense, commerce raiding and shore bombardment. The U.S. Navy in the Cold War period built guided-missile cruisers primarily designed to provide air defense, while the navy of the USSR built cruisers with heavy anti-ship missiles designed to sink NATO carrier task forces.

Currently only three nations, the United States, Russia, and Peru (BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81) while still in service with the Peruvian Navy), operate cruisers, though the line between cruisers and destroyers is once again blurred. New models of destroyers (for instance the Zumwalt class) are often larger and more powerful than cruiser classes they replace.

Early history[link]

The term "cruiser" or "cruizer"^[1] was first commonly used in the 17th century to refer to an independent warship. "Cruiser" meant the purpose or mission of a ship, rather than a category of vessel. However, the term was nonetheless used to mean a smaller, faster warship suitable for such a role. In the 17th century, the ship of the line was generally too large, inflexible, and expensive to be dispatched on long-range missions (for instance, to the Americas), and too strategically important to be put at risk of fouling and foundering by continual patrol duties.

The Dutch navy was noted for its cruisers in the 17th century, while the Royal Navy—and later French and Spanish navies—subsequently caught up in terms of their numbers and deployment. The British Cruiser and Convoy Acts were an attempt by mercantile interests in Parliament to focus the Navy on commerce defence and raiding with cruisers, rather than the more scarce and expensive ships of the line.^[2] During the 18th century the frigate became the preeminent type of cruiser. A frigate was a small, fast, long range, lightly armed (single gun-deck) ship used for scouting, carrying dispatches, and disrupting enemy trade. The other principal type of cruiser was the sloop, but many other miscellaneous types of ship were used as well.

Steam cruisers[link]

During the 19th century, fleets began to use steam power for their navies. The 1840s saw the construction of experimental steam-powered frigates and sloops. By the middle of the 1850s, the British and U.S. Navies were both building steam frigates with very long hulls and a heavy gun armament, for instance USS Merrimack or HMS Mersey.^[3]

The 1860s saw the introduction of the ironclad. The first ironclads were frigates, in the sense of having one gun deck; however, they were also clearly the most powerful ships in the navy, and were principally to serve in the line of battle. In spite of their great speed, they would have been wasted in a cruising role.^[4]

The French constructed a number of smaller ironclads for overseas cruising duties, starting with the Belliqueuse, commissioned 1865. These "station ironclads" were the beginning of the development of the armored cruisers, a type of ironclad specifically for the traditional cruiser missions of fast, independent, raiding and patrol.

The first true armored cruiser was the Russian General-Admiral, completed in 1874, and followed by the British Shannon a few years later.

Until the 1890s armored cruisers were still built with masts for a full sailing rig, to enable them to operate far from friendly coaling stations.^[5]

Unarmored cruising warships, built out of wood, iron, steel or a combination of those materials, remained popular until towards the end of the 19th century. The ironclad's armor often meant that they were limited to short range under steam, and many ironclads were unsuited to long-range missions or for work in distant colonies. The unarmored cruiser - often a screw sloop or screw frigate - could continue in this role. Even though mid- or late-19th century cruisers typically carried up-to-date guns firing explosive shells, they were unable to face ironclads in combat. This was evidenced by the clash between HMS Shah, a modern British cruiser, and the Peruvian monitor Huáscar. Even though the Peruvian vessel was obsolescent by the time of the encounter, it stood up well to roughly 50 hits from British shells.

Steel cruisers[link]

The Russian protected cruiser Aurora

In the 1880s naval architects began to use steel as a material for construction and armament. A steel cruiser could be lighter and faster than one built of iron or wood. The Jeune Ecole school of naval doctrine suggested that a fleet of fast unprotected steel cruisers were ideal for commerce raiding, while the torpedo boat would be able to destroy an enemy battleship fleet.

Steel also offered the cruiser a way of acquiring the protection needed to survive in combat. Steel armor was considerably stronger, for the same weight, than iron. By putting a relatively thin layer of steel armor above the vital parts of the ship, and by placing the coal bunkers where they might stop shellfire, a useful degree of protection could be achieved without slowing the ship too much.

The first protected cruiser was the Chilean ship Esmeralda. Produced by a shipyard at Elswick, in Britain, owned by Armstrong, she inspired a group of protected cruisers produced in the same yard and known as the "Elswick cruisers". Her forecastle, poop deck and the wooden board deck had been removed, replaced with an armored deck.

Esmeralda's armament consisted of fore and aft 10-inch (25.4 cm) guns and 6-inch (15.2 cm) guns in the midships positions. It could reach a speed of 18 knots (33 km/h), and was propelled by steam alone. It also had a displacement of less than 3,000 tons. During the two following decades, this cruiser type came to be the inspiration for combining heavy artillery, high speed and low displacement.

Pre-dreadnought armored cruisers[link]

Steel also had an impact on the construction and role of armored cruisers. Steel meant that new designs of battleship, later known as pre-dreadnought battleships, would be able to combine firepower and armor with better endurance and speed than ever before. The armored cruisers of the 1890s greatly resembled the battleships of the day; they tended to carry slightly smaller main armament (9.2-inch (230 mm) rather than 12-inch) and have somewhat thinner armor in exchange for a faster speed (perhaps 21 knots (39 km/h) rather than 18). Because of their similarity, the lines between battleships and armored cruisers became blurred.

Cruisers from 1900 to 1914[link]

Shortly after the turn of the 20th century there were difficult questions about the design of future cruisers. Modern armored cruisers, almost as powerful as battleships, were also fast enough to outrun older protected and unarmored cruisers. In the Royal Navy, Jackie Fisher cut back hugely on older vessels, including many cruisers of different sorts, calling them 'a miser's hoard of useless junk' that any modern cruiser would sweep from the seas.

Battlecruisers[link]

HMS Repulse in 1919

The growing size and power of the armored cruiser resulted in the battlecruiser, with an armament and size similar to the revolutionary new dreadnought battleship, was the brainchild of British admiral Jackie Fisher. He believed that to ensure British naval dominance in its overseas colonial possessions, a fleet of large, fast, powerfully-armed vessels which would be able to hunt down and mop up enemy cruisers and armored cruisers with overwhelming fire superiority was needed. These vessels came to be known as the battlecruiser, and the first were commissioned into the Royal Navy in 1907. Germany and eventually Japan followed suit to build these vessels, replacing armored cruisers in most front line roles.

Light cruisers[link]

HMS Caroline, a World War I era light cruiser, still serves as a headquarters and training vessel in Belfast

At around the same time as the battlecruiser was developed, the distinction between the armored and the unarmored cruiser finally disappeared. By the British Town-class cruiser (1910), it was possible for a small, fast cruiser to carry both belt and deck armor, particularly when turbine engines were adopted. These 'light armored cruisers' began to occupy the traditional cruiser role once it became clear that the battlecruiser squadrons were required to operate with the battle fleet.

Flotilla leaders[link]

Some light cruisers were built specifically to act as the leaders of flotillas of destroyers.

Auxiliary cruisers[link]

The auxiliary cruiser was a merchant ship hastily armed with small guns on the outbreak of war. Auxiliary cruisers were used to fill gaps in their long-range lines or provide escort for other cargo ships, although they generally proved to be useless in this role because of their low speed, feeble firepower and lack of armor. In both world wars the Germans also used small merchant ships armed with cruiser guns to surprise Allied merchant ships.

Some large liners were armed in the same way. In British service these were known as Armed Merchant Cruisers (AMC). The Germans and French used them in World War I as raiders because of their high speed (around 30 knots (56 km/h)), and they were used again as raiders in World War II by the Germans and Japanese. In both the First World War and in the early part of the Second, they were used as convoy escorts by the British.

World War I[link]

Cruisers were one of the workhorse types of warship during World War I.

Cruisers from 1919-1945[link]

Italian cruiser Armando Diaz

Naval construction in the 1920s and 1930s was limited by international treaties designed to prevent the repetition of the Dreadnought arms race of the early 20th century. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 placed limits on the construction of ships with a displacement of 10,000 tons or more and an armament of greater than 8-inch (200 mm) calibre. A number of navies commissioned classes of cruisers at the top end of this limit.

The London Naval Treaty in 1930 then formalised the distinction between these 'heavy' cruisers and light cruisers: a 'heavy' cruiser was one with guns of 6.1-inch (150 mm) calibre or more. The Second London Naval Treaty attempted to reduce the tonnage of new cruisers to 8,000 or less, but this had little impact; Japan and Germany were not signatories, and navies had already begun to evade treaty limitations on warships.

Heavy cruisers[link]

The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range, high speed and an armament of naval guns roughly 8-inch (200 mm) in calibre. The first heavy cruisers were built in 1915, although it only became a widespread classification following the London Naval Treaty in 1930. The heavy cruiser's immediate precursors were the light cruiser designs of the 1910s and 1920s; the US 8-inch 'treaty cruisers' of the 1920s were originally classed as light cruisers until the London Treaty forced their redesignation. Heavy cruisers continued in use until after World War II.

The German pocket battleships[link]

The German Deutschland-class was a series of three Panzerschiffe ("armored ships"), a form of heavily armed cruiser, built by the German Reichsmarine in accordance with restrictions imposed by the Treaty of Versailles. The class is named after the first ship of this class to be completed (the Deutschland). All three ships were launched between 1931 and 1934, and served with Germany's Kriegsmarine during World War II.

The British began referring to the vessels as pocket battleships, in reference to the heavy firepower contained in the relatively small vessels; they were considerably smaller than battleships and battlecruisers, and although their displacement was that of a heavy cruiser, they were armed with guns larger than the heavy cruisers of other nations. Deutschland-class ships continue to be called pocket battleships in some circles. The ships were actually two feet longer than the American Pennsylvania-class - although the latter was unusually stubby for a modern battleship.

Deutschland-class ships were initially classified as Panzerschiffe, but the Kriegsmarine reclassified them as heavy cruisers in February 1940.

Anti-aircraft cruisers[link]

USS Atlanta (CL-51)

The development of the anti-aircraft cruiser began in 1935 when the Royal Navy re-armed HMS Coventry and HMS Curlew. Torpedo tubes and 6-inch (15 cm) low-angle guns were removed from these World War I light cruisers and replaced by ten 4-inch (10 cm) high-angle guns with appropriate fire-control equipment to provide larger warships with protection against high-altitude bombers.^[6]

A tactical shortcoming was recognized after completing six additional conversions of C-class cruisers. Having sacrificed anti-ship weapons for anti-aircraft armament, the converted anti-aircraft cruisers might need protection themselves against surface units. New construction was undertaken to create cruisers of similar speed and displacement with dual-purpose guns.

Dual-purpose guns offered good anti-aircraft protection with anti-surface capability for the traditional light cruiser role of defending capital ships from destroyers. The first purpose built anti-aircraft cruiser was the British Dido-class, completed shortly before the beginning of World War II. The US Navy Atlanta-class anti-aircraft cruisers (CLAA) were designed to match capabilities of the Royal Navy. Both Dido and Atlanta carried torpedo tubes.

The quick-firing dual-purpose gun anti-aircraft cruiser concept was embraced in several designs completed too late to see combat including USS Worcester (CL-144) and USS Roanoke (CL-145) completed in 1948 and 1949, two De Zeven Provinciën-class cruisers completed in 1953, De Grasse and Colbert completed in 1955 and 1959, and HMS Tiger, HMS Lion and HMS Blake completed between 1959 and 1961.^[7]

Most post–World War II cruisers were tasked with air defense roles. In the early 1950s, advances in aviation technology forced the move from anti-aircraft artillery to anti-aircraft missiles. Therefore most cruisers of today are equipped with surface-to-air missiles as their main armament. The modern equivalent of the anti-aircraft cruiser is the guided missile cruiser (CAG/CLG/CG/CGN).

Russian Navy cruiser of the Kirov-class, Frunze

Later 20th century[link]

The rise of air power during World War II dramatically changed the nature of naval combat. Even the fastest cruisers could not steer quickly enough to evade aerial attack, and aircraft now had torpedoes, allowing moderate-range standoff capabilities. This change led to the end of independent operations by single ships or very small task groups, and for the second half of the 20th century naval operations were based on very large fleets able to fend off all but the largest air attacks.

This has led most navies to change to fleets designed around ships dedicated to a single role, anti-submarine or anti-aircraft typically, and the large "generalist" ship has disappeared from most forces. The United States Navy, the Russian Navy, and the Peruvian Navy are the only remaining navies which operate cruisers. Italy used Vittorio Veneto until 2003, France operated a single cruiser until May 2010: Jeanne d'Arc, which in the NATO pennant number system was classified as an aircraft carrier, but for training purposes only.

In the Soviet Navy, cruisers formed the basis of combat groups. In the immediate post-war era they built a fleet of large-gun ships, but replaced these fairly quickly with very large ships carrying huge numbers of guided missiles and anti aircraft missiles. The most recent ships of this type, the four Kirovs, were built in the 1970s and 1980s. Currently two of the Kirov classes are currently in refit until 2020, and one is in refit until 2012. Only the Pyotr Velikiy is in active service. Russia also operates one Kara-class and four Slava-class cruisers, plus one Kuznetsov-class carrier which is officially designated as a cruiser.

Currently, the Kirov class of heavy missile cruisers are used for command purposes, as the Pyotr Velikiy is the Flagship of the Northern Fleet. However, their air defense capabilities are still powerful, as shown by its array of Point defense missiles, from 44 OSA-MA missiles to 196 9K311 Tor missiles. For longer range targets, the S-300 is used. For closer range targets, AK-630 or Kashtan CIWSs are used. Asides from that, Kirovs have 20 P-700 Granit for anti-ship warfare. For target acquisition beyond the radar horizon, three helicopters can be used. Besides a vast array of armaments, Kirov classes are also outfitted with many sensors and communications equipment, allowing them to lead the fleet.

The United States Navy has centered on the aircraft carrier since World War II. The Ticonderoga-class cruisers, built in the 1980s, were originally designed and designated as a class of destroyer, intended to provide a very powerful air-defense in these carrier-centered fleets. The ships were later redesignated largely as a public relations move, in order to highlight the capability of the Aegis combat system the ships were designed around.^{[citation needed]}

In the years since the launch of Ticonderoga in 1981 the class has received a number of upgrades that have dramatically improved their capabilities for anti-submarine and land attack (using the Tomahawk missile). Like their Soviet counterparts, the modern Ticonderogas can also be used as the basis for an entire battle group. Their cruiser designation was almost certainly deserved when first built, as their sensors and combat management systems enable them to act as 'flagships' for a surface warship flotilla if no carrier is present, but newer ships rated as destroyers and also equipped with AEGIS approach them very closely in capability, and once more blur the line between the two classes.

Aircraft cruisers[link]

From time to time, some navies have experimented with aircraft-carrying cruisers. One example is the Swedish HMS Gotland. Another variant is the helicopter cruiser. The last example in service was the Soviet Navy's Kiev-class, the last unit of which has been converted to a pure aircraft carrier and sold to India. The Russian Navy's Kuznetsov is nominally designated as an aviation cruiser but otherwise resembles a standard medium aircraft carrier, albeit with an SSM battery. The Royal Navy's aircraft-carrying Invincible-class and the Italian Navy's aircraft-carrying Giuseppe Garibaldi vessels were originally designated 'through-deck cruisers', but have since been designated as small aircraft carriers.

Cruisers in service today[link]

Jeanne d'Arc of the French Navy, launched in 1961, decommissioned in 2010

Few cruisers remain operational in the world navies. Those that do are:

• United States Navy: 22^[8] Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruisers.
• Russian Navy: One Kirov-class large missile cruiser (sometimes referred to as battlecruisers due to their size) and three Slava-class missile cruisers and one Kara-class.
• Peruvian Navy: The BAP Almirante Grau (CLM-81), a De Zeven Provinciën-class cruiser, was modernized as a guided-missile cruiser in the late eighties, is the world's last operational gun cruiser.

The US Navy's "cruiser gap"[link]

Prior to the introduction of the Ticonderogas, the US Navy used odd naming conventions that left its fleet seemingly without many cruisers, although a number of their ships were cruisers in all but name. From the 1950s to the 1970s, US Navy "cruisers" were large vessels equipped with heavy offensive missiles (including the Regulus nuclear cruise missile) for wide-ranging combat against land-based and sea-based targets. All save one—USS Long Beach (CGN-9)—were converted from World War II Oregon City, Baltimore- and Cleveland-class cruisers.

"Frigates" under this scheme were almost as large as the cruisers and optimized for anti-aircraft warfare, although they were capable anti-surface warfare combatants as well. In the late 1960s, the US government perceived a "cruiser gap"—at the time, the US Navy possessed six ships designated as "cruisers", compared to 19 for the Soviet Union, even though the USN possessed at the time 21 "frigates" with equal or superior capabilities to the Soviet cruisers—because of this, in 1975 the Navy performed a massive redesignation of its forces:

• CVA/CVAN were redesignated CV/CVN (although USS Midway (CV-41) and USS Coral Sea (CV-43) never embarked anti-submarine squadrons).
• DLG/DLGN (Frigate/Nuclear-powered Frigate) were redesignated CG/CGN (Guided Missile Cruiser/Nuclear-powered Guided Missile Cruiser).
• Farragut-class guided missile frigates (DLG), being smaller and less capable than the others, were redesignated to DDGs (USS Coontz was the first ship of this class to be re-numbered; because of this the class is sometimes called the Coontz-class);
• DE/DEG (Ocean Escort/Guided Missile Ocean Escort) were redesignated to FF/FFG (Guided Missile Frigates), bringing the US "Frigate" designation into line with the rest of the world.

Also, a series of Patrol Frigates of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class, originally designated PFG, were redesignated into the FFG line. The cruiser-destroyer-frigate realignment and the deletion of the Ocean Escort type brought the US Navy's ship designations into line with the rest of the world's, eliminating confusion with foreign navies. In 1980, the Navy's then-building DDG-47 class destroyers were redesignated as cruisers (CG-47 Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser) to emphasize the additional capability provided by the ships' Aegis combat systems.

See also[link]

• List of cruisers

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Parkes, Oscar British Battleships (2nd Edition). Leo Cooper, London, 1990. ISBN 0-85052-604-3

External links[link]

• Philip Sims, Michael Bosworth, Chris Cable, Howard Fireman. "Historical Review of Cruiser Characteristics, Roles and Missions". SFAC Report Number 9030-04-C1. Future Concepts and Surface Ship Design Group, Naval Sea Systems Command, United States Navy. http://www.aandc.org/research/cruisers/cr_navsea.html. Retrieved March 25, 2011. 

Clint Eastwood
Eastwood at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival
Born	Clinton Eastwood, Jr. (1930-05-31) May 31, 1930 (age 82) San Francisco, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, and composer
Years active	1955–present
Spouse	Maggie Johnson (1953–84; two children) Dina Ruiz (1996–present; one child)
Children	Kimber Tunis Kyle Eastwood Alison Eastwood Scott Reeves Kathryn Reeves Francesca Fisher-Eastwood Morgan Eastwood

	This article is part of a series on Clint Eastwood
Background · 1960s · 1970s · 1980s · 1990s · 2000s · Politics · Personal life · Awards and honors · Filmography · Discography · Malpaso Productions

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide (1959–1965). He rose to fame for playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's Dollars trilogy of spaghetti westerns (A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) during the late 1960s, and as Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry films (Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool) throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made him an enduring cultural icon of masculinity.^[1][2]

For his work in the films Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004), Eastwood won Academy Awards for Best Director and Producer of the Best Picture, as well as receiving nominations for Best Actor. These films in particular, as well as others including Play Misty for Me (1971), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974), The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), Tightrope (1984), Pale Rider (1985), Heartbreak Ridge (1986), In the Line of Fire (1993), The Bridges of Madison County (1995), and Gran Torino (2008), have all received commercial success and critical acclaim. Eastwood's only comedies have been Every Which Way but Loose (1978) and its sequel Any Which Way You Can (1980), which are his two most commercially successful films after adjustment for inflation.

In addition to directing most of his own star vehicles, Eastwood has also directed films in which he did not appear, such as Mystic River (2003) and Letters from Iwo Jima (2006), for which he received Academy Award nominations, and Changeling (2008). He has received considerable critical praise in France, including for several films which were not well received in the United States, and he has been awarded two of France's highest honors: in 1994, the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal, and in 2007 the Légion d'honneur medal. In 2000, he was awarded the Italian Venice Film Festival Golden Lion for lifetime achievement.

Since 1967, Eastwood has run his own production company, Malpaso, which has produced all except four of his American films. He also served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, from 1986 to 1988. Eastwood has seven children by five women, although he has only married twice.

Early life[link]

Eastwood was born in San Francisco to Clinton Eastwood, Sr. (1906–70), a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (née Runner; 1909–2006), a factory worker.^[3] He was nicknamed "Samson" by the hospital nurses as he weighed 11 pounds 6 ounces (5.2 kg) at birth.^[4][5][6] After his father died in 1970, Eastwood's mother remarried to John Belden Wood (1913–2004) in 1972, and they remained married until his death 32 years later.^[7] Eastwood is of English, Irish, Scottish, and Dutch ancestry^[3][8] and was raised in a middle class home with his younger sister, Jean (born 1934).^[9][10] His family relocated often as his father worked at different jobs along the West Coast, including at a pulp mill.^[11][12] The family settled in Piedmont, California, where Eastwood attended Piedmont Junior High School and Piedmont Senior High School, taking part in sports such as basketball, football, gymnastics, and competitive swimming.^[13] He later transferred to Oakland Technical High School where the drama teachers encouraged him to enroll in school plays, but he was not interested. As his family moved to different areas he held a series of jobs including lifeguard, paper carrier, grocery clerk, forest firefighter, and golf caddy.^[14]

In 1950, Eastwood began a one-year stint as a lifeguard for the United States Army during the Korean War^[15] and was posted to Fort Ord in California.^[16] While on leave in 1951 Eastwood was a passenger onboard a Douglas AD bomber that ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean near Point Reyes.^[17][18] After escaping from the sinking aircraft he and the pilot swam 3 miles (5 km) to safety.^[19]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Publicity photo for Rawhide, 1961

According to the CBS press release for Rawhide, Universal Studios (then known as Universal-International) was shooting in Fort Ord when an assistant noticed Eastwood and arranged for him to meet the series' director.^[20] According to Eastwood's official biography, a man named Chuck Hill was instrumental in securing employment for Eastwood at Universal;^[20] Hill, who had contacts in Hollywood, managed to sneak Eastwood into one of Universal's studios, where he showed him to cameraman Irving Glassberg.^[20] Glassberg arranged for Eastwood to have an audition with Arthur Lubin who, although impressed with Eastwood's appearance and 6-foot-4-inch (1.93 m) frame,^[21] initially questioned his acting skills, remarking, "He was quite amateurish. He didn't know which way to turn or which way to go or do anything".^[22] Lubin suggested Eastwood attend drama classes, and arranged for his initial contract in April 1954 at $100 (US$865 in 2012 dollars^[23]) per week.^[22] After signing, Eastwood was criticized for his stiff manner, his squint, and for hissing his lines through his teeth, a feature that would become a lifelong trademark.^{[24][25][26][27]}

Eastwood's first acting role was an uncredited bit part as a laboratory assistant in the 1955 film Revenge of the Creature.^[28] He then had uncredited bit parts in several other films, such as Lady Godiva of Coventry and Never Say Goodbye (1956), as well as a small speaking role in Francis in the Navy.^[29][30][31] In 1959, he made a guest appearance on Maverick, opposite James Garner, as a cowardly villain intent on marrying a rich girl for money.^[32] Eastwood had a small part as an aviator in the French picture Lafayette Escadrille and took on a featured role as an ex-Confederate renegade in Ambush at Cimarron Pass, a film which Eastwood viewed as disastrous and the lowest point of his career.^[33][34][35]

In a long sought-after break, Eastwood was cast in the supporting role of Rowdy Yates for the CBS hour-long western series Rawhide in the summer of 1958,^[36][37] although he was not especially happy with his role. Now aged 28, Eastwood felt his character Rowdy was too young and cloddish for him to feel comfortable with the part.^[38] Rawhide premiered in January 1959^[39] and after its release took only three weeks to reach the top 20 in the TV ratings. Although the series never won an Emmy it was a major success for several years, reaching its peak at number six in the ratings between October 1960 and April 1961.^[40] The Rawhide years (1959–65) were some of the most grueling of Eastwood's career. He often filmed for six days a week at an average of twelve hours a day, yet some directors still criticized him for not working hard enough.^[41][40] By late 1963 Rawhide's popularity had declined. Lacking freshness in the scripts, it was canceled in the middle of the 1965–66 television season.^[42] Eastwood made his first attempt at directing when he filmed several trailers for the show, although he was unable to convince producers to let him direct an episode.^[43] In the show's first season Eastwood earned $750 (US$6,042 in 2012 dollars^[23]) an episode. At the time of Rawhide’s cancellation, he received $119,000 (US$877,609 in 2012 dollars^[23]) in compensation.^[44]

1960s[link]

Set of The Good, Bad and the Ugly in Almería in 2009

In late 1963 Eastwood's co-star on Rawhide, Eric Fleming, rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made western called A Fistful of Dollars, to be directed in a remote region of Spain by the then relatively unknown Sergio Leone.^[45] Other actors, including Charles Bronson, Steve Reeves, Richard Harrison, Henry Fonda, James Coburn, and Ty Hardin, were also considered for the role. Knowing that he could play a cowboy convincingly Harrison suggested Eastwood, who in turn saw the film as an opportunity to escape from Rawhide. He signed a contract for $15,000 (US$112,403 in 2012 dollars^[23]) in wages for eleven weeks' work, with a bonus of a Mercedes automobile upon completion.^[46][47] Eastwood later spoke of the transition from a television western to A Fistful of Dollars: "In Rawhide I did get awfully tired of playing the conventional white hat. The hero who kisses old ladies and dogs and was kind to everybody. I decided it was time to be an anti-hero."^[48] Eastwood was instrumental in creating the Man with No Name character's distinctive visual style and, although a non-smoker, Leone insisted Eastwood smoke cigars as an essential ingredient of the "mask" he was attempting to create for the loner character.^[49]

A Fistful of Dollars proved a landmark in the development of spaghetti westerns, with Leone depicting a more lawless and desolate world than in traditional westerns, and challenging stereotypical American notions of a western hero by replacing him with a morally ambiguous antihero. The film's success meant Eastwood became a major star in Italy^[50] and he was re-hired by Leone to star in For a Few Dollars More (1965), the second film of the trilogy. Through the efforts of screenwriter Luciano Vincenzoni, the rights to For a Few Dollars More and the final film of the trilogy (The Good, the Bad and the Ugly) were sold to United Artists for approximately $900,000 (US$6.64 million in 2012 dollars^[23]).^[51]

In January 1966 Eastwood met producer Dino De Laurentiis in New York City and agreed to star in a non-western five-part anthology production named Le streghe ("The Witches") opposite De Laurentiis' wife, actress Silvana Mangano.^[53] Eastwood's nineteen-minute installment only took a few days to shoot but his performance did not go down well with critics, with one writing "no other performance of his is quite so 'un-Clintlike' ".^[54] Two months later Eastwood began work on the third Dollars film, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, in which he again played the mysterious Man with No Name. Lee Van Cleef returned to play a ruthless fortune seeker, while Eli Wallach portrayed the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. The storyline involves the search for a cache of Confederate gold buried in a cemetery. During the filming of one scene in which a bridge was to be dynamited, Eastwood urged Wallach to retreat to a hilltop saying, "I know about these things. Stay as far away from special effects and explosives as you can."^[55] Minutes later confusion among the crew over the word "Vaya!" resulted in a premature explosion that could have killed Wallach.^[55]

The Dollars trilogy was not shown in the United States until 1967 when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in December.^[56] All the films were commercially successful, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which eventually earned $8 million (US$55.8 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in rental earnings and turned Eastwood into a major film star.^[56] All three films received generally bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win the respect of American film critics.^[57] Judith Crist described A Fistful of Dollars as "cheapjack",^[58] while Newsweek considered For a Few Dollars More as "excruciatingly dopey".^[57] Renata Adler of The New York Times opined that The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (now widely considered one of the finest films in the history of cinema.^[59][60]) was "the most expensive, pious and repellent movie in the history of its peculiar genre".^[61] Time magazine drew attention to the film's wooden acting, especially on the part of Eastwood, although critics such as Vincent Canby and Bosley Crowther of The New York Times praised Eastwood's coolness in playing the tall, lone stranger.^[62] Leone's distinctive cinematography style was widely acclaimed, even by critics who disparaged the acting in the film.^[57]

Stardom brought more "tough guy" roles for Eastwood. He signed up to star in the American revisionist western Hang 'Em High (1968), in which he featured alongside Inger Stevens, Pat Hingle, Dennis Hopper, Ed Begley, Bruce Dern, and James MacArthur,^[63] playing a man who seeks revenge after being lynched by vigilantes and left for dead.^[64] A cross between Rawhide and Leone's westerns, the film earned Eastwood a fee of $400,000 (US$2.67 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) and 25 percent of its net box-office takings.^[63] Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's production company, Malpaso Productions, named after the Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists^[65] and, when it opened in July 1968, the film became the biggest United Artists opening in history — its box office receipts exceeding all the James Bond films of the time.^[66][67] Hang 'Em High was widely praised by critics, including Archer Winsten of the New York Post who described it as, "a western of quality, courage, danger and excitement".^[10]

Before the release of Hang 'Em High Eastwood had already begun work on the film Coogan's Bluff, about an Arizona deputy sheriff tracking a wanted psychopathic criminal (Don Stroud) through the streets of New York City. He was reunited with Universal Studios for the project after receiving an offer of $1 million (US$6.97 million in 2012 dollars^[23])—more than double his previous salary.^[67] Jennings Lang arranged for Eastwood to meet Don Siegel, a Universal contract director who later became one of Eastwood's close friends, with the two forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and comprise five films.^[68] Filming began in November 1967, before the script had been finalized.^[69] The film was controversial for its portrayal of violence,^[70][71] with Eastwood's role creating the prototype for what would later become the macho cop of the Dirty Harry film series.^{[citation needed]} Coogan's Bluff also became the first collaboration with Argentine composer Lalo Schifrin, who would later compose the jazzy score to several Eastwood films in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Dirty Harry films.

Eastwood was paid $850,000 (US$5.68 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in 1968 for the war epic Where Eagles Dare,^[72] about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the alpine mountains. Richard Burton played the squad's commander, with Eastwood as his right-hand man. Eastwood was also cast as Two-Face in the Batman television show, but the series was canceled before filming began.^[73]

Eastwood then branched out to star in the only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (1969). Eastwood and fellow non-singer Lee Marvin play gold miners who share the same wife (portrayed by Jean Seberg). Bad weather and delays plagued the production, while the film’s budget eventually exceeded $20 million (US$127 million in 2012 dollars^[23]), which was extremely expensive for the time.^[74] The film was not a critical or commercial success, although it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy.^[75]

1970s[link]

In 1970, Eastwood starred in the western Two Mules for Sister Sara with Shirley MacLaine and directed by Don Siegel. The film follows an American mercenary who gets mixed up with a whore disguised as a nun and ends up helping a group of Juarista rebels during the reign of Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.^[76][77] Eastwood once again played a mysterious stranger—unshaven, wearing a serape-like vest, and smoking a cigar.^[78] Although the film received moderate reviews^[79][80][81] the film is listed in The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made.^[82] Later the same year Eastwood starred as one of a group of Americans who steal a fortune in gold from the Nazis in the World War II film Kelly's Heroes with Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas. Kelly's Heroes was the last film in which Eastwood appeared that was not produced by his own Malpaso Productions.^[83] Filming commenced in July 1969 on location in Yugoslavia and in London.^[84] The film received mostly a positive reception and its anti-war sentiments were recognized.^[83] In the winter of 1969–70, Eastwood and Siegel began planning his next film, The Beguiled, a tale of a wounded Union soldier held captive by the sexually repressed matron of a southern girl's school.^[85] Upon release the film received major recognition in France and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French.^[86] However, it grossed less than $1 million (US$5.98 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) and, according to Eastwood and Lang, flopped due to poor publicity and the "emasculated" role of Eastwood.^[87]

Eastwood with a fan circa 1970

Eastwood's career reached a turning point in 1971.^[88] Before Irving Leonard died he and Eastwood had discussed the idea of Malpaso producing Play Misty for Me, a film that was to give Eastwood the artistic control he desired and his debut as a director.^[89] The script was about a jazz disc jockey named Dave (Eastwood) who has a casual affair with Evelyn (Jessica Walter), a listener who had been calling the radio station repeatedly at night asking him to play her favorite song—Erroll Garner's "Misty". When Dave ends their relationship the fan becomes violent and murderous.^[90] Filming commenced in Monterey in September 1970 and included footage of that year's Monterey Jazz Festival.^[91] The film was highly acclaimed with critics such as Jay Cocks in Time, Andrew Sarris in the Village Voice, and Archer Winsten in the New York Post all praising the film, as well as Eastwood's directorial skills and performance.^[92] Walter was nominated for a Golden Globe Best Actress Award (Drama) for her performance in the film.

Dirty Harry (1971), written by Harry Julian Fink and Rita M. Fink, centers around a hard-edged New York City (later changed to San Francisco) police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means.^[93] Dirty Harry has been described as being arguably Eastwood's most memorable character, and the film has been credited with inventing the "loose-cannon cop" genre.^[94][95] Author Eric Lichtenfeld argues that Eastwood's role as Dirty Harry established the "first true archetype" of the action film genre.^[96] His lines (quoted left) have been cited as among the most memorable in cinematic history^{[by whom?]} and are regarded by firearms historians, such as Garry James and Richard Venola, as the force which catapulted the ownership of .44 Magnum pistols to unprecedented heights in the United States; specifically the Smith & Wesson Model 29 carried by Harry Callahan.^[97][98] Dirty Harry achieved huge success after its release in December 1971, earning $22 million (US$126 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in the United States and Canada alone.^[99] It was Siegel's highest-grossing film and the start of a series of films featuring the character Harry Callahan. Although a number of critics praised Eastwood's performance as Dirty Harry, such as Jay Cocks of Time magazine who described him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character",^[100] the film was also widely criticized and accused of being fascistic.^{[101][102][103]}

Following Sean Connery's announcement that he would not play James Bond again, Eastwood was offered the role but turned it down because he believed the character should be played by an English actor.^[104] He next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (1972), based on a character inspired by Reies Lopez Tijerina who stormed a courthouse in Tierra Amarilla, New Mexico, in June 1967. During filming, Eastwood suffered symptoms of a bronchial infection and several panic attacks.^[105] Joe Kidd received a mixed reception, with Roger Greenspun of The New York Times writing that it was unremarkable, with foolish symbolism and sloppy editing, although he praised Eastwood's performance.^[106]

In 1973, Eastwood directed his first western, High Plains Drifter, in which he starred alongside Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Billy Curtis, Rawhide's Paul Brinegar and Geoffrey Lewis. The film had a moral and supernatural theme, later emulated in Pale Rider. The plot follows a mysterious stranger (Eastwood) who arrives in a brooding Western town where the people hire him to protect them against three soon-to-be-released felons. There remains confusion during the film as to whether the stranger is the brother of the deputy, whom the felons lynched and murdered, or his ghost. Holes in the plot were filled with black humor and allegory, influenced by Leone.^[107] The revisionist film received a mixed reception, but was a major box office success. A number of critics thought Eastwood's directing was "as derivative as it was expressive", with Arthur Knight of the Saturday Review remarking that Eastwood had "absorbed the approaches of Siegel and Leone and fused them with his own paranoid vision of society".^[108] John Wayne, who had declined a role in the film, sent a letter to Eastwood soon after the film's release in which he complained that, "the townspeople did not represent the true spirit of the American pioneer, the spirit that made America great".^[109]

Eastwood directing William Holden in Breezy (1973)

Eastwood next turned his attention towards Breezy (1973), a film about love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. During casting for the film Eastwood met Sondra Locke, an actress who would play major roles in many of his films for the next ten years and would become an important figure in his life.^[110] Kay Lenz was awarded the part of Breezy because Locke, at 28, was considered too old. The film, shot very quickly and efficiently by Eastwood and Frank Stanley, came in $1 million (US$5.24 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) under budget and was finished three days ahead of schedule.^[111] Breezy was not a major critical or commercial success and it was only made available on video in 1998.^[112]

Once filming of Breezy had finished, Warner Brothers announced that Eastwood had agreed to reprise his role as Detective Harry Callahan in Magnum Force (1973), a sequel to Dirty Harry, about a group of rogue young officers (among them David Soul, Robert Urich and Tim Matheson) in the San Francisco Police Force who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals.^[113] Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million (US$304 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in the United States (a record for Eastwood), it was not a critical success.^[114][115] The New York Times critic Nora Sayre panned the often contradictory moral themes of the film, while the paper's Frank Rich called it "the same old stuff".^[115]

In 1974, Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges and George Kennedy in the buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, a road movie about a veteran bank robber Thunderbolt (Eastwood) and a young con man drifter, Lightfoot (Bridges). On its release, in spring 1974, the film was praised for its offbeat comedy mixed with high suspense and tragedy but was only a modest success at the box office, earning $32.4 million (US$153 million in 2012 dollars^[23]).^[116] Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. Eastwood reportedly fumed at the lack of Academy Award recognition for him and swore that he would never work for United Artists again.^[116][117]

Eastwood's next film The Eiger Sanction (1975) was based on Trevanian's critically acclaimed spy novel of the same name. Eastwood plays Jonathan Hemlock in a role originally intended for Paul Newman, an assassin turned college art professor who decides to return to his former profession for one last "sanction" in return for a rare Pissarro painting. In the process he must climb the north face of the Eiger in Switzerland under perilous conditions. Once again Eastwood starred alongside George Kennedy. Mike Hoover taught Eastwood how to climb during several weeks of preparation at Yosemite in the summer of 1974 before filming commenced in Grindelwald on August 12, 1974.^[118][119] Despite prior warnings about the perils of the Eiger the film crew suffered a number of accidents, including one fatality.^[120][121] Despite the danger, Eastwood insisted on doing all his own climbing and stunts. Upon release in May 1975 The Eiger Sanction was a commercial failure, receiving only $23.8 million (US$103 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) at the box office, and was poorly received by most critics.^[122] Joy Gould Boyum of the Wall Street Journal dismissed the film as "brutal fantasy".^[122][123] Eastwood blamed Universal Studios for the film's poor promotion and turned his back on them to make an agreement with Warner Brothers, through Frank Wells, that has lasted to the present day.^[124]

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), a western inspired by Asa Carter's eponymous 1972 novel,^[125] has lead character Josey Wales (Eastwood) as a pro-Confederate guerilla who refuses to surrender his arms after the American Civil War and is chased across the old southwest by a group of enforcers. Eastwood cast his young son Kyle Eastwood, Chief Dan George, and Sondra Locke for the first time, against the wishes of director Philip Kaufman.^[126] Kaufman was fired by producer Bob Daley under Eastwood's command, resulting in a fine reported to be around $60,000 (US$245,053 in 2012 dollars^[23]) from the Directors Guild of America—who subsequently passed new legislation reserving the right to impose a major fine on a producer for discharging and replacing a director.^[127] The film was pre-screened at the Sun Valley Center for the Arts and Humanities in Idaho during a six-day conference entitled Western Movies: Myths and Images. Invited to the screening were a number of esteemed film critics, including Jay Cocks and Arthur Knight; directors such as King Vidor, William Wyler, and Howard Hawks; and a number of academics.^[128] Upon release in August 1976 The Outlaw Josey Wales was widely acclaimed, with many critics and viewers seeing Eastwood's role as an iconic one that related to America's ancestral past and the destiny of the nation after the American Civil War.^[128] Roger Ebert compared the nature and vulnerability of Eastwood's portrayal of Josey Wales with his Man with No Name character in the Dollars westerns and praised the film's atmosphere.^[129] The film would later appear in Time's "Top 10 Films of the Year".^[130]

Eastwood was then offered the role of Benjamin L. Willard in Francis Coppola's Apocalypse Now, but declined as he did not want to spend weeks on location in the Philippines.^[131][132] He also refused the part of a platoon leader in Ted Post's Vietnam War film Go Tell the Spartans^[131] and instead decided to make a third Dirty Harry film The Enforcer. The film had Harry partnered with a new female officer (Tyne Daly) to face a San Francisco Bay area group resembling the Symbionese Liberation Army. The film, culminating in a shootout on Alcatraz island, was considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry films at 95 minutes,^[133] but was a major commercial success grossing $100 million (US$408 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) worldwide to become Eastwood's highest-grossing film to date.^[134]

In 1977, he directed and starred in The Gauntlet opposite Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, and Mara Corday. Eastwood portrays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix, to testify against the mafia. Although a moderate hit with the viewing public, critics had mixed feelings about the film, with many believing it was overly violent. Eastwood's longtime nemesis Pauline Kael called it "a tale varnished with foul language and garnished with violence".^{[citation needed]} Roger Ebert, in contrast, gave the film three stars and called it "...classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny."^[135] In 1978 Eastwood starred in Every Which Way but Loose alongside Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Ruth Gordon and John Quade. In an uncharacteristic offbeat comedy role, Eastwood played Philo Beddoe, a trucker and brawler who roams the American West searching for a lost love accompanied by his brother and an orangutan called Clyde. The film proved a surprising success upon its release and became Eastwood's most commercially successful film at the time. Panned by critics, it ranked high among the box office successes of his career and was the second-highest grossing film of 1978.^[136]

Eastwood starred in the thriller Escape from Alcatraz in 1979, the last of his films to be directed by Don Siegel. It was based on the true story of Frank Lee Morris who, along with John and Clarence Anglin, escaped from the notorious Alcatraz prison in 1962. The film was a major success; Stanley Kauffmann of The New Republic praised it as "crystalline cinema"^[137] and Frank Rich of Time described it as "cool, cinematic grace".^[138] The film marked the beginning of a critically acclaimed period for Eastwood.

1980s[link]

Eastwood directed and played the lead role in the 1980 comedy Bronco Billy alongside Locke, Scatman Crothers, and Sam Bottoms.^[139] His children, Kyle and Alison, also had small roles as orphans.^[140] Eastwood has cited Bronco Billy as being one of the most relaxed shoots of his career^{[citation needed]} and biographer Richard Schickel has argued that Bronco Billy is Eastwood's most self-referential character.^[141][142] The film was a commercial failure,^[143] but was liked by critics. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that film was "the best and funniest Clint Eastwood movie in quite a while", and praised Eastwood's directing and the way he intricately juxtaposes the old West and the new.^[144] Later in 1980, Eastwood starred in Any Which Way You Can, the sequel to Every Which Way but Loose. The film received a number of bad reviews from critics, although Maslin described it as "funnier and even better than its predecessor".^[143] The film became another box office success and was among the top five highest-grossing films of the year.

Eastwood in 1981

In 1982, Eastwood directed and starred alongside his son Kyle in Honkytonk Man, based on the eponymous Clancy Carlile's depression-era novel. Eastwood portrays a struggling western singer Red Stovall who suffers from tuberculosis, but has finally been given an opportunity to make it big at the Grand Ole Opry. He is accompanied by his young nephew (Kyle) to Nashville, Tennessee, where he is supposed to record a song. Only Time gave the film a good review in the United States, with most reviewers criticizing its blend of muted humor and tragedy.^[145] Nevertheless the film received critical acclaim in France, where it was compared to John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath,^[146] and it has since acquired the very high rating of 93 percent on Rotten Tomatoes.^[147] In the same year Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox alongside Freddie Jones, David Huffman, Warren Clarke and Ronald Lacey. Based on a 1977 novel with the same name written by Craig Thomas, the film was shot before but released after Honkeytonk Man. Russian filming locations were not possible due to the Cold War, and the film had to be shot in Vienna and other locations in Austria to simulate many of the Eurasian story locations. With a production cost of $20 million, (US$48.2 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) it was Eastwood's highest budget film to date.^[148] People magazine likened Eastwood's performance to "Luke Skywalker trapped in Dirty Harry's Soul".^[148]

Eastwood directed and starred in the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact, which was shot in the spring and summer of 1983 and is considered the darkest and most violent of the series.^[149] By this time Eastwood received 60 percent of all profits from films he starred in and directed, with the rest going to the studio.^[150] Sudden Impact was the last film which he starred in with Locke. She plays a woman raped, along with her sister, by a ruthless gang at a fairground and seeks revenge for her sister's now vegetative state by systematically murdering her rapists. The line "Go ahead, make my day" (uttered by Eastwood during an early scene in a coffee shop) is often cited as one of cinema's immortal lines. It was quoted by President Ronald Reagan in a speech to Congress, and used during the 1984 presidential elections.^{[151][152][153]} The film was the most commercially successful of the Dirty Harry films, earning $70 million (US$163 million in 2012 dollars^[23]). It received very positive reviews, with many critics praising the feminist aspects of the film through its explorations of the physical and psychological consequences of rape.^[154]

Tightrope (1984) had Eastwood starring opposite his daughter Alison, Geneviève Bujold, and Jamie Rose in a provocative thriller, inspired by newspaper articles about an elusive Bay Area rapist. Set in New Orleans to avoid confusion with the Dirty Harry films,^[155] Eastwood played a single-parent cop drawn into his target's tortured psychology and fascination for sadomasochism.^[156] Eastwood next starred in the period comedy City Heat (1984) alongside Burt Reynolds, a film about a private eye and his partner who get mixed up with gangsters in the prohibition era of the 1930s. The film grossed around $50 million (US$112 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) domestically, but was overshadowed by Eddie Murphy's Beverly Hills Cop.^[157]

Eastwood made his only foray into TV direction with the 1985 Amazing Stories episode "Vanessa In The Garden", which starred Harvey Keitel and Sondra Locke. This was his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg, who later co-produced Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima.^[159] Eastwood revisited the western genre when he directed and starred in Pale Rider (1985) opposite Michael Moriarty and Carrie Snodgress. The film is based on the classic 1953 western Shane and follows a preacher descending from the mists of the Sierras to side with the miners during the California Gold Rush of 1850.^[160] The title is a reference to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, as the rider of the pale horse is Death, and shows similarities to Eastwood's 1973 western High Plains Drifter in its themes of morality and justice as well as its exploration of the supernatural.^[161] Pale Rider became one of Eastwood's most successful films to date. It was hailed as one of the best films of 1985 and the best western to appear for a considerable period, with Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune remarking, "This year (1985) will go down in film history as the moment Clint Eastwood finally earned respect as an artist".^[162]

In 1986, Eastwood co-starred with Marsha Mason in the military drama Heartbreak Ridge, about the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada. He portrays an aging United States Marine Gunnery Sergeant and Korean War veteran. Production and filming were marred by internal disagreements between Eastwood and long-time friend and producer Fritz Manes, as well as between Eastwood and the United States Department of Defense who expressed contempt for the film.^[163][164] At the time the film was a commercial rather than a critical success, and has only become to be viewed more favorably in recent times.^[165] The film and grossed $70 million (US$148 million) domestically.^[166]

Eastwood starred in The Dead Pool (1988), the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series. It co-starred Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson, and a young Jim Carrey who plays Johnny Squares, a drug-addled rock star and the first of the victims on a list of celebrities drawn up by horror film director Peter Swan (Neeson) who are deemed most likely to die, the so-called "Dead Pool". The list is stolen by an obsessed fan who, in mimicking his favorite director, makes his way through the list killing off celebrities, of which Dirty Harry is also included. The Dead Pool grossed nearly $38 million (US$74.7 million), relatively low receipts for a Dirty Harry film and it is generally viewed as the weakest film of the series, although Roger Ebert perceived it to be as good as the original.^[167][168]

Eastwood began working on smaller, more personal projects, and experienced a lull in his career between 1988 and 1992. Always interested in jazz, he directed Bird (1988), a biopic starring Forest Whitaker as jazz musician Charlie "Bird" Parker. Alto saxophonist Jackie McLean and Spike Lee, son of jazz bassist Bill Lee and a long time critic of Eastwood, criticized the characterization of Charlie Parker remarking that it did not capture his true essence and sense of humor.^[169] Eastwood received two Golden Globes for the film, the Cecil B. DeMille Award for his lifelong contribution, and the Best Director award. However, Bird was a commercial failure, earning just $11 million, which Eastwood attributed to the declining interest in jazz among black people.^[170]

Carrey would again appear with Eastwood in the poorly received comedy Pink Cadillac (1989) alongside Bernadette Peters. The film is about a bounty hunter and a group of white supremacists chasing an innocent woman who tries to outrun everyone in her husband's prized pink Cadillac. The film failed both critically and commercially,^[171] earning barely more than Bird and marking a low point in Eastwood's career.^[172]

1990s[link]

Eastwood directed and starred in White Hunter Black Heart (1990), an adaptation of Peter Viertel's roman à clef, about John Huston and the making of the classic film The African Queen. Shot on location in Zimbabwe in the summer of 1989,^[173] the film received some critical attention but with only a limited release earned just $8.4 million (US$14.9 million in 2012 dollars^[23]).^[174] Later in 1990, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Charlie Sheen in The Rookie, a buddy cop action film. Critics found the film’s plot and characterization unconvincing, but praised its action sequences.^[175] An ongoing lawsuit, in response to Eastwood allegedly ramming a woman’s car,^[176] resulted in no Eastwood films being shown in cinemas in 1991.^[177] Eastwood won the suit and agreed to pay the complainant’s legal fees if she did not appeal.^[177]

In 1992, Eastwood revisited the western genre in the self-directed film Unforgiven, in which he played an aging ex-gunfighter long past his prime. Scripts existed for the film as early as 1976 under titles such as The Cut-Whore Killings and The William Munny Killings but Eastwood delayed the project because he wanted to wait until he was old enough to play his character and to savor it as the last of his western films.^[177] Unforgiven was a major commercial and critical success; Jack Methews of the Los Angeles Times described it as "the finest classical western to come along since perhaps John Ford's 1956 The Searchers.^[179] The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards,^[180] (including Best Actor for Eastwood and Best Original Screenplay for David Webb Peoples) and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood. In June 2008 Unforgiven was ranked as the fourth-best American western, behind Shane, High Noon, and The Searchers, in the American Film Institute's "AFI's 10 Top 10" list.^[181][182]

Clint Eastwood at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival

Eastwood played Frank Horrigan in the Secret Service thriller In the Line of Fire (1993) directed by Wolfgang Petersen and co-starring John Malkovich and Rene Russo. Horrigan is a guilt-ridden Secret Service agent haunted by his failure to save John F. Kennedy's life.^[183] The film was among the top 10 box office performers in that year, earning a reported $200 million (US$322 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) in the United States alone.^[184] As of 2012^[update], In the Line of Fire was the last film Eastwood acted in that he did not direct. Later in 1993, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World. Set in the 1960s,^[185] Eastwood plays a Texas Ranger in pursuit of an escaped convict (Costner) who hits the road with a young boy (T.J. Lowther). Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film marked the highest point of Eastwood's directing career,^[186] and the film has since been cited as one of his most underrated directorial achievements.^[187][188]

At the May 1994 Cannes Film Festival Eastwood received France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal^[189] then on March 27, 1995, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 67th Academy Awards.^[190] His next film appearance was in a cameo role as himself in the 1995 children's film Casper. Later in the same year he continued to expand his repertoire by playing opposite Meryl Streep in the romantic picture The Bridges of Madison County. Based on the novel by Robert James Waller,^[191] the film relates the story of Robert Kincaid (Eastwood), a photographer working for National Geographic, who has an affair with a middle-aged Italian farm wife, Francesca (Streep). Despite the novel receiving unfavorable reviews and a subject deemed potentially unsuitable for film, The Bridges of Madison County was a commercial and critical success.^[192] Roger Ebert wrote, "Streep and Eastwood weave a spell, and it is based on that particular knowledge of love and self that comes with middle age."^[193] The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and won a César Award in France for Best Foreign Film. Streep was also nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe.

In 1997 Eastwood directed and starred in the political thriller Absolute Power, alongside Gene Hackman (with whom he had appeared in Unforgiven). Eastwood played the role of a veteran thief who witnesses the Secret Service cover up of a murder. The film received a mixed reception from critics.^[194] Later in 1997, Eastwood directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, based on the novel by John Berendt and starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. The film again met with a mixed critical response.^[195]

Eastwood directed and starred in True Crime (1999), which also featured his young daughter Francesca Fisher-Eastwood. He plays Steve Everett, a journalist and recovering alcoholic, who has to cover the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (played by Isaiah Washington). The film received a mixed reception, with Janet Maslin of The New York Times writing, "his direction is galvanized by a sense of second chances and tragic misunderstandings, and by contrasting a larger sense of justice with the peculiar minutiae of crime. Perhaps he goes a shade too far in the latter direction, though."^[197] The film was a box office failure, earning less than half its $55 million (US$76.7 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) budget and was Eastwood's worst-performing film of the 1990s aside from White Hunter Black Heart, which had a limited release.^[198]

2000s[link]

In 2000 Eastwood directed and starred in Space Cowboys alongside Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and James Garner. Eastwood played one of a group of veteran ex-test pilots sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite. The original music score was composed by Eastwood and Lennie Niehaus. Space Cowboys was critically well received and holds a 79 percent rating at Rotten Tomatoes,^[199] although Roger Ebert wrote that the film was, "too secure within its traditional story structure to make much seem at risk."^[200] The film grossed more than $90 million in its United States release, more than Eastwood's two previous films combined.^[201] The following year Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent chasing a sadistic killer (Jeff Daniels) in the thriller Blood Work, loosely based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Michael Connelly. The film was a commercial failure, grossing just $26.2 million (US$33.9 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) on an estimated budget of $50 million (US$64.6 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) and received mixed reviews, with Rotten Tomatoes describing it as, "well-made but marred by lethargic pacing".^[202] Eastwood did, however, win the Future Film Festival Digital Award at the Venice Film Festival for the film.

Eastwood directed and scored the crime drama Mystic River (2003), a film dealing with themes of murder, vigilantism, and sexual abuse and starring Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins. Mystic River was praised by critics and won two Academy Awards – Best Actor for Penn and Best Supporting Actor for Robbins – with Eastwood garnering nominations for Best Director and Best Picture.^[203] The film grossed $90 million (US$114 million in 2012 dollars^[23]) domestically on a budget of $30 million (US$37.9 million in 2012 dollars^[23]).^[204] In 2003 Eastwood was named Best Director of the Year by the London Film Critics Circle and the National Society of Film Critics.^{[citation needed]}

The following year Eastwood found further critical and commercial success when he directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, playing a cantankerous trainer who forms a bond with female boxer (Hilary Swank), who he is persuaded to train by his lifelong friend (Morgan Freeman). The film won four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (Freeman).^[205] At age 74 Eastwood became the oldest of eighteen directors to have directed two or more Best Picture winners.^[206][207] He also received a nomination for Best Actor and a Grammy nomination for his score.^[208] A. O. Scott of The New York Times lauded the film as a "masterpiece" and the best film of the year.^[209]

In 2006 Eastwood directed two films about World War II's Battle of Iwo Jima. The first, Flags of Our Fathers, focused on the men who raised the American flag on top of Mount Suribachi. This was followed by Letters from Iwo Jima, which dealt with the tactics of the Japanese soldiers on the island and the letters they wrote home to family members. Letters from Iwo Jima was the first American film to depict a war issue completely from the view of an American enemy.^[210] Both films received praise from critics and garnered several nominations at the 79th Academy Awards, including Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay for Letters from Iwo Jima. At the 64th Golden Globe Awards Eastwood received nominations for Best Director in both films. Letters from Iwo Jima won the award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Eastwood in 2008

Eastwood next directed Changeling (2008), based on a true story set in the late 1920s. Angelina Jolie stars as a woman reunited with her missing son only to realize he is an impostor.^[211] After its release at several film festivals the film grossed over $110 million (US$119 million in 2012 dollars^[23]), the majority of which came from foreign markets.^[212] The film was highly acclaimed, with Damon Wise of Empire describing Changeling as "flawless".^[213] Todd McCarthy of Variety described it as "emotionally powerful and stylistically sure-handed" and that the film’s characters and social commentary were brought into the story with an "almost breathtaking deliberation".^[214] For the film Eastwood received nominations for Best Original Score at the 66th Golden Globe Awards, Best Direction at the 62nd British Academy Film Awards and director of the year from the London Film Critics' Circle.