Comments on: Clint the Barbarian Slays Bus with Bare Hands

By: eeknight

eeknight — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 20:53:00 +0000

There are some metaphysical musings in Pale Rider as well. And Richard Kiel makes a decent ogre.

By: Ryan Harvey

Ryan Harvey — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 07:09:46 +0000

High Plains Drifter is one of my favorite movies, and it’s the best ever “Weird” Western. Clint fans like me love to argue over the supernaturalism in the story and how it operates until we get nasty and try to bullwhip each other. (Seriously, I’ve seen some nasty flame-wars on forums whenever someone posts something that begins with, “The Stranger is really supposed to be…”)

By: James Enge

James Enge — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 06:39:06 +0000

Hey Ryan–

It just occurred to me that there is a fantasy element in at least one of Eastwood’s movies: High Plains Drifter. But nothing supernatural happens onscreen, of course; it’s all implied.

By: Jeff Stehman

Jeff Stehman — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 04:03:29 +0000

For Eastwood in a S&S movie, you could watch A Fistful of Dollars to get it fresh in your mind, then watch The Warrior and the Sorceress. All you need to do is imagine David Carradine is Clint Eastwood, and you’re home free!

By: James Enge

James Enge — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 00:35:15 +0000

In The Enforcer I like the on-foot chase where Eastwood is following the suspect over the rooftops and Daly is paralleling them on street level with a bag of explosives. Shows you don’t need cars for a great chase scene in San Francisco. Someone CC the memo to that Bullitt guy.

I was not so crazy about The Gauntlet, basically for the reasons you cite.

I like the Ansen quote, though: “like a sword-and-sorcery epic recast in Southwestern drag.” That would have been a damn fine movie: Dirty Harry vs. Mad Max or something like that.

By: Ryan Harvey

Ryan Harvey — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:27:45 +0000

Tyne Daly was Eastwood’s partner in The Enforcer, and their chemistry is the best part of the film. Eastwood pushed for her casting, going against Warner Bros. execs who wanted someone more traditionally attractive.

By: David E. Harris

David E. Harris — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 18:45:20 +0000

I enjoyed this article far more than the movie. Thanks! I did not know that the poster was by Frazetta, though it seems obvious looking at it now. I suspect that his artwork was responsible for the early onset of puberty among most adolescent males who saw his work.

I never saw the chemistry between Eastwood and Locke, and thought every Eastwood movie in which she appeared suffered by her participation. Just remember how good Tyne Daly was as his doomed partner in one of the Dirty Harry movies (I can’t remember which). If only he’d fallen for Katherine Ross . . .

By: Ryan Harvey

Ryan Harvey — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 17:08:14 +0000

Of those old “psuedo-Frazetta” covers that you’re talking about, Chris, I think the most extreme are the ones for the “Deathstalker” series. Compared to the awful films, the covers are hilarious overstatement. Anyone conned into seeing one of these things based on the covers would’ve felt mighty upset.

By: John Hocking

John Hocking — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 13:45:27 +0000

The first Age of Video produced dozens of terrible direct-to-video films with painted covers by Boris or Ken Kelley or someone trying desperately to ape Frazetta.
And those videos had one thing in common- the cover almost always depicted something that did not occur in the film, and if perchance it actually did, the painting was better looking than the film version by a factor of 230.
While Frazetta’s Gauntlet is cooler than the film, the imbalance in quality isn’t quite so stunning. It’s an enjoyable drive-in movie with a really fine poster. And if you were Clint, wouldn’t you have had Frazetta paint you if you could? Sondra, too. Those are the most awesome ripped jeans ever.