Customer Reviews

Clint Eastwood: Interviews (Conversations with Filmmakers)

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1 star:		(4)

 

 

An interesting book for serious Clint fans. However, the $45 price tag is a little steep, and unjustifiably so. Very few photos, only black and white. Save your $$ and buy the paperback instead.

The focus of this volume is Mr. Eastwood the director, and this book collects a good variety of American and international interviews with him discussing his process, from PLAY MISTY FOR ME and THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES to BIRD and UNFORGIVEN and up through MIDNIGHT IN THE GARDEN OF GOOD & EVIL (the book was published in '99, so of course it does not feature any of his works from this new century). If after MILLION DOLLAR BABY you're finally starting to come around and see Eastwood the artist, this book is a great negotiation of his career in the director's chair, in his own, laconic, well-chosen, unpretentious and to-the-point voice. Highly recommended for any budding or hardcore Clint Eastwood fans alike. Or any serious filmfan, for that matter.

As this collection of interviews shows, Eastwood has basically said the same thing to many different interviewers over & over during the past four decades. If nothing else the man is at least consistent. It isn't that Eastwood is an uninteresting interview subject but when the same questions - 'how do you approach directing?', 'why do you film so quickly?', 'how do you work with actors?' etc, etc - crop up time & time again the book can't help but get dull very, very quickly. The sad thing is that Eastwood has such a huge & varied body of work that there is an immense amount of productive analysis & discussion that could be done (especially his recent run of work which also happens to be his best). Unfortunately the authors weren't up to that so they settled for this dull tome instead.

Some other reviewers have posted here that the biographies written on Eastwood make for worthier reading than does this collection of interviews. I disagree.

Yes, some of these interviews are a bit repetitive, inasmuch as Eastwood does tend to utilize the same anecdotes and observations to make his points. However ...

This collection of interviews does indeed give the reader some measure in insight into Eastwood's approach to developing a story and shooting a script. Info abounds regarding the Spaghetti Westerns, such as Eastwood's reworking the screenplays, deleting a great deal of dialog as he did so. This is the beginning of his evolution as a filmmaker; even though those particular films were directed by Sergio Leone, Eastwood's insistance that much of the exposition be removed made a world of difference regarding how this "Man With No Name" character would be received and understood.

(Interestingly enough, Stephen King drew a great deal of influence from Clint's "Man With No Name" in the creation of the character "Roland Deschain" in King's "Dark Tower" series ... so one can see Eastwood's choices regarding the "MWNN" had considerable influence.)

This would become Eastwood's style of telling stories: From "The Outlaw Josey Wales" to "High Plains Drifter" and "Pale Rider", Eastwood insists on involving the audience's intelligence in the way the story is told, such that much exposition is removed, and the audience must therefore make intelligent "fill in the blank" assumptions about the protagonist/anti-hero's background and motivations.

All of this is clearly elucidated by these interviews, and here's the best part:

This is Eastwood talking, not a biographer telling us what to think about Eastwood. Whilst I'm sure the biographies have much merit, I'd first and foremost prefer to hear what Eastwood has to say, unfiltered. (Granted, biographers rely on interviews to inform their perspectives, but I still prefer to first read Eastwood's answers with not much editorial comment, and perhaps then move on to a biographer's analysis of "what it all means".)

I highly recommend this collection of interviews. As a big Eastwood fan, I've much enjoyed reading what he has to say; it's been an education regarding both Eastwood himself, and also a particular approach to story development and filmmaking that, in my view, has produced several remarkable films.

Overpriced and dull, the Authors do not share an insightful thought between them. Better biographies available from McGilligan or Shickel.

These interviews are dull and repetitive. Just buy the Schickel book.

I had to read this book for an English class. It's just a collection of articles of people interviewing Clint Eastwood through the years. Want to know how he makes movies? He shoots the first take, moves fast and comes in under budget. His history is told over, and over, and over, and over. Nice to read if you run out of sleeping pills.