Clint Eastwood

In this self-directed post-Civil War era western Eastwood plays Josey Wales, a farmer. One day his farm is attacked and his family killed. Wales embarks off on a journey of revenge against the men who did it. He finds himself out West and obligated to help a group of vulnerable pioneers find their way to their destination. Co-starring Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke and Paula Trueman.

I think I appeal to the escapism in people – the characters I play… I like those characters myself; that’s why, maybe, I carry them to other extremes than my predecessors… A man who thinks on a very simple level and has very simple moral values, appeals to a great many people.

In this Civil War era drama directed by Don Siegel, Eastwood plays wounded Yankee soldier, John McBurney, who is taken in, hidden, and treated by the women at a school for girls in the southern countryside. When the time comes for him to leave things turn dark. Also starring Geraldine Page. On making movies that go against his image:

I’ve died in two pictures now, and neither one was successful. ‘Honkytonk Man’ and ‘Beguiled.’

Eastwood plays Jed Cooper in this western directed by Ted Post. Cooper is a hard working cattleman who is mistaken for a cattle rustler and hanged on the spot despite his claims of innocence. He somehow manages to survive the hanging and sets on a path of revenge when he is given the opportunity to become a Marshall and have the law behind his quest. Also starring Inger Stevens and Pat Hingle. Post on teaching Eastwood to use props:

I said, well, get his attention.  But he can’t get his attention – he was smoking.  So I said well all right, here’s what we’ll do.  See the cigarette in his mouth?  Take the cigarette out of his mouth and put it into his drink – that will get his attention.

Eastwood plays Joe in the this first installment of the Man with No Name trilogy and first Spaghetti Western, directed by Sergio Leone. Originally released in Italy in 1964 as Per un Pugno di Dollari, Joe is a gunfighter who wanders into town and finds a chance to make a fistful of dollars playing two rival powerful families against each other, setting off a battle and saving a town from tyranny in the process. Also starring Marianne Koch and Gian Maria Volonté. Morgan Freeman on the iconic character shaping Eastwood’s career:

It’s because of the Man with No Name. He established that voice when he was doing spaghetti westerns with Sergio Leone, and he’s used it ever since. People use it when they imitate him because it’s the only voice they know. But it only comes out when you mic him up and he’s on the set and acting. And then he uses this voice and I don’t know why….