Clint Eastwood's directorial technique and character-driven films

Clint Eastwood: Biography and Films

Began film career as an actor

Instantly iconic in his role in Dirty Harry: Violent, strong silent type

Spaghetti Westerns: The man with no name, bent on revenge

Work as director

Play Misty For Me (1971): Story of a radio host being stalked

Bridges of Madison County (1995): Love story with Meryl Streep, adaptation of well-known romantic novel

Oscar-winning Unforgiven (1992): Eastwood directed an unconventional Western, after starring in so many himself. Film "functions as both a brilliant western and an examination of the genre as a whole and its patent unrealities" (Sims 1).

Million Dollar Baby (2004): The story of a female boxer, with Eastwood playing her coach as well as directing

Directorial technique

Eastwood has favored relatively intimate, character-driven films. Even when his films contain a great deal of action, like Unforgiven, ultimately it is the character that drives the work (such as Gene Hackman's memorable portrayal of the film's villain and Eastwood's haunted anti-hero).

B. Eastwood's eclectic choice of materials and genres has caused his technique to vary from film to suit the script.

C. Eastwood believes in trusting good material -- when the script for Million Dollar Baby was presented to him, he left it virtually unaltered. He places a great deal of trust in screenwriters.

B. Depicts corruption of J. Edgar Hoover, head of FBI

C. Hoover is portrayed as a clean-cut, sharply-dressed man who 'looks the part' of someone who is utterly contained, in stark contrast to his willingness to bend the law at later points in his career.

D. Although there is no explicit sexual relationship depicted, in one scene in which Hoover and his 'number two' man Clyde Tolson are at dinner, there seems to be clear flirtation and eye contact, once again a stark contrast to their sober, regimented style of dress. Hoover frames his advances not as affection but as needing someone he knows he can trust. There is no music in the background and the shot is carefully edited to retain its focus upon the men's eye contact, to create a sense of intimacy even if there is no physical contact.

E. Of the real Hoover, critic Roger Ebert noted: "He was sure enough of his power that he sometimes held hands with Tolson in restaurants and shared rooms with him on vacations. There wasn't a president who could touch him" (Ebert, "J. Edgar"). This is not depicted in the film as explicitly, but it is clear that Hoover believes he can behave with impunity regarding his own actions, versus those of the individuals he is monitoring.