Clint: The Life and Legend by Patrick McGilligan.
Clint Eastwood fans at Amazon.com have been quick to attack this book as a mere "hatchet job". Eastwood himself blocked publication of this volume for three years (it appeared in the United Kingdom in 1999 and has been available in paperback there since 2000.) McGilligan suffered through a stream of publishers who turned pale when Eastwood's lawyers threatened to tie them up in lawsuits. St. Martin's Press finally refused to bow down and Clint was released this month.
McGilligan, a film studies professor, has investigated other actors without their consent, for example, Jack Nicholson. In an afterword, McGilligan contrasts the two actors approaches to his investigations:
When I wrote my book about Jack Nicholson, Jack neither helped nor hindered me. Some people associated with him refused to see me, but most were happy to to, and I had only a small number of off the record conversations with key people. With Clint, it was clear from the beginning that his imprimateur was necessary to gain admission to his world. People were worried about talking to me without his go-ahead, and therefore many people, especially those currently employed by Malpaso....shied away from me, sometimes without replying to letter or phone calls, other times as politely as possible. The people who did talk to me on the record either did not work in the film industry or, if they did, felt secure in their careers independent of Malpaso and didn't fear for their livelihoods. They didn't fear Clint....I was struck by how many people I encountered who really hated Clint....In the case of the Nicholson book, I would be hard-pressed to name a single such source; almost everybody loved Jack, felt obliged to defend and protect and explain him against the violations of a biographer. Not so with Clint, who contrary to his decent-loyal image, has left many broken friends and outright enemies in his wake.
Clint is about mediocre man made glorious myth. The author reveals the real Clint Eastwood, 
who did not come from blue collar roots as he often claims, as a man who more resembles the constipated adminstrators he skewers in his films than the heros. Eastwood has attempted to fob himself off as a Buddhist who made the Dirty Harry films as satire, as a family man (who carried on multiple affairs), and a film genius. McGilligan traces the rise of Eastwood's popularity, from his early days as Rowdy on Gunsmoke to his more recent offerings. Eastwood emerges as a shrewd manipulator of American iconography, a despot who pretends to be a populist.
McGilligan investigates the way in which Eastwood lives a coverup, how his image is something that has been thrown together to mask less attractive realities. He begins with an account of the actor's real roots in an affluent Oakland neighborhood, his service as a swim instructor at Fort Ord while other men were dying in Korea, his early film career, his numerous affairs, his horrid treatment of ex-associates, and the selfish motives that led him to put tens of thousands of dollars into his campaign for the petty position of mayor of Carmel. The publicist tells us Eastwood is a decent, hard-working man. McGilligan does not dispute that Eastwood is hard working. He does give us account after account of dubious behavior that those who would canonize Eastwood as an American hero prefer not to have recounted.
Eastwood's self evaluation at one point is telling: "I'm no Mother Teresa" McGilligan quotes him as telling an interviewer when asked why he did not seek higher office after his term as mayor of Carmel. This is a classic example of the positioning of which he is so fond. By comparing himself to a saint, he attempts to trivialize his misconduct out of sight of the cameras. As Dirty Harry would have put it, Eastwood is a legend in his own mind. He has succeeded, however, in getting others to adopt the myth, at least for a time.
Die hard fans will not like this book. A few who have stronger principles will continue to like Eastwood films (as I believe does McGilligan) though they will come to despise the man. You can anticipate seeing more attacks on McGilligan in the months to come, both from the fan base and from Eastwood himself. If you think that a film biography must be written from the perspective of uncritical admiration, you best skip this book. More thoughtful readers will prize this book, not as a hit piece, but as a telling recollection of the making of the Eastwood films and the way they are watched by his audiences.
Posted by EmperorNorton at August 28, 2002 10:22 PM | TrackBack