The Metrograph Interview #1: Clint Eastwood

FOR A COMMERCIAL FILMMAKER TO survive and even thrive in the absence of accolades from both the industry and the intelligentsia is no great feat; many of our finest have managed it. Clint Eastwood, who subsisted through decades of consoling himself with popular success in place of critical acclaim, has accomplished something rather rarer. A household name as an actor before he ever tried his hand as a director, he’s maintained his poise and panache after being stricken with the respectability that comes to ugly buildings, politicians, and genre filmmakers if they last long enough.