19 April 2024

Clint Eastwood

American film actor and director Clint Eastwood (1930) rose to fame as the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's classic Spaghetti Westerns Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (1964), Per qualche dollaro in più/For a Few Dollars More (1965), and Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966). Later in the US, he played hard-edge police inspector Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films, which elevated him to superstar status, and he directed and produced such award-winning masterpieces as Unforgiven (1992), Mystic River (2003) and Million Dollar Baby (2004).

Clint Eastwood in Rawhide (1959–1966)
American postcard by the American Postcard Co. Inc., no. TV22, 1984. Photo: Viacom International Inc. Clint Eastwood as Rowdy Yates in Rawhide (1959–1966).

Clint Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes (1970)
British postcard by Boomerang Media in The Greatest series. Photo: Pierluigi Praturion / Rex Features. Clint Eastwood in Kelly's Heroes (Brian G. Hutton, 1970).

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (1971)
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. P 8286. Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971).

Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact (1983)
French postcard, no. Réf. 950. Clint Eastwood in Sudden Impact (Clint Eastwood, 1983).

Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (2008)
Chinese postcard. Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008).

Towering height and slender frame


Clinton ‘Clint’ Eastwood, Jr. was born in San Francisco, California in 1930. His parents were Clinton Eastwood, Sr., a steelworker and migrant worker, and Margaret Ruth (Runner) Eastwood, a factory worker. Clint has a younger sister, Jeanne. Because of his father's difficulty in finding steady work during the depression, Eastwood moved with his family from one Northern California town to another, attending some eight elementary schools in the process.

Later he had odd jobs as a fire-fighter and lumberjack in Oregon, as well as a steelworker in Seattle. In 1951, Eastwood was drafted into the US Army, where he was a swimming instructor during the Korean War. He briefly attended Los Angeles City College but dropped out to pursue acting. Eastwood married Maggie Johnson in 1953, six months after they met on a blind date. However, their matrimony would not prove altogether smooth, with Eastwood believing that he had married too early.

In 1954, the good-looking Eastwood with his towering height and slender frame got a contract at Universal. At first, he was criticised for his stiff manner, his squint, and for hissing his lines through his teeth. His first acting role was an uncredited bit part as a laboratory assistant in the Sci-Fi Horror film Revenge of the Creature (Jack Arnold, 1955). Over the next three years, he played more bit parts in such films as Lady Godiva of Coventry (Arthur Lubin, 1955), Tarantula (Jack Arnold, 1955), and the war drama Away All Boats (Joseph Pevney, 1956) with George Nader and Lex Barker.

His first bigger roles were in the B-Western Ambush at Cimarron Pass (Jodie Copelan, 1958), and the war film Lafayette Escadrille (William A. Wellman, 1958), starring Tab Hunter and Etchika Choureau. In 1959, he became a TV star as Rowdy Yates in the Western series Rawhide (1959–1966). Although Rawhide never won an Emmy, it was a ratings success for several years.

During a trial separation from Maggie Johnson, an affair with dancer Roxanne Tunis produced Eastwood’s first child, Kimber Tunis (1964). An intensely private person, Clint Eastwood was rarely featured in the tabloid press. However, he had more affairs, e.g. with actresses Catherine Deneuve, Inger Stevens and Jean Seberg. After a reconciliation, he had two children with Johnson: Kyle Eastwood (1968) and Alison Eastwood (1972), though he was not present at either birth. Johnson filed for legal separation in 1978, but the pair officially divorced in 1984.

Clint Eastwood in Rawhide (1959–1966)
British postcard by D. Constance Ltd, London, no. 106. Photo: Reisfeld / Ufa. Publicity still for the TV series Rawhide (1959–1966).

Clint Eastwood in Rawhide (1959–1966)
Vintage postcard by C-Star, no. SP236. Clint Eastwood in the TV series Rawhide (1959-1966).

Clint Eastwood in Rawhide (1959–1966)
Vintage postcard. Clint Eastwood in the TV series Rawhide (1959-1966).

Clint Eastwood in A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
Vintage postcard. Clint Eastwood in Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964).

Clint Eastwood in Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (1964)
British postcard by Pyramid, Leicester, no. PC2041. Photo: Vaselli. Clint Eastwood in Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964).

The Man With No Name Trilogy


In late 1963, Clint Eastwood's Rawhide co-star Eric Fleming rejected an offer to star in an Italian-made Western. Eastwood, who in turn saw the film as an opportunity to escape from his Rawhide image, signed the contract. The Western was called Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (1964), to be directed in a remote region of Spain by the then relatively unknown Sergio Leone. A Fistful of Dollars, also with Gian Maria Volonté and Marianne Koch, was a remake of Akira Kurosawa's Yojimbo (1961).

Eastwood played a cynical gunfighter who comes to a small border town, torn apart by two feuding families. Hiring himself out as a mercenary, the lone drifter plays one side against the other until nothing remains of either side. Eastwood started to develop a minimalist acting style and created the character's distinctive visual style. 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.

Per un pugno di dollari/A Fistful of Dollars (Sergio Leone, 1964) was the first instalment of the Dollars trilogy. Later, United Artists, who distributed it in the US, coined another term for it: the Man With No Name trilogy. ‘The second part was Per qualche dollaro in più/For a Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965), a richer, more mythologised film that focused on two ruthless bounty hunters (Eastwood and Lee Van Cleef) who form a tenuous partnership to hunt down a wanted bandit (Gian Maria Volontè). Both films were a huge success in Italy. They both contain all of Leone's eventual trademarks: taciturn characters, precise framing, extreme close-ups, and the haunting music of Ennio Morricone.

Eastwood also appeared in a segment of Dino De Laurentiis’ five-part anthology production Le Streghe/The Witches (Vittorio De Sica a.o., 1967). But his performance opposite De Laurentiis' wife Silvana Mangano did not please the critics. Eastwood then played in the third and best Dollars film, Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966). Again he played the mysterious Man with No Name, wearing the same trademark poncho (reportedly without ever having washed it). Lee Van Cleef returned as a ruthless fortune seeker, with Eli Wallach portrayed the cunning Mexican bandit Tuco Ramirez. Yuri German at AllMovie: "Immensely entertaining and beautifully shot in Techniscope by Tonino Delli Colli, the movie is a virtually definitive 'spaghetti western,' rivaled only by Leone's own Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)."

The Dollars trilogy was not released in the United States until 1967, when A Fistful of Dollars opened in January, followed by For a Few Dollars More in May, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in December. Eastwood redubbed his own dialogue for the American releases. All the films were commercially successful, particularly The Good, the Bad and the Ugly which turned Eastwood into a major film star. All three films received bad reviews, and marked the beginning of a battle for Eastwood to win American film critics' respect. According to IMDb, Sergio Leone asked Eastwood, Wallach and Van Cleef to appear again in C'era una volta il West/Once Upon A Time in the West (Sergio Leone, 1968), but they all declined when they heard that their characters were going to be killed off in the first five minutes.

Clint Eastwood
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Clint Eastwood in Per qualche dollaro in più (1965)
Vintage postcard, no. 2175. Image: Italian lobby card (locandina) by Izaro Films. Clint Eastwood in Per qualche dollaro in più/For A Few Dollars More (Sergio Leone, 1965).

Clint Eastwood on the set of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Italian postcard by Cineteca di Bologna, 2007. Photo: Angelo Novi. Clint Eastwood on the set of Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966).

Clint Eastwood in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo (1966)
French postcard by Ébullitions, no. 44. Clint Eastwood in Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly/The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1966).

Clint Eastwood
Romanian postcard by Colectia Cinefilului Acin.

Coogan's Bluff


Stardom brought more roles for Clint Eastwood. He signed to star in the American revisionist western Hang 'Em High (Ted Post, 1968), playing a man who takes up a Marshal's badge and seeks revenge as a lawman after being lynched by vigilantes and left for dead.

Using money earned from the Dollars trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's own production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. Leonard arranged for Hang 'Em High to be a joint production with United Artists. Hang 'Em High was widely praised by critics, and when it opened in July 1968, it had an unprecedented opening weekend in United Artists' history.

His following film was Coogan's Bluff (Don Siegel, 1968), about an Arizona deputy sheriff tracking a wanted psychopathic criminal (Don Stroud) through the streets of New York City. Don Siegel was a Universal contract director who later became Eastwood's close friend, forming a partnership that would last more than ten years and produce five films. Coogan’s Bluff was controversial for its portrayal of violence, Eastwood's role creating the prototype for the macho cop of the Dirty Harry film series. 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 played the right-hand man of squad's commander Richard Burton in the war epic Where Eagles Dare (Brian G. Hutton, 1968), about a World War II squad parachuting into a Gestapo stronghold in the alpine mountains. Eastwood then branched out to star in the only musical of his career, Paint Your Wagon (Joshua Logan, 1969).

Then, Eastwood starred in the Western Two Mules for Sister Sara (Don Sigel, 1970), with Shirley MacLaine, and 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 (Brian G. Hutton, 1970)). Kelly's Heroes was the last film in which Eastwood appeared, that was not produced by his own Malpaso Productions.

Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High (1968)
Spanish postcard by Royal Books, Barcelona, 1993. Clint Eastwood in Hang 'Em High (Ted Post, 1968). The Spanish title is Cometierron dos erreros.

Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 136-069. Photo: The Ludlow Collection. Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara (Don Siegel, 1970).

Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 136-180. Photo: The Ludlow Collection. Clint Eastwood in Two Mules for Sister Sara (Don Siegel, 1970).

Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (1971)
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 136-119. Photo: The Ludlow Collection. Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971).

Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
American postcard by Classico San Francisco, no. 136-012. Photo: The Ludlow Collection. Clint Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976).

Dirty Harry


Clint Eastwood’s next film, The Beguiled (Don Siegel, 1970), was a tale of a wounded Union soldier, held captive by the sexually repressed matron of a southern girl's school. Upon release the film received major recognition in France but in the US it was a box office flop. Eastwood's career reached a turning point with Dirty Harry (Don Siegel, 1971), The film centres around a hard-edged San Francisco police inspector named Harry Callahan who is determined to stop a psychotic killer by any means. Dirty Harry achieved huge success after its release in December 1971. It was Siegel's highest-grossing film to date and the start of a series of films featuring the character Harry Callahan.

He next starred in the loner Western Joe Kidd (John Sturges, 1972). In 1973, Eastwood directed his first Western, High Plains Drifter, in which he starred alongside Verna Bloom. The revisionist film received a mixed reception, but was a major box office success. Eastwood next turned his attention towards Breezy (Clint Eastwood, 1973), a film about love blossoming between a middle-aged man and a teenage girl. During casting for the film Eastwood met actress Sondra Locke, who would become an important figure in his life.

He reprised his role as Detective Harry Callahan in Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973). This sequel to Dirty Harry was about a group of rogue young officers (including David Soul and Robert Urich) in the San Francisco Police Force who systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals. Eastwood teamed up with Jeff Bridges in the buddy action caper Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (Michael Cimino, 1974). Eastwood's acting was noted by critics, but was overshadowed by Bridges who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

His next film The Eiger Sanction (Clint Eastwood, 1975), based on Trevanian's spy novel, was a commercial and critical failure. His next film The Outlaw Josey Wales (Clint Eastwood, 1976) 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. The third Dirty Harry film, The Enforcer (James Fargo, 1976) had Harry partnered with a new female officer (Tyne Daly) to face a San Francisco Bay terrorist organisation. The film, culminating in a shootout on Alcatraz island, was a major commercial success grossing $100 million worldwide.

In 1977, he directed and starred in The Gauntlet opposite Sondra Locke. 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. In 1978 Eastwood starred with Locke and an orang-utan called Clyde in Every Which Way but Loose. Panned by critics, the film proved a surprising success and became the second-highest grossing film of 1978. Eastwood then starred in the thriller Escape from Alcatraz (1979), the last of his films to be directed by Don Siegel. The film was a major success, and marked the beginning of a critically acclaimed period for Eastwood. Eastwood's relationship with Sondra Locke had begun in 1975 during production of The Outlaw Josey Wales. They lived together for almost fourteen years, during which Locke remained married (in name only) to her gay husband, Gordon Anderson. Eastwood befriended Locke's husband and purchased a house in Crescent Heights for Anderson and his male lover.

Clint Eastwood
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin.

Clint Eastwood and John Saxon in Joe Kidd (1972)
French postcard by Travelling Editions, Paris, no. CP 9. Clint Eastwood and John Saxon in Joe Kidd (John Sturges, 1972).

Clint Eastwood in Joe Kidd (1972)
Belgian postcard by Raider Bounty / Joepie. Clint Eastwood in Joe Kidd (John Sturges, 1972).

Clint Eastwood
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 285.

Go Ahead, Make My Day


In 1980, Clint Eastwood’s nonstop success was broken by Bronco Billy, which he directed and played the lead role in. The film was liked by critics, but a rare commercial disappointment in Eastwood's career. Later that year, he starred in Any Which Way You Can (Buddy Van Horn, 1980), which ranked among the top five highest-grossing films of the year. In 1982, Eastwood directed and starred in Honkytonk Man, as a struggling Western singer who, accompanied by his young nephew (played by real-life son Kyle) goes to Nashville, Tennessee. In the same year Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the Cold War-themed Firefox (1982) alongside Freddie Jones.

Then, Eastwood directed and starred in the fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact (1983), the darkest and most violent of the series. 'Go ahead, make my day', uttered by Eastwood in the film, became one of cinema's immortal lines. Sudden Impact was the last film which he starred in with Locke. The film was the most commercially successful of the Dirty Harry films, earning $70 million and it received very positive reviews. In the provocative thriller Tightrope (Richard Tuggle, 1984), Eastwood starred opposite Geneviève Bujold. His real-life daughter Alison, then eleven, also appeared in the film. It was another critical and commercial hit. Eastwood next starred in the period comedy City Heat (Richard Benjamin, 1984) alongside Burt Reynolds.

Eastwood revisited the Western genre when he directed and starred in Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood, 1985), based on the classic Western Shane (George Stevens, 1953). It became one of Eastwood's most successful films to date, and was hailed as one of the best films of 1985 and the best Western to appear for a considerable period. He co-starred with Marsha Mason in the military drama Heartbreak Ridge (Clint Eastwood, 1986), about the 1983 United States invasion of Grenada. Then followed the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series The Dead Pool (Buddy Van Horn, 1988), with Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, and a young Jim Carrey. It is generally viewed as the weakest film of the series.

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 (Clint Eastwood, 1988), a biopic starring Forest Whitaker as jazz musician Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker. Eastman himself is a prolific jazz pianist who occasionally shows up to play piano at his Carmel, CA restaurant, The Hog's Breath Inn. He received two Golden Globes for Bird, but the film was a commercial failure. Jim Carrey would again appear with Eastwood in the poorly received comedy Pink Cadillac (Buddy Van Horn, 1989) alongside Bernadette Peters.

In 1989, while his partner Sondra Locke was away directing the film Impulse (1990), Eastwood had the locks changed on their Bel-Air home and ordered her possessions to be boxed and put in storage. During the last three years of his cohabitation with Locke, Eastwood fathered two children in secrecy with flight attendant Jacelyn Reeves, Scott Reeves (1986), and Kathryn Reeves (1988). Eastwood finally presented both children to the public in 2002.

Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force (1973)
French postcard by Editions cinema, no. 212. Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973).

Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force (1973)
Vintage photo. Clint Eastwood in Magnum Force (Ted Post, 1973).

Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
Romanian postcard by Casa Filmului Acin, no. 43078. Clint Eastwood in Every Which Way But Loose (James Fargo, 1978).

Clint Eastwood
West German postcard by G. Barth, Frankfurt, no. GB 44.

Unforgiven


In 1990, Clint Eastwood began living with actress Frances Fisher, whom he had met on the set of Pink Cadillac in 1988. They had a daughter, Francesca Fisher-Eastwood (1993). Eastwood and Fisher ended their relationship in early 1995. 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 (1951).

Later in 1990, he directed and co-starred with Charlie Sheen in The Rookie, a buddy cop action film. Eastwood revisited the Western genre in the self-directed film Unforgiven (1992), in which he played an aging ex-gunfighter long past his prime. Unforgiven was a major commercial and critical success; and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, and won four, including Best Picture and Best Director for Eastwood.

Eastwood played Frank Horrigan in the Secret Service thriller In the Line of Fire (Wolfgang Petersen, 1993) co-starring John Malkovich. The film was among the top 10 box office performers that year, earning a reported $200 million. Later that year, Eastwood directed and co-starred with Kevin Costner in A Perfect World (1993).

At the 1994 Cannes Film Festival Eastwood received France's Ordre des Arts et des Lettres medal, and in 1995, he was awarded the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award at the 67th Academy Awards. Opposite Meryl Streep he starred in the romantic picture The Bridges of Madison County (Clint Eastwood, 1995), another commercial and critical success. The film was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Picture and won a César Award in France for Best Foreign Film. In early 1995, Eastwood began dating Dina Ruiz, a television news anchor 35 years his junior, whom he had first met when she interviewed him in 1993. They married in 1996. The couple has one daughter, Morgan Eastwood (1996).

In 1997, Eastwood directed and starred in the political thriller Absolute Power, alongside Gene Hackman. Later that year, Eastwood directed Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil (1997), starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. He directed and starred in True Crime (1999), as a journalist and recovering alcoholic, who has to cover the execution of murderer Frank Beechum (Isaiah Washington). The next year, he directed and starred in Space Cowboys (2000) alongside Tommy Lee Jones as veteran ex-test pilots sent into space to repair an old Soviet satellite.

Clint Eastwood in Tightrope (1984)
Dutch collector card. Clint Eastwood in Tightrope (Richard Tuggle, Clint Eastwood, 1984).

Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider (1985)
French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron in the Signes du zodiaque series, no. 10 - Gemeaux (Gemini). Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider (Clint Eastwood, 1985).

Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
British postcard, no. FA 221. Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge (Clint Eastwood, 1986).

Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge (1986)
French postcard by Editions F. Nugeron, no. 5. Photo: Collection de l'ecole de Cinema Camiris. Clint Eastwood in Heartbreak Ridge (Clint Eastwood, 1986).

Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang and Ahney Her in Gran Torino (2008)
French promotion card for Les soirées des enfants de cinéma, 2014. Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang and Ahney Her in Gran Torino (Clint Eastwood, 2008).

Million Dollar Baby


Clint Eastwood played an ex-FBI agent chasing a sadistic killer (Jeff Daniels) in the thriller Blood Work (2002). He directed and scored the crime drama Mystic River (2003), dealing with themes of murder, vigilantism, and sexual abuse. The film starred Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon, and Tim Robbins 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. The following year Eastwood found further critical and commercial success when he directed, produced, scored, and starred in the boxing drama Million Dollar Baby, (2004). He played a cantankerous trainer who forms a bond with female boxer (Hilary Swank). The film won four Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actress (Swank), and Best Supporting Actor (Morgan Freeman).

At age 74, Eastwood became the oldest of eighteen directors to have directed two or more Best Picture winners. In 2006, he 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 and featured the film debut of Eastwood's son Scott. 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. 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 realise he is an impostor.

Eastwood ended a four-year self-imposed acting hiatus by appearing in Gran Torino (2008), which he also directed, produced, and partly scored with his son Kyle and Jamie Cullum. Gran Torino eventually grossed over $268 million in theatres worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing film of Eastwood's career so far. Eastwood's 30th directorial outing came with Invictus, a film based on the story of the South African team at the 1995 Rugby World Cup, with Morgan Freeman as Nelson Mandela. In 2010, Eastwood directed the drama Hereafter, with Matt Damon as a psychic, and in 2011, J. Edgar, a biopic of FBI director J. Edgar Hoover, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role. Eastwood starred in the baseball drama Trouble with the Curve (Robert Lorenz, 2012), as a veteran baseball scout who travels with his daughter for a final scouting trip. Director Lorenz worked with Eastwood as an assistant director on several films.

Eastwood next directed Jersey Boys (2014), a musical biography based on the Tony Award-winning musical, and American Sniper (2014), a film adaptation of Chris Kyle's eponymous memoir. American Sniper grossed more than $350 million domestically and over $547 million globally, making it one of Eastwood's biggest films commercially. His next film, Sully (2016), starred Tom Hanks as Chesley Sullenberger, who successfully landed the US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River in an emergency landing, keeping all passengers on board alive. It became another commercial success for Eastwood, grossing over $238 million worldwide. He directed the biographical thriller The 15:17 to Paris (2018), which saw previously non-professional actors Spencer Stone, Anthony Sadler, and Alek Skarlatos playing themselves as they stop the 2015 Thalys train attack. The film received a generally negative reception from critics, who were largely critical of the acting by the three leads. Eastwood next starred in and directed The Mule (2018). He played Earl Stone, an elderly drug smuggler based on Leo Sharp, Eastwood's first acting role since Trouble with the Curve in 2012. Eastwood's most recent films were Richard Jewell (2019) and the Neo-Western drama Cry Macho (2020). Juror No. 2, from a screenplay by Jonathan Abrams, is expected to be Eastwood's final film as director and producer. It will star Nicholas Hoult, Toni Collette, and Kiefer Sutherland.

Clint Eastwood is also politically active and served as the nonpartisan mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California from 1986 to 1988. Shawn Dwyer at TCM: “Although a registered Republican since the early-1950s, Eastwood's politics, like the man himself, were that of a true iconoclast. Over the years he had voted for candidates from both parties and publicly denounced the wars in Vietnam and Iraq. And while he had initially wished President Barack Obama well during the start of his first term in office, Eastwood, became a vocal booster for Republican candidate Mitt Romney in the 2012 election, dissatisfied with what he viewed as Obama's inability to govern.” But the cinema is Clint Eastwood’s major career. He has contributed to over 50 films as actor, director, producer, and composer. According to the box office-revenue tracking website, Box Office Mojo, films featuring Eastwood have grossed a total of more than US $1.68 billion domestically, with an average of $37 million per film.

Clint Eastwood
German postcard. Photo: Constantin / Paul March.

Clint Eastwood
British postcard by Santoro Graphics Ltd, London, no. BW 878. Photo: The Hulton Deutsch Collection.

Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood
American postcard by Fotofolio, NY, NY, no. P. 289. Photo: Terry O'Neill. Caption: Paul Newman and Clint Eastwood, 1972.

Clint Eastwood
American postcard by Fotofolio, N.Y., N.Y., no. Z323. Photo: Annie Leibovitz. Caption: Clint Eastwood, Burbank, California, 1980.

Sources: Shawn Dwyer (TCM - page now defunct), Yuri German (AllMovie), Bruce Eder (AllMovie), Wikipedia and IMDb.

18 April 2024

Les Misérables (2012)

Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012) is a well-executed, powerful film musical. The screenplay by William Nicholson, Alain Boublil, Claude-Michel Schönberg, and Herbert Kretzmer, is based on the stage musical of the same name by Schönberg, Boublil, and Jean-Marc Natel, which in turn is based on the epic novel 'Les Misérables' (1862) by Victor Hugo. The film was nominated for eight Oscars, winning three.

Hugh Jackman in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Freedom is Mine. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The Musical Phenomenon.

Russell Crowe in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Russell Crowe as Javert in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: I am the Law. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The Musical Phenomenon.

A decision that changes their lives forever


In 1815, French prisoner 24601, Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) was released from the Bagne of Toulon after a nineteen-year sentence for stealing bread to feed his sister's child. His paroled status prevents him from finding work or accommodation, but he is sheltered by the kindly Bishop of Digne.

Valjean attempts to steal his silverware and is captured, but the bishop, in radical grace, claims he gave him the silver and tells him to use it to begin an honest life. Moved, Valjean breaks his parole and assumes a new identity, intending to redeem others.

For decades he is hunted by the ruthless and persistent Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe). Then the fugitive promises dying prostitute Fantine (Anne Hathaway) to take care of her little daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried). The decision changes their lives forever.

Set in post-revolutionary France, the story resolves to the background of the June Rebellion of 1832. In his huge epic novel of 1500 pages, Victor Hugo's 'Les Misérables' featured many characters and covered many decades and several grand themes. It's impossible to cram this all into a 2.5-hour film. 'Les Mis' has been filmed several times and the latest BBC series from 2018 was a 6-hour in-depth version. But this 2012 adaptation is the first film version of the immensely popular Cameron Mackintosh musical which ran for 27 years and had a total audience of over 60 million.

'Les Mis' is not the most accessible of musicals. It is lengthy and the quite heavy story feels like an opera. Following the release of the stage musical, a film adaptation was mired in development hell for over ten years. The rights were passed on to several major studios, and various directors including Alan Parker and Bruce Beresford were considered. In 2011, Mackintosh finally sold the film rights to Eric Fellner, who financed the film with Tim Bevan and Debra Hayward through their production company Working Title Films. As the director, they wanted the Brit Tom Hooper, who had just made the acclaimed historical drama The King's Speech (2010).

Anne Hathaway in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Anne Hathaway as Fantine in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: I dreamed a dream. From the Academy Award winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The musical phenomenon.

Isabelle Allen in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Isabelle Allen as young Cosette in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Fight Dream Hope Love. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'.

A surrealistic, nightmarish Paris


For his Les Misérables (2012), Tom Hooper chose an incomplete rendering of the musical. He went for depth and context so one can truly appreciate the tragedy and the themes. His film is a bold and commendable attempt at converting the musical to a film format.

Even more daring was Hooper's insistence to make a film in which all the dialogue was sung live and the actors could sing as if they were acting. In several lines, Hugh Jackman almost speaks rather than truly sings, because he is trying to do the songs in a more realistic acting fashion. This works best in Anne Hathaway's song 'I Dreamed a Dream'. Her raw, emotional rendition works perfectly for her devastatingly human portrayal of Fantine. Hathaway won an Oscar for it.

The casting is mostly good. Jackman is an excellent Valjean, vulnerable and strong. He believes. He emotes. He is as big as the story itself. Jackson deservedly received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Russell Crowe is also fine as Javert, the obsessive and punitive policeman who mercilessly hounds Jean Valjean. Sacha Baron Cohen and Helena Bonham Carter give bravura performances as the hilarious Thénardier innkeepers. In an almost three-hour show, Hooper, writer Claude-Michel Schonberg and cinematographer Danny Cohen keep the action moving. Hooper skillfully created a surrealistic, nightmarish Paris for Fantine. The extremely heightened realism is on the verge of being surrealistic. The close-ups create a kind of intimacy which provides opportunities for the actors to do their work.

The result is personal and intense. Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian: "It conquers its audience with weapons all its own: not passion so much as passionate sincerity, not power so much as overwhelming force. Every line, every note, every scene is belted out with diaphragm-quivering conviction and unbroken, unremitting intensity. The physical strength of this movie is impressive: an awe-inspiring and colossal effort, just like Valjean's as he lifts the flagpole at the beginning of the film. You can almost see the movie's muscles flexing and the veins standing out like whipcords on its forehead. At the end of 158 minutes, you have experienced something."

The film grossed over $442 million worldwide against a production budget of $61 million during its original theatrical run. In anticipation of the stage musical's forthcoming 40th anniversary in 2025, the film is digitally remixed and remastered in Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Cameron Mackintosh, Tom Hooper, music producer Lee McCutcheon, music director Stephen Metcalfe and sound mixer Andy Nelson all supervised the Dolby Atmos remix for this 2024 version.

Amanda Seyfried in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Amanda Seyfried as Cosette in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Heart full of love. From the Academy Award-winning director of 'The King's Speech'. The musical phenomenon.

Amanda Seyfried and Eddie Redmayne in Les Misérables (2012)
Taiwanese postcard by CoolCard, 2013. Photo: Ignition, Los Angeles / Working Title / Universal. Amanda Seyfried as Cosette and Eddie Redmayne as Marius in Les Misérables (Tom Hooper, 2012). Caption: Heart Full of Love. The Musical Phenomenon.

Sources: Peter Bradshaw (The Guardian), Wikipedia and IMDb.

17 April 2024

Axel Eliassons Konstförlag

During the 1910s and 1920s, the heydays of the Swedish film industry, film star postcards formed an important marketing tool. Besides Förlag Nordisk Konst, several other publishers in Sweden produced and distributed cards with film portraits or scenes. A major postcard publisher was Axel Eliassons Konstförlag in Stockholm. We selected 20 sepia film postcards from our collections which were published by this company which advertised itself as 'the biggest postcard company in the North'.

Emma Meissner and Axel Ringvall in Die Kino-Königin
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 247. Photo: Hofatelier Ferd. Flodin, 1914. Emma Meissner and Axel Ringvall in the operetta 'Die Kino-Königin' (1913) by Jean Gilbert, performed as 'Filmdrottningen in Sweden.

Lars Hanson
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 308. Photo: Hofatelier Jaeger, Stockholm, 1914. Lars Hanson.

Anders de Wahl
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 353. Photo: Hofatelier Jaeger, Stockholm, 1915. Anders de Wahl in the stage play 'Äventyret aka Äfventyret' by Valentin Le Barroyer, performed at the Dramaten theatre in Stockholm in 1915, under the direction of Karl Hedberg.

Gösta Ekman
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 413, mailed in 1916. Photo: Uno Falkengren, Göteborg. Gösta Ekman.

Lars Hanson in Gustav III
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 482. 'Gustav III' was a play by August Strindberg and this card refers to one of Lars Hanson's stage play performances, not a film. Hanson played the title role in 1915 (dir. Einar Fröberg) and again in 1928 (dir. Rune Carlsten).


Tora Teje
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 35. Photo: Hofatelier Jaeger, Stockholm, 1917. Tora Teje.

Gösta Ekman in Mästerkatten i stövlar
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 94. Photo: Skandiafilm. Gösta Ekman and Carlo Keil-Möller in the Swedish silent romantic film Mästerkatten i stövlar/Puss in boots (John W. Brunius, 1918).

Mary Johnson in Mästerkatten i stövlar (1918)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 97. Photo: Skandia Film. Mary Johnson and Carlo Keil-Möller in the Swedish silent romantic film Mästerkatten i stövlar/Puss in boots (John W. Brunius, 1918).

Karin Molander in Surrogatet (1919)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 105. Photo: Skandiafilm, 1918. Karin Molander in Surrogatet (Einar Bruun, 1919).

Tora Teje in Rödakorssystern
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 113. Photo: Hofatelier Jaeger. Tora Teje in the play 'Rödakorssystern' (Red Cross Sister) by Gustaf Collijn. The play premiered on 14 March 1919 at the Svenska Teatern. The director was Gunnar Klintberg and her co-star was Gösta Ekman.

'Swedish-made' postcards


Axel Eliassons Konstförlag (AE) was founded in Stockholm in 1890. In the first half of the 20th century. AE with its premises on the famous street Drottninggatan, was Sweden's leading producer of postcards. Founder Axel Eliasson was born on 16 February 1868 in Stockholm. He was the son of the clothing merchant Meyer Eliasson and Ida Davidsson. In 1890 he founded the company Axel Eliasson (AE) in Stockholm. He got the idea for his postcard production in Berlin, where he studied at the Rakow Economic School. Initially, Eliasson himself was behind the camera, so he was able to market his products as 'Swedish-made'.

Eliasson's first postcards were sold in the middle of 1891. These showed Stockholm and Gothenburg and were advertised in the newspaper Aftonbladet. However, these first postcards, where the image only took up 1/3 of the front page, were not very successful. Only after Eliasson changed the layout and enlarged the size of the pictures in 1896, their popularity increased. Apart from topographical postcards, Eliasson decided to produce greetings postcards for his own company but also for other companies in Scandinavia. In an interesting article in the magazine Postcard Album, Arne Sandström writes that Eliasson never printed his postcards himself. He ordered most of them from different printers in Germany (including Rotophot) and some also from printers in Sweden, the U.K. and the U.S.A. In 1933, the company probably started to print its own cards.

In 1894 painter and illustrator Jenny Nyström was contracted to draw greeting postcards. Axel Eliasson Konstförlag had exclusive rights to postcards with her motifs of the 'jultomte' (goblins) on numerous Christmas cards, thus linking the Swedish version of Santa Claus to the gnomes of Scandinavian folklore. Her illustrated Christmas cards became one of Eliassons's main products. From 1895 the AE postcards were also published in colour lithography and in 1897 Anna Palm joined the company. She illustrated the 'official' postcards of the 1897 Stockholm Exhibition which were widely distributed. Till 1898, the AE cards were not numbered.

Axel Eliassons Konstförlag had the reproduction rights to the photographs of royalty and famous people by Atelier Jaeger, a photo studio founded in 1858 by Johannes Jaeger. Valentin Wolfenstein bought the studio in 1890, and Albin Roosval and Herman Sylwander acquired the company in 1905 and kept the name. The AE logo was introduced around 1920 and was designed by David Blomberg, who had previously designed the NK logo. In 1922, the name Konstförlag was added to the company name. Eventually, postcard motifs from all over Sweden, Denmark and Norway were published, some of which were hand-coloured. At the end of the 1930s, small booklets with ten motifs from the same city on loose photographs were available in 10x6 cm format.

Axel Eliasson died on 23 January 1932 in Stockholm. He was married to Ester Sterner (1880-1951), who after his death remarried in 1938 to Axel Widstrand, a naval doctor. After Axel Eliasson's death, his son Georg Eliasson became the managing director. The publishing house was transformed into a limited company. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag expanded until the 1920s, but its success stalled in the 1930s. In 1940 the company went bankrupt and closed. However, the liquidation was not finalised until 1941. By then the company had already been bought by Alrik Hedlund Förlag in Gothenburg, which created Nya Aktiebolaget Axel Eliassons Konstförlag. In 1943 the name was changed to Axel Eliassons Konstförlag Aktiebolag and in 1969 to Axel Eliasson Aktiebolag. When Sven-Göran Östh, previously CEO of Gerhard's Konstförlag, became CEO of the company in 1989, he decided to move the company to Sågmyra. The company still exists under the name of Axel Eliasson AB in Sågmyra. It is no longer active in the postcard business and mainly produces art publishing items such as Christmas cards and gifts.


Synnöve Solbakken
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 135. Photo: Skandia Film. Karin Molander and Ellen Dall in Synnöve Solbakken (John W. Brunius, 1919), adapted from Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson's Norwegian homonymous novel (1857).

Ernst Rolf, Mary Gräber, and Erik Lindholm in Åh i morron kväll (1919)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 154. Photo: Skandia Film. Ernst Rolf, Mary Gräber, and Erik Lindholm in the Swedish silent comedy Åh i morron kväll/Oh Tomorrow Night!, (John W. Brunius, 1919).

Richard Lund
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 255. Photo: Gösta Hard. Richard Lund.

Pauline Brunius, Tore Svennberg, Renée Björling, Paul Seelig in En vildfagel (1921)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 288. Photo: Skandia-Film. Pauline Brunius, Tore Svennberg, Renée Björling and Paul Seelig in the Swedish silent drama En vildfågel/Give Me My Son (John W. Brunius, 1921). Adapted from the play 'Skeppsbrott' (Shipwreck) by Samuel A. Duse. The title translates literally as 'The Wild Bird'. On 3 October 1921, En vildfågel premiered simultaneously in five cinemas in five Swedish cities.

Jenny Hasselqvist and Ivan Hedqvist in Vem dömer (1922)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 303. Photo: Skandia Film, Stockholm. Jenny Hasselqvist and Ivan Hedqvist in the Swedish silent film Vem dömer/Love's Crucible (Victor Sjöström, Skandia Film 1922). The film is a Renaissance drama where a young woman named Ursula (Jenny Hasselquist), who is in love with Bertram, the son (Gösta Ekman) of the mayor (Tore Svenberg), is accused of having poisoned her older husband, the sculptor Master Anton (Ivan Hedqvist). She has to prove her virginity through a fire test. The film's title reads: Who judges?

Jenny Hasselqvist, Ivan Hedqvist, Tore Svennberg and Gösta Ekman in Vem dömer (1922)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstforlag, Stockholm, no. 305. Photo: Skandia Film, Stockholm. Jenny Hasselqvist, Ivan Hedqvist, Tore Svennberg and Gösta Ekman in the Swedish silent film Vem döme/ Love's Crucible, (Victor Sjöström, 1922). The film is a Renaissance drama where a young woman named Ursula (Hasselqvist), who is in love with Bertram, the son (Ekman) of the mayor (Svenberg), is accused of having poisoned her older husband, the sculptor Master Anton (Hedqvist). She has to prove her virginity through a fire test. The film's title reads: Who judges? NB Nils Asther had a small part in this film. He is the man just left of Hasselquist.

Mary Johnson
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 310. Photo: Gösta Hard, Stockholm, 1927. On this postcard, Mary Johnson is indicated with the name of her second husband.

Victor Sjöström and Jenny Hasselquist in Eld ombord (1923)
Swedish postcard by Ed. Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 336. Photo: Svensk Filminspelning. Victor Sjöström and Jenny Hasselquist in Eld ombord/Fire on board (Victor Sjöström, 1923).

Mona Martenson in Gösta Berlings Saga (1924)
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 379, 1924. Photo: Svenska-Film. Mona Mårtenson as Ebba Dohna in Gösta Berlings saga/The Atonement of Gosta Berling (Mauritz Stiller, 1924), based on the novel by Selma Lagerlöf.

Lars Hanson in Gösta Berlings saga
Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag, Stockholm, no. 381. Lars Hanson is the title character in Gösta Berlings saga/The Saga of Gösta Berling (Mauritz Stiller 1924). The film was an adaptation of the famous novel by Selma Lagerlöf. The cinematography was by Julius Jaenzon and the art direction was by Vilhelm Bryde with Edgar Ulmer collaborating on the set design.

God Jul, Gott Nytt Ar
Small Swedish postcard by Axel Eliassons Konstförlag A.B., Stockholm. Illustration: Curt Nyström. Sent by mail in 1960. Curt Nyström was the son of Jenny Nyström who followed in her footsteps and became a popular postcard and poster artist, staying very close to his mother's artistic style.

Sources: Arne Sandström (The Postcard Album #39), Wikipedia (Swedish) and Jean Ritsema (Ross Postcards).