Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production - Hardcover

For more than 20 years, Clint Eastwood has been a prominent and often controversial figure in both film and American culture. In "Clint Eastwood", Paul Smith considers how Eastwood has come to signify as both an actor and as an "auteur" and has been profoundly influential in American life. "Clint Eastwood" is a study of Eastwood (or any contemporary figure in film) that not only interprets and critiques his films but demonstrates their complex and problematic relationship to American culture. Smith follows Eastwood's career from his emergence as the star of the spaghetti westerns in the 1960s, through to his establishment as an "auteur" of the American cinema. Drawing upon and making contributions to current debates in film studies and cultural studies, Smith examines Eastwood's westerns, the politics of his "Dirty Harry" movies, the construction of masculinity in his films, his war movies, questions of race in his work, his recent efforts as director, his stint as Mayor of Carmel, his recent film "Unforgiven", and many other aspects of his career. Smith also examines the erotic dynamics of Eastwood's work and analyzes the complicated figure of "auteur" as "father" of various myths and ideologies. Ultimately, Smith offers both a critical interpretation of the movies that Eastwood has directed or acted in, and an analysis of their impact on contemporary culture during the past 30 years. Historical, and articulate, "Clint Eastwood" promises to spark theoretical and critical debates in film studies, and also to change our understanding of the cinematic experience itself. Paul Smith is the author of "Pound Revised" and "Discerning the Subject" (Minnesota, 1988), and co-editor (with Alice Jardine) of "Men in Feminism". This book is intended for undergraduates and graduate students in media studies and cultural studies; general readers interested in film and American culture.