Is Hollywood Turning on Clint Eastwood and '15:17 to Paris'?
Clint Eastwood
In 1992  Clint Eastwoodâs  âUnforgivenâ won four Academy Awards and sent  his  career on an entirely new trajectory.
Yes  it was a Western and  Eastwood  had made plenty of those already but  âUnforgiven â was different. It had some action but mostly it was a bleak character study and was regarded by many as âart.â Whether intending to or  not Eastwood  had become an auteur.
In the wake of this critical and artistic breakthrough  Warner Brothers â  Eastwood âs exclusive distributor for  his  entire output as a director since  his  debut âPlay Misty for Meâ in 1971 â began to position not all but most of  his  future efforts as âOscar bait.â Thirteen of Eastwoodâs next 19 films came out in the fall â the highly-treasured time of year reserved for awards contenders. The six that were not released in autumn were low achievers such as âAbsolute Powerâ and âBlood Workâ and lightweight fluff like the senior citizen buddy comedy âSpace Cowboysâ and the bizarre misfire that was âJersey Boys.â
Warner Brotherâs long term  Eastwood  strategy paid off in spades. Since and including âUnforgiven â Eastwoodâs films have been nominated for 35 Oscars and have won 12 with  Eastwood himself  walking away with four as well as receiving the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1994.
Less than a dozen people have won more Oscars than  Eastwood  and most of those were in technical categories. Not bad for a guy who used to co-star with monkeys.
Beginning in 2006 with âFlags of Our Fathersâ and âLetters from Iwo Jimaâ (shot at the same time but released three months apart)  Eastwoodâs choice of material started to change. The political content began to increase (âJ. Edgar â âInvictus â âGran Torinoâ) and although not overt it confirmed what many had known for a while:  Eastwood  was a conservative. While a moderate on most social issues   Eastwood  considers  himself  a âpragmatic Libertarianâ who eschews political correctness and  his  output in the last dozen years has indicated that  he âs an unabashed patriot.
While not a backer of most American Wars  he âs a staunch and unwavering supporter of armed service personnel  a point made with unmistakable clarity in âAmerican Sniper.â In addition to being the highest-grossing movie of 2014 and Eastwoodâs career  this throttling and unflinching bio-drama about the late Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) lit a welcomed fire under red state Middle America.  Eastwood  pulled off a delicate balancing act by crafting an inspirational  crowd-pleasing film that didnât pander while acknowledging the efforts of an American hero without addressing the war itself.
âThe 15:17 to Parisâ â the new movie about the three soldiers that thwarted the 2015 Thlys Train Attack â opens this Friday and it is the first  Eastwood  movie in at least 20 years that was not made available for advance press viewing.
Instead of hiring regular actors to portray the leads   Eastwood  cast the actual soldiers who confronted the terrorist â a bold move indeed and one sure to appeal to fans of âAmerican Sniper.â
In 1992   [TGT] âs  âUnforgivenâ won four Academy Awards and sent  his  career on an entirely new trajectory.
Yes  it was a Western and  Eastwood  had made plenty of those already but  âUnforgiven â was different. It had some action but mostly it was a bleak character study and was regarded by many as âart.â Whether intending to or  not Eastwood  had become an auteur.
In the wake of this critical and artistic breakthrough  Warner Brothers â  Eastwood âs exclusive distributor for  his  entire output as a director since  his  debut âPlay Misty for Meâ in 1971 â began to position not all but most of  his  future efforts as âOscar bait.â Thirteen of Eastwoodâs next 19 films came out in the fall â the highly-treasured time of year reserved for awards contenders. The six that were not released in autumn were low achievers such as âAbsolute Powerâ and âBlood Workâ and lightweight fluff like the senior citizen buddy comedy âSpace Cowboysâ and the bizarre misfire that was âJersey Boys.â
Warner Brotherâs long term  Eastwood  strategy paid off in spades. Since and including âUnforgiven â Eastwoodâs films have been nominated for 35 Oscars and have won 12 with  Eastwood himself  walking away with four as well as receiving the prestigious Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1994.
Less than a dozen people have won more Oscars than  Eastwood  and most of those were in technical categories. Not bad for a guy who used to co-star with monkeys.
Beginning in 2006 with âFlags of Our Fathersâ and âLetters from Iwo Jimaâ (shot at the same time but released three months apart)  Eastwoodâs choice of material started to change. The political content began to increase (âJ. Edgar â âInvictus â âGran Torinoâ) and although not overt it confirmed what many had known for a while:  Eastwood  was a conservative. While a moderate on most social issues   Eastwood  considers  himself  a âpragmatic Libertarianâ who eschews political correctness and  his  output in the last dozen years has indicated that  he âs an unabashed patriot.
While not a backer of most American Wars  he âs a staunch and unwavering supporter of armed service personnel  a point made with unmistakable clarity in âAmerican Sniper.â In addition to being the highest-grossing movie of 2014 and Eastwoodâs career  this throttling and unflinching bio-drama about the late Chris Kyle (Bradley Cooper) lit a welcomed fire under red state Middle America.  Eastwood  pulled off a delicate balancing act by crafting an inspirational  crowd-pleasing film that didnât pander while acknowledging the efforts of an American hero without addressing the war itself.
âThe 15:17 to Parisâ â the new movie about the three soldiers that thwarted the 2015 Thlys Train Attack â opens this Friday and it is the first  Eastwood  movie in at least 20 years that was not made available for advance press viewing.
Instead of hiring regular actors to portray the leads   Eastwood  cast the actual soldiers who confronted the terrorist â a bold move indeed and one sure to appeal to fans of âAmerican Sniper.â