- Paperback: 568 pages
- Publisher: Vintage (Oct 21 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0679749918
- ISBN-13: 978-0679749912
- Product Dimensions: 13 x 3.1 x 20.3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 499 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #662,123 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Schickel, a movie critic for Time magazine, surveys the life and career of Hollywood's laconic macho superstar. Eastwood's career has slowly developed: television success in Rawhide; his icon-defining role as the nameless gunslinger in Sergio Leone's spaghetti Westerns; movie superstardom with the Dirty Harry series; then a softening, and even some intellectual respectability, with his Oscar for directing Unforgiven. Shickel chronicles Eastwood's middle-class upbringing in Oakland, California, details a personal life that included a drive to bed many women, and recasts Eastwood from his role as the male equivalent of the "dumb blonde" to that of "one of the great ironists of the age."
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From Publishers Weekly
The career of actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood has been one of the most unusual in cinema history. Starting out as a bit player in such 1950s films as The Return of the Creature and Tarantula, and then as a young hunk in the TV series Rawhide, Eastwood hurtled to international fame in 1964 by starring in an Italian western made in Spain, Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars. It took Eastwood another 20 years, however, to begin to win over critics. His ascent from critical contempt to adulation, even as he has remained enormously popular with fans, forms the heart of this superb biography. Schickel (Brando), a film critic for Time magazine, is a friend of Eastwood's, but this privilege doesn't blinker his critical eye. The actor's personal life is evoked in telling detail, and Eastwood's relentless womanizing isn't whitewashed. The core of the book, though, is Schickel's passionate defense of Eastwood as actor and director; in fact, he makes a convincing case for Eastwood as one of the most important and influential filmmakers of his generation. The production and critical reception of Eastwood's most important films are recounted in detail; especially outstanding is Schickel's analysis of the still-controversial Dirty Harry. Schickel zeros in on Eastwood's appeal, showing through his acute interpretive readings of the films how the actor combines the masculine authority and repressed rage of Gary Cooper and John Wayne with an almost postmodern ironic self-consciousness. Some of Eastwood's most compelling films (The Beguiled; Tightrope; Unforgiven), Schickel contends, have deliberately played with, and even subverted, the usual cliches of masculine film performance. No mere celebrity bio, this is a beautifully written, comprehensive and astonishingly insightful study of a man who, seemingly against all odds, has achieved world renown as both a pop culture icon and an accomplished film artist. Photos, not seen by PW. 100,000 first printing.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Enjoyable read, very informative.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Clint Eastwood: A Biography (Hardcover)
This is an excellent book about the life and work of a legend. Richard Schickel gives us a close look at the free spirited man that's living inside of the veteran actor. Very detail work about Mr. Eastwood's movie making process and his no bulls**t attitude toward the studio execs and anyone who stands on his way. Ms. Pauline Kael should just say it out loud that she's begging for the legend's attention or just shut the hell up. Any Eastwood fan will really appreciate the author's work.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
A mixed bag biography,
By
This review is from: Clint Eastwood: A Biography (Paperback)
Being a huge fan of Eastwood as well as a close personal friend creates quite the conflict in TIME film critic Richard Schickel as he attempts to write a biography about an artist who closely guards his privacy. This obstacle results in a hap-hazard biography that provides few surprises or insights into the laconic, silent man who has become on of America's true unique artists.Schickel also drives a stake through the pacing of his writing by providing scene by scene recounts of each of Eastwood's key films. He is overlooking the fact that the majority of his intended audience already has each film memorized. This causes the book to often languish in molasses and cause the reader to skim- never a good thing. Where Schickel does succeed is in the all-too brief insights into Eastwood's technique and artistic philosophy. Had Schickel chosen to focus in this area, his work would have provided more depth and sustained interest. As is CLINT EASTWOOD: A BIOGRAPHY is a mixed bag read. Worthwhile only if one is willing to skim.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sufficient overview of Eastwood's career,
By
This review is from: Clint Eastwood: A Biography (Paperback)
With few biographies of Clint Eastwood available, Richard Schickel's 1996 effort fills a void. Unfortunately, the void, though smaller, still exists since this is far from an objective look at either Eastwood the man, the star, or the filmmaker. It's certainly not a surprise. Schickel wrote a 1992 TV special promoting "Unforgiven," and also compiled the film clips for the tribute preceding Eastwood's reciept of the Irving Thalberg Award at the 1995 Oscars. Eastwood cooperated with the author for this biography and even did some interviews in tandem with Schickel to promote the book. And when informing us that the critic for Life magazine praised 1968's "Hang 'Em High," Schickel neglects to point out the name of that critic who just so happened to be...duh, Richard Schickel. When biographer and subject are such good buddies, well, you just have to wonder if you're getting anything closely resembling the truth. But...As an overview of Eastwood's career, particularly his transformation from a superstar in genre movies to respected auteur, it is sufficient, even though some easily detected errors go undetected ("Unforgiven" recieved 9 Oscar nominations, not 8 as Schickel says - doesn't anybody bother to check these things?).
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