Despite his recent controversial performance at the Republican National Convention, Clint Eastwood remains as beloved as ever. Here are 10 films which illustrate why he’s such a national treasure (this was not an easy list to put together):
10. The Beguiled (1971): This underrated drama was probably the first film Clint was in which was not a western or an action film. Here, he plays a wounded Civil War soldier who is taken in by the women at a girls’ school in the South. As he recovers, he begins to become involved with many of the women who reside there (the men are all off fighting the war), which results in tragic consequences.
9. Play Misty for Me (1971): A few months after Beguiled came out, Clint made his fabulous directorial debut with Misty, a thriller in which he plays a DJ whose brief romance with an obsessed fan (Jessica Walter) turns into a terrifying quest for survival. This film paved the way for inferior thrillers such as Fatal Attraction (1987) and Fear (1996).
8. Bird (1988): Clint directs but does not appear in this film. Still, it is a wonderful, heartbreaking look at jazz legend Charlie Parker, who is wonderfully played by Forest Whitaker.
7. Flags of Our Fathers/Letters From Iwo Jima (2006): Clint's dual look at the battle of Iwo Jima is a brilliant look at how it affected troops on both sides. Fathers looks at the three men (Ryan Phillippe, Adam Beach and Jesse Bradford), who raised the flag on the island but were less than happy when they returned home, despite being praised as heroes. Letters looks at how Gen. Tadamichi Kuribayashi (Ken Watanabe) led his men through 40 days of combat, despite being outmatched by the Allied forces. Although Fathers premiered first, it does not matter which order these are watched in as they both tell the same important stories through different eyes.
6. Bronco Billy (1980): Clint has given some great, funny one-liners throughout his career, but this film is one of his rare attempts at a straight comedy (his two films with Clyde, the orangutan notwithstanding). He plays the title role, who is the head of a traveling wild west show. The group's act is shaken up when Billy takes in a spoiled heiress (Sandra Locke), who has been abandoned by her significant other.
5. Mystic River (2003): This tragedy concerning three childhood friends (Sean Penn, Kevin Bacon and Tim Robbins) who had a horrific encounter which comes back to haunt them years later when tragedy strikes them again. All three stars have never been better.
4. The Bridges of Madison County (1995): Clint shows his romantic side in this film, in which he plays a traveling photographer who has a brief but passionate affair with a married woman (Meryl Streep) while her family is away.
3. Unforgiven (1992): To date, this is Eastwood's last western on either side of the camera, and the one which finally got him Oscar gold. He plays a former gunfighter who is drawn into one last bounty with his former partner (Morgan Freeman) only to lock horns with a sadistic sheriff (Gene Hackman).
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966): The TV series Rawhide made Clint famous, but it was the three westerns he made for Sergio Leone which made him a movie star. This is the third, and best, in that trilogy. Clint, Lee Van Cleef and Eli Wallach play the three title roles; mercenaries who are seeking gold during the Civil War.
1. Dirty Harry (1971): Hands down, Clint's most famous role-police detective Dirty Harry Callahan. This film, which spawned four sequels, centers on Harry's efforts to stop a sadistic killer (Andy Robinson), despite the legal red tape that gets in the way.