Customer Reviews

Eastwood on Eastwood [VHS]

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Written and directed by Ricard Schickel,with the star himself as your guide,this 70 minute documentary profiles the career of Clint Eastwood from his early days as a contract player, through his stint on "Rawhide", and includes clips from many of the films he starred in and directed.You won't find interviews with glowing remarks from his fellow actors, just Clint interjecting his thoughts on the characters he played and his style of directing. It is narrated by the star of Clint's film, "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", John Cusak.

His work on the 'Man With No Name 'trilogy, the "Dirty Harry" films,"Play Misty For Me"(his directorial debut),"The Bridges of Madison County", his labor of love "Bird","The Outlaw Josey Wales", "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", and "Unforgiven" are among the films highlighted. Not every single film he ever made has been included. You may find some of your favorites may not be included(for me it was "Hang Em High"), but it is a highly informative and entertaining look at this legend, and a welcome addition to the Eastwood collection of any fan.

A couple of moments to savor come during the scenes while Clint is directing "Midnight..."...He spies a cricket on a log, asks the insect if he wants to be in films and says to it "Repeat after me...'Go ahead..make my day'. I loved that. The other is as he is watching his daughter, Allison Eastwood acting and this legend turns to mush as we see the smile of the proud dad looking on.

If you are looking for a more in depth look at the films he directed I would recommend.."The Directors:Clint Eastwood". There are several in the series of 'The Directors' that include some of the really great filmmakers.

So Eastwood fans..Go ahead and make your day....enjoy...Laurie

"Eastwood on Eastwood" was originally a TNT cable special broadcast in 1997.I have this in my video library,it seems that Amazon.com. is one of the few places that it's available.This biography was produced by Richard Schickel,film critic for TIME magazine since the early 1970's.He wrote "Eastwood" the authorized biography back in 1995.It is narrated by actor John Cusack who worked with the director on "Midnight In The Garden of Good and Evil" in 1997.That film also starred Kevin Spacey and co-starred his then twenty-something daughter Alison Eastwood who is featured in this documentary.

This features many film clips starting with his earliest bit parts back in the mid-1950's to his early work in television all the way up to the late 1990's.This features many interviews with friends and people he has worked with.And features commentary by Eastwood himself on his personal favorite films.It runs just under 90 minutes is digitally processed in DOLBY Hi-Fi.I've been a fan of Clint Eastwood since around 1972 and I believe my fellow Eastwood fans will enjoy this biography/documentary as much as I did.

I expected this more of a commentary on his films by the man himself but instead it is more of a narrated sequence of movie 'trailers', which even leaves out a few. It features a couple brief clips of Eastwood commentary with some behind the scenes clips of Squint directing on 'Midnight Garden' and a nice closing with 'ol Angel Eyes on the piano. Overall, good for the die hard Eastwood fan, but a bit deceptive in it's packaging.

A P.S. to the review below...The 'trailer' narration, which is a majority of the film, is NOT by Blondie. It is narrated by a guy (his name escapes me) from 'Midnight Garden', so it is more factual than insightful.