Customer Reviews

Clint Eastwood: 35 Films 35 Years at Warner Bros.

5 star:		(28)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(14)

 

 

First things first, I greatly admire Clint Eastwood as an actor and director ,and he's been the major film star of my baby boomer lifetime.

I just picked this set up so I am reviewing as an OWNER , not someone who has read the contents and wants to prattle on about Clints career at Warners. I was sad to find that the discs are the notorious Flippers (a movie on each side) instead of the far more stable single sided discs. Given that many of these movies are already available for under 10 bucks each This is still a cheap way to buy all of his movies for anyone that is that big a fan but who doesn't already own them.. I'm a bit confused as to who they are marketing to? I am a big fan and own many of these but thought it might be a great way to house films in a smaller package and looked forward to the documentary and the book etc..

Extras.... the documentary is only a 21 minute "teaser" for the real one due this summer and NOT 16x9 but letterboxed 4:3 wow..that's lame. They DO give you a web address and a code to get the whole documentary mailed out in the summer of 2010...but when you go to it, it says that address either doesn't yet exist or has other troubles and come back later. Who knows what that is about...have so many people bought this and tried to redeem that their server crashed...not likely, probably just more corporate stupidity and "I thought you had set that up" finger pointing.

Book...is really a big nothing..tease for the real book in stores, and the pouch with a few photos ,again nothing special.

The Films...As I said, being that these are unstable "flipper discs" I am hesitant to get rid of the DVDs of the films I have and unlike some other multi disc sets I've recently purchased these will be scratched in removing and replacing for play...in fact you can NOT remove them without putting your hands on the surfaces of the discs (never recommended).

Bottom line, This isn't really something for a true fan who would be better off it seems only buying the Clint films one wants in either DVD or Blu-Ray. There is NOTHING here for true fans but for somebody who owns virtually none of his movies and suddenly wants to spend over a hundred bucks (that seems a mutually exclusive notion) its a good value.

Were this released on Blu-Ray....I would be very happy and they would need not deal with flippers due to the storage capacity of Blu-Ray....but we see no such release in the near future.

To summarize...I'd stay away if you are a big fan, own the movies of CLints you already like and think this is some sort of "Cadillac" version..its more of a Pinto.

That describes this box set perfectly (and for what it's worth, that title is not included in this set).

The Good...

I want to point out first of all that this is not a review of any of the films in this collection. What more can
be said about these movies that has not been said many times already? While some may not regard all of the movies included this box in the same esteem and some personal favorites may have been excluded, I think that most people would consider this to be a fine collection of Clint's work at a reasonable price.

The Bad...

The problem is with the packaging of this box set. It is a case where a great idea in concept has gone horribly wrong in the execution. It appears that the designers were more interested in the artistic design (and it does look very nice) with no regard for the functionality of the package.

As other reviewers have noted, the collection is packaged in the form of a book, with pages that are constructed from very stiff paperboard. The pockets that hold the individual DVDs are formed between two sheets of paparboard that have been adhered together. However, the pockets are so tight, it is difficult to remove the discs without grasping them firmly between your thumb and index finger and pulling with some force, resulting in scratches and fingerprints on the disc surfaces. Yet, for me this is not the major issue, since most discs with superficial scratches, while undesirable, will still play with little degradation in picture quality.

The Ugly...

The biggest problem is that the surfaces of about a third of the discs in my set were contaminated with streaks and lumps from the glue that was used to assemble the package, rendering parts of the discs unplayable. I am appalled by the apparent total disregard for quality control. Didn't anyone at the manufacturing facility bother to check out the final product before they began shipping?

It is a shame that an otherwise fine collection has been marred by such shoddy packaging. If I had been aware of this issue, I would not have purchaased this set. I do not recommend that anyone buy this set until it has been reissued in a better package.

As a fan of the older Clint Eastwood, I bought this collection to explore some of his earlier works. This collection is packed into a large book so big it will not fit on a shelf so that it was impossible not to place the films in a container. The films are unlabelled so you have to use a large guide to figure out which film it is, I am not reviewing any of the films because the presentation of this major contributor to cinema because to hard to figure out. Shame on the studio for releasing this bargain release.. I would much prefer paying twice as much for well presented 35 disk set NOT Recommended

Clint Eastwood has a long history with Warner Brothers that goes back forty years. You have to go back to 1975's Eiger Sanction to find a film he did not direct at the studio, and he only directed a total of five films in his entire career that were not made at Warner Brothers. Since Clint Eastwood's film career did not begin until long after the studio system died, this really is unique for a director and studio to have such a long relationship. As expensive as this set is, it is actually cheap per disc. That is because this is a repackaging of stock. Warner's is simply taking existing transfers and placing them in this set, mainly on two-sided discs. This can be somewhat annoying for those of us who have bought multi-film packages of Eastwood's Warner films.

I list all of the films below, whether Eastwood directed or starred or did both, and a short synopsis on the older films. If I do not mention him starring, that means he did not appear in the film as an actor at all.

Don't let that popular internet film database fool you with its ratings. People often rate some of Eastwood's lower key films poorly because they don't get what he was trying to do. If you come to "Bronco Billy" expecting Harry Callahan you'll be disappointed. If you come to it expecting a good film, then you won't be. I'd say this is a definite buy if you don't own any of Eastwood's films. If you do, it just depends on how many you own as to whether this big package deal is worth it.

Do be aware that 16 of the 19 discs included are dual-sided.

WHERE EAGLES DARE(1968) - starring Clint Eastwood, second billed to Richard Burton.
A complex WWII film about soldiers on a mission to raid a castle and retrieve a captured officer.
KELLY'S HEROES (1970) - starring Clint Eastwood
A different WWII story. A group of soldiers are out to find a cache of German gold - for themselves.
DIRTY HARRY (1971) - Starring Clint Eastwood.
The original Dirty Harry film.
MAGNUM FORCE (1973) - starring Clint Eastwood and Hal Holbrook.
Dirty Harry is after a band of vigilante cops. Has the famous closing line "A man's got to know his limitations."
THE ENFORCER (1976) - starring Clint Eastwood and Tyne Daly.
Dirty Harry has a female partner as he hunts down a terr orist organization
THE OUTLAW JOSIE WALES (1976) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, costarring Sondra Locke. The violence of the Civil War turns a man into a renegade out for revenge.
THE GAUNTLET (1977) - directed by and costarring Clint Eastwood and costarring Sondra Locke.
Eastwood is a cop taking a prostitute to testify at a trial and there are powerful forces out to make sure that testimony never happens.
EVERY WHICH WAY BUT LOOSE (1978) - stars Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
A box office smash when released, Clint Eastwood in a pseudo-comedy costarring Clyde the orangutan.
BRONCO BILLY (1980) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. Costarring Sondra Locke.
A good film, but underrated because Eastwood was showing his serious side.
ANY WHICH WAY YOU CAN (1980) - starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
Sequel to Every Which Way But Loose
HONKEYTONK MAN - (1982) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
Very much underrated and shows Eastwood's passion for music early in his directing career.
FIREFOX (1982) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood.
Good performance by Eastwood, but the Cold War plot and crude graphics have really aged this one.
SUDDEN IMPACT (1983) - directed and starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
Locke stars as a crime victim after revenge in this Dirty Harry film.
CITY HEAT (1984) - starring Clint Eastwood
Burt Reynolds was nominated for a Raz zie for acting in this one.
TIGHTROPE (1984) - starring Clint Eastwood and Genevieve Bujold
PALE RIDER (1985) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
HEARTBREAK RIDGE (1986) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
BIRD (1988) - directed by Clint Eastwood
The oldest of these films to not actually star Eastwood. Story of Jazz musician Charlie Parker.
THE DEAD POOL (1988) - starring Clint Eastwood and Patricia Clarkson
The last Dirty Harry film.
PINK CADILLAC (1989) - starring Clint Eastwood and Bernadette Peters
The most recent film in the bunch in which Eastwood does not direct. Not very good, but it was made to be light summer fare.
WHITE HUNTER BLACK HEART (1990) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
THE ROOKIE (1990) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
UNFORGIVEN (1992) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood - Best Picture Winner
A PERFECT WORLD (1993) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY (1995) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
ABSOLUTE POWER (1997) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD AND EVIL (1997) - directed by Clint Eastwood
TRUE CRIME (1999) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
SPACE COWBOYS (2000) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
BLOOD WORK (2002) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood
MYSTIC RIVER (2003) - directed by Clint Eastwood - Best Picture Nominee
MILLION DOLLAR BABY (2004) - directed by and starring Clint Eastwood - Best Picture Winner
LETTERS FROM IWO JIMA (2006) directed by Clint Eastwood - Best Picture Nominee
GRAN TORINO(2008) directed by and starring Clint Eastwood

WARNING WARNING WARNING!!!
Most of the discs are 2 sided which is unstable to begin with.
Upon arrival and initial inspection I noticed that almost all
of the discs were scratched on both sides. They are simply
inserted into the packaging without anything to protect them.
You have no choice but to actually touch the playing surface
of the discs just to get them out and once out they don't
play. I would not suggest buying this box set. Spend a little
more and get the films individually or do without. It doesn't
matter how good a deal this seems to be when the damn discs
are not playable.

All 35 discs were scratched.
17 are not playable at all.
17 freeze at various points.
1 actually plays all the way through.

There are 4 factors that seem possibly important when considering this collection: the films themselves; the quality of the reproduction of the films; the included "extras"; and - particularly for this set - the physical packaging.

THE FILMS: I will not even attempt to "review" the films themselves: there is such a broad range that almost anyone is bound to find a few that they like, as well as a few that they do not. Suffice it to say that this is, indeed, a collection for Eastwood fans, who for whatever reason do not already own a bunch of his films. We own a handful - but only "Josey Wales" is duplicated by this set, thus its attraction.

REPRODUCTION: This is NOT a blue ray set. Fortunately it is also not PRICED like a blue set. Unfortunately - as noted in other reviews - the film copies presented appear to have been simply duplicated from earlier standard DVD releases. As such, the Picture Quality varies widely, although Audio quality seems to be quite good, even on the older films.
34 films are too many to view in any reasonable time period. We have sampled a subset, viewing portions of films taken from different periods, and trusting (hoping...) that that provides a reasonable expectation for the balance. Some highlights:

Dirty Harry: The first film in the package, and one of the oldest. Frankly, it looks like a 40 year old film (1971), and one duplicated from a not very well taken care of master at that. This was the first film we sampled, and (equally frankly) my immediate reaction was "Gee, glad I purchased this locally so I can take it back!"
Surprisingly, eldest son was less critical: he enjoys a number of older films, and felt the PQ was at least equal to most of the same era.

In viewing, we noted 3 sources of PQ issues: 1) film grain (of course that is part of what makes a film a "film" - as opposed to a Video - which makes it more acceptable); 2) evidence of a dirty / worn master: small blotches that appear to be dust or tiny defects in the original film; and 3) encoding noise; MPEG noise; mosquito noise - or whatever you wish to call it / attribute it to - that appears to have resulted from the compression technique used in the transfer from analog to digital. All of these were manifest in "Dirty Harry," & in abundance.
There is, of course, little one can do about the film grain or ingrained dirt / defects, although we did find out that using a Picture Setting of "Soft" seemed to help a bit.
HOWEVER, there is something that can be done about the encoding noise: the "3D Noise Reduction" filter in our Panasonic Blue Ray player provides a noticeable improvement in PQ. Using the highest setting, this filter provided a PQ that was at least watchable without cringing.

Where Eagles Dare: This is the oldest film included in the set: 1968. Similar to "Dirty Harry," it starts out showing noticeable grain & a considerable amount of inherent defects. This happens to be one of my favorite Eastwood films (guilty pleasure I guess....), so we took the time to view additional scenes - and noted something odd: after the beginning scenes, the PQ seemed to improve. Much of the film takes place in rather dark settings, so it is certainly possible that any inherent defects in the original (dust, wear & tear) are simply not as noticeable against the darker backgrounds; and this certainly appears to be true for what we are considering as "film grain."
However, went back and took another look at "Dirty Harry," and it also appears to clear up a bit as the movie progresses. This prompts speculation of whether the outer portion of the film reel is exposed to greater wear and a greater amount of environmental elements (ie: dirt & dust) than inner portions of the film are.
In any event, after the opening scenes (particularly during & following the parachute landing), PQ improved enough to permit enjoyable viewing - although with the 3D NR still set at its highest level.

Kelly's Heros (1970); The Enforcer (1976): Although older than Dirty Harry, "Kelly" seems to be from a much better master. Neither of these could remotely be considered "High Def" - and both still seem to benefit from NR - but the upconversion results in a nice viewing experience. Picky viewers might turn their noses up, but would expect most viewers would be able to simply enjoy the movies, at least as far as PQ is concerned.

The Dead Pool (1988); Unforgiven (1992): With a slight edge to "Unforgiven," both of these films upconvert fairly well. Might want to play with NR settings for optimum viewing, but doesn't seem to be critical either way (On or Off). Could probably fool SOME people into thinking these are "hi def" - although probably NOT anyone with HDDVD or Blue Ray experience.

Space Cowboys (2000): Another notch better: this is getting close to the PQ of many of our newer (but still SD) dvds. Bet I could fool a LOT of people into thinking it is "real HD," - although, again, would expect most people experienced with HD to notice the shortcomings upon a closer look.

Letters From Iwo Jima (2006); Gran Torino (2008): Both are very good, although not outstanding. "Letters" is beautifully photographed, but is saddled with surprisingly chunky subtitling, that often creeps into the Scene portion of the film (as opposed to always appearing in the lower letterbox area). Although we only viewed a few minutes of Gran Torino, the film did not appear as sharp as expected: there was no particular flaw to point to, so it is possible a more extended viewing would improve this opinion, but it certainly did not seem to further improve upon the (admittedly high) PQ presented by "Space Cowboys."

It is disappointing that the films were not remastered - let alone presented in blue ray - but either of those undertakings would have undoubtedly raised the price of the set by a considerable margin. In any event, only two of the samples viewed (Dirty Harry & "Eagles") had defects that proved distracting, and both of these - particularly "Eagles" - seemed to provide improved PQ as the movie advanced.

Would, however, suggest running 3D NR, if available, as it offers a noticeable improvement, at least on the earlier films. By activating this option in the "User" (Custom) menu of our blue ray player we are able to leave the settings at "Normal" for most DVDs, and switch the blue ray to "User" only for those we choose. (Thus being able to leave all tv settings untouched.) Some the Preset Picture Settings (ie: Normal / Soft / Fine / Cinema) also appear to have a "softening" effect on the noise levels of the earlier films, so this might be an option for those without a handy filter setting, or try whatever NR option IS at hand (we have several between TV & Blue Ray, but the "3D" seemed to have the most impact).

As mentioned earlier, Audio quality on all film selections viewed appeared to be fine. All but a couple of the films are presented in Dolby 5.1, although there did not seem to be a lot of content in the surround channels for many of them (as might be expected with earlier films).
Also, all of the films viewed were presented in Wide Screen format. Watching even the snippets that we did reminded me of how much I have enjoyed many of these films - and how much is lost viewing them on pan & scan or even SD Widescreen Broadcasts (think TCM). Despite my nit-picking above, we expect the vast majority of these disks to provide a most enjoyable viewing experience.

EXTRAS: Enjoyed the DVD covers & b&w photos included in the pages of the binder. The small packet of photos / reproductions of news releases has a couple of interesting items, but is largely a So What?
All of the films are presented on one side of a DVD (most are flippers), and appear to contain only limited extras. This is regrettable, but understandable given the price point (but then we wouldn't view more than a handful of "Extras" for most of these films anyway. Think the HOURS of extras on the Ext Versions of LOTR, Complete Matrix set, & Complete Aliens set have somewhat burned us out....).
The included booklet has a few written pages from Richard Schickel - brief, but interesting - followed by a (presumably) complete filmography that provides a short blurb on the films included in the set, but merely lists Eastwood's other work. Would have preferred a bit more info - especially covering the non-included work (although understand why that is NOT in this WB set). One of the results of leafing through this section is a better understanding of how many of his films are NOT included in the set! (Beyond the early cowboy movies, this list includes The Eiger Sanction, Escape From Alcatraz, & In the Line of Fire...).
There is also a DVD with an outtake from "The Eastwood Factor," but ignored it - the complete documentary is supposed to be released this summer, and made available to purchasers of this set. (You can sign up for a copy on the WB website, using a code provided in the package.)

PACKAGING: This appears to be perhaps the most controversial aspect of the set - and other's complaints about it are the primary reason we chose to purchase our copy locally. The package looks nice, and provides room for photographs as well as a pouch for the enclosed literature.
Disk removal, however, is fussy: it is possible to remove a disk (and reinsert same) without leaving fingerprints, but it requires a) Clean Hands, and b) Some Care in the process - especially as some of the disk storage pouches are significantly tighter than others.
One of first things I did was to remove, examine, and re-insert each disk: none showed any signs of damage or adhered junk, so would guess / hope that those are isolated cases. Given sufficient care, would not expect any more problems with this arrangement than with some of the ridiculously tight "nubs" that hold many DVDs in their traditional storage boxes, although would admit that the dual-sided nature of these disks probably ups the ante a bit.
Long term storage may also be an issue: preferably, we like to store our DVDs vertically. It seems entirely possible that the weight of this set might eventually break down the spine of the binder that holds the pages up. However, laying the set down on its back for even a few days results in the pages warping (first hand experience....); fortunately, inverting the position seems to put things right again.

In the end, expect to settle upon vertical storage of the set... And give it 4 Stars as an overall package, with the Price Per Film playing a significant role in that rating, along with the presumption that the films sampled to date - which, all-in-all, do appear able to provide an enjoyable viewing experience - are indeed a fair representation of the balance of those included in the set.

"Clint: 35 Films, 35 Years" is a massive, 19-disc box set featuring 34 films starring and/or directed by Clint Eastwood for Warner Brothers over the last three and a half decades. Because this set focuses on only one studio, a number of major Eastwood films are absent, most notably "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly," "Play Misty for Me," "The Beguiled," "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Changeling."

Some of the included titles are "Dirty Harry," "The Outlaw Josey Wales," "Bird," "The Rookie," "Unforgiven," "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," "Mystic River," "Million Dollar Baby," "Letters From Iwo Jima," and "Gran Torino." The 35th film is "The Eastwood Factor," a 22-minute documentary from Time magazine critic and film historian Richard Schickel, in which Eastwood visits film locations or sites where his movies were created, on the Warner lot visiting the costume department and Eastwood Scoring Stage, and at his home. Eastwood reflects candidly about his body of work and the choices he made, and Schickel has included scenes from Eastwood's movies, including his latest, "Invictus."

Also in the box set is a 24-page booklet featuring photos from all 34 films, comments by Schickel, studio letters, and quotes from Eastwood about most of the movies contained.

Very Disappionted. The dvd's skipped right out of the box, some so bad that it couldn't be watched. Most discs had glue or some type of hard build up on them. Others had scratches. For the money I expected something that would last for at least a few veiwings, but I couldn't even watch some once. To remove and replace the discs from the package force must be used. I guess so they won't fall out, but this is excessive. They should have came up with a better design. You would have better luck buying used dvd's, at least those are expected to have the possiblity of scratches. Don't buy it.

I was really looking forward to receiving this collection and start watching the movies.

However, the first DVD I took out was scratched. Turns out many of the DVDs were scratched. Whereas Amazon was very helpful in replacing this item, I was still disappointed.

The second set I received was better but not by much.

I think the packaging was poorly designed as the DVDs were rather tight in their "sleeves."

Matt.

As a Clint Eastwood movie fan I was eager to get my hands on this collection and I was not disapointed. I great collection of his works spanning many different subjects (westerns, cops, romance, war, space, etc.).All discs played back in fine widescreen quality, not Blu-ray but very good( I watched them on a Panasonic 65" Flat screen HD TV connected to a Panasonic DMP-BD35 Blu-ray player). The Amazon price was great too, broke down to about $3.65 a film, can't beat that for a great entertainment package. The only film I didn't care for was "Letters From Iwo Jima" and that's because I don't like films with sub-titles. This in no way takes away from the collection, I would highly recomend it for anyone who likes Clint. The films are all very entertaing and high quality, buy it!