Cleaver Patterson reviews Clint: A Retrospective by Richard Schickel…
In his introduction to Clint: A Retrospective, the glossily illustrated book chronicling the career of the actor / director by critic and writer Richard Schickel, Eastwood himself quotes Negro Leagues baseball pitcher Satchel Paige, who said “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”
Of course a biography – even a photographic one like this – by its very nature looks back. However, when the subject of the book is an actor of Eastwood’s calibre, a degree of nostalgic reflection seems justifiable. In a career spanning almost sixty years, which has seen him notch up seventy films as both actor and more recently Oscar winning director, Eastwood has achieved that rare feat in an industry which finds as much pleasure in knocking you as praising you – respect and admiration from both his filmmaking peers and the cinema going public alike.
The approach of Schickel’s book is perfectly suited to the career of an actor, who has never been known for his overly verbose screen presence. In his early career Eastwood made his presence felt by playing moody strangers in the westerns like A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and High Plains Drifter (1973), as well as the shoot first, ask questions later cop Harry Callahan in the violent drama Dirty Harry (1971) and its follow-ups. More recently he has become known for an equally impressive body of work behind the camera, all of which this visual encyclopaedia chronicles effectively with a surprisingly restrained use of text. In an explanatory note at the end Schickel defends his approach, explaining that after having come in for criticism with a previous biography of the star for not acknowledging his friendship with Eastwood, he had no intention of making the same mistake again. So here is a book which is unashamedly by someone who has great admiration for, as well as friendship with, their subject, bringing the text alive with an array of candid and fascinating archive photographs. No way sycophantic however, the book doesn’t shy from highlighting the difficulties Eastwood has encountered behind the scenes on numerous productions, as well as occasions when his films were less than successful commercially.
Clint: A Retrospective, published by Palazzo Editions, is hefty, coming in at two hundred and ninety six pages. However with three hundred colour and black and white photographs and reasonably priced – considering its size and coffee-table format – at £16.99, the reader is unlikely to feel shortchanged. At eighty four and with two upcoming projects in the pipeline, Eastwood shows no sign of slowing down. As a result Schickel may soon find himself having to issue an updated edition of this entertaining tome.
Cleaver Patterson is film critic and writer based in London.
Originally published October 3, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
