Film Junk Poll: What is the Best Movie Directed by Clint Eastwood?
Clint Eastwood’s Invictus hits theatres this weekend, and seems to be generating mixed reviews thus far (although it is currently listed at 77% on Rotten Tomatoes), which is interesting considering all the praise he has received for a lot of his other directorial projects throughout this decade. Perhaps it is merely a misfire, or could it be that audiences and critics are growing tired of his gruff sentimentality? At any rate, the man has quite a few films under his belt now, and I thought it would be a good time to look back and decide which one is his greatest work from behind the camera. As always, I’m sure some of your favourites won’t be on the poll, but go ahead and cast a vote, then discuss the matter further in the comments below.
Comments (17)
The correct answer: ‘Firefox’
Seriously, though, I feel ‘Bird’ deserves a mention here as well. I think it’s the first movie that he received any major directorial awards or nominations for.
Posted by Brendan on December 9th, 2009I havent seen all of these but I love everything about Unforgiven and it got my vote
Posted by Niklas on December 9th, 2009Ouch, the lack of Josey Wales love is surprising. I knew that Unforgiven would be the fan favorite here, but I’m thinking that Josey Wales could be my favorite American western.
Posted by Jonathan on December 9th, 2009The only two movies I love by him are Unforgiven and Mystic Rivers, both of which I think are masterpieces. Gran Torino is terrible and Million Dollar Baby is vastly overrated.
Posted by Justice on December 9th, 2009He had a nice hot streak with “Bird”, ” Black Hunter White Heart” and ” Unforgiven”. “Play Misty For Me” is also a great one.
Posted by yan on December 9th, 2009Josey Wales, Unforgiven and Mystic River are all favorites of mine. As much as I love the western I had to go with Mystic River.
I’m not surprised by its omission, but my Eastwood guilty pleasure has always been Heartbreak Ridge.
Posted by Stefan on December 9th, 2009Has to be one of Unforgiven – Gene Hackman, Richard Harris, Morgan Freeman and a suitably grizzled Clint.
Posted by el1sdf on December 9th, 2009….and Jonathan is right – Josey Wales would be in with a shout.
Posted by el1sdf on December 9th, 2009voted Unforgiven because it’s the only truly great film on the list.
Posted by Goon on December 9th, 2009Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven, Gran Torino, Mystic River all our fantastic and worthy of this vote. Ultimately I went with Unforgiven – it’s hauntingly good.
Posted by Matt H on December 9th, 2009Mystic River out of the choices given. Would’ve been a much tougher decision if movies like Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil, True Crime, Absolute Power and Heartbreak Ridge. All infinitely better movies than Unforgiven.
Posted by TheOtherJamesTaylor on December 9th, 2009“Midnight…” is my 2nd fave of his movies, though its easy to see why a lot of fans of the book hate it.
The book has way more stuff going on, but to work as a film a lot had to be cut.
Posted by Goon on December 9th, 2009Unforgiven is the best western since The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
Posted by Nate on December 10th, 2009This is, of course, a matter of opinion, but in this one instance I would have to say that if you answer isn’t THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES, you are wrong.
Even Eastwood says it’s his favorite.
Posted by Bob The Slob on December 10th, 2009Wait, wait… neither Outlaw Josey Wales nor High Plains Drifter are leading?
Posted by DavidM on December 10th, 2009You people. You fucking people.
I’m surprised Byrd isn’t on here. I still need to see that though, maybe it’s crap. Anywho I think for style and substance you have to go with Unforgiven, I like that Gran Torino is also kind of high though. Eastwood’s stuff is solid to be sure.
Posted by Ian on December 12th, 2009This is a great post Sean. This is the shit right here. Wondering what we the Junkers want,,this is it! Appreciate all the hard work. And I am not being a sycophant here I can guess how hard it is. I was trying to write a film review to offer for submission and it is hard…and time consuming. I marvel at your output and throughput, what ever that means. but yes to the topic at hand.
The Outlaw Josey Wales is the all time favorite for me. I don’t have any quarrel with someone that wants to vote for “The Unforgiven” the performances and all are simply perfect. I was surprised to see how much love their was for “Bird” didn’t know there were so many Charley Parker fans. I Was scrutinizing his IMDB and realized that there were films I hadn’t seen in 20 years+ “The Rookie” with Charlie Sheen…lol..
“Mystic River” is a great film, but not a pleasant place to go for re-watching. And what the Hell is this 1973 film “Breezy” with William Holden (The Wild Bunch) I have never even heard of this one. I hope netflix has it. Also Anyone that hasn’t seen “High Plains Drifter” do yourself a favor and see it.
Thanks for the fun.
Posted by xego on December 12th, 2009Leave a Reply