- Title: Eastwood recalls his childhood dream to "pack a gun and ride a horse"
- Date: 22nd May 2017
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 21, 2017) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR AND DIRECTOR, CLINT EASTWOOD, SAYING (ON 'DIRTY HARRY'): "A lot of people thought it was politically incorrect, that was at the beginning of the era that we're in now where everybody thinks everybody's politically correct and we're killing ourselves by doing that, but we've lost our sense of humour and everything, but anyway I made it, I thought it was interesting, and it was daring at the time, and that was the only reason, big guns, it was the ultimate kid's dream." AUDIENCE EASTWOOD SEATED ON STAGE (SOUNDBITE) (English) ACTOR AND DIRECTOR, CLINT EASTWOOD, SAYING (ON FIRST FILM HE DIRECTED, 'PLAY MISTY FOR ME'): "I said I'd like to do it and and I'd like to direct it as well, he (Lew Wasserman) says 'OK, that's fine', and I said 'gee that was easy', and I asked my agent as we were walking down the hallway, I said 'this is fine he didn't even resist anything,' he said, 'no, but he did take me aside and said he doesn't want to pay you anything', and I said 'that's good I shouldn't be paid, I should pay them for the experience', and if I pulled it off I'd be all right."
- Embargoed: 5th June 2017 14:59
- Keywords: Unforgiven masterclass Cannes Clint Eastwood
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE / VENICE, ITALY / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- City: CANNES, FRANCE / VENICE, ITALY / NEW YORK, NEW YORK, USA / VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Film,Sport
- Reuters ID: LVA0036HX8GUL
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS MATERIAL THAT IS ORIGINALLY 4:3
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: PART AUDIO QUALITY AS INCOMING
Clint Eastwood was just like any other American boy growing up on the Westerns of the 1930s and 40s, he told a seminar at the Cannes Film Festival, where he recounted his rise to movie star and acclaimed director.
"Every kid wanted to be in a Western and every kid wanted to pack a gun and ride a horse," Eastwood told admirers at a masterclass he gave on the fringes of the festival.
"So as a kid I liked (Westerns) very much."
After playing the Man with No Name in Sergio Leone's 'spaghetti Westerns' in the 1960s, Eastwood became "Dirty" Harry Callahan, the cop who broke all the rules.
"A lot of people thought it was politically incorrect," he said of "Dirty Harry" the 1971 film in which he points his .44 Magnum pistol at bad guys and asks them if they "feel lucky" before he pulls the trigger.
"That was at the beginning of the era that we're in now where everybody thinks everybody's politically correct and we're killing ourselves by doing that, but we've lost our sense of humour," he said of the critics of the film.
"Anyway, I made it, I thought it was interesting, and it was daring at the time, and that was the only reason. Big guns: it was the ultimate kid's dream." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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