American Rebel (47 page)

“If it goes on …”: Ibid., 152. McGilligan’s source is unclear.

“This will be …”: Clint, quoted by Wallach in
The Good, the Bad, and Me
.

critics wasted no time: Bosley Crowther had written about the trilogy before their American release, in a “think piece” for the
New York Times
in November 1966, where he was more positive about
A Fistful of Dollars
. His enthusiasm waned somewhat when the advance word among critics was negative. Crowther, fearful of going against the tide and of losing his own relevancy, toned down his opinion for his official daily review. Judith Crist actually said the film “lacked the pleasures of the perfectly awful movie.”

“When [Leone] talked to me about doing …”: Quoted in Thompson,
Billion Dollar Man
.

“‘The burn, the gouge, …’ ”:
New York Times
, January 25, 1968.

“remains basically hostile …”: Andrew Sarris, “The Spaghetti Westerns,”
Village Voice
, September 19 and 26, 1968.

“I own some property …”: Interview by Arthur Knight,
Playboy
, February 1974.

“I think I learned more about direction …”: Quoted in Duncan,
Icons
, 134.

“She [Golonka] began to like him …”: Ted Post, quoted in McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, 162; no attribution is given.

“I had signed with Universal …”: Introduction to Siegel,
Siegel Film
, ix.

“one of the two or three …”: Ibid.

“I learned a lot …”: Quoted in McGilligan,
Focus on Film
25, summer-fall 1976.

“I thought we did very well”: Siegel,
Siegel Film
, 304.

“He and his buddies were like …”: Jill Banner, quoted in Earl Leaf, “The Way They Were,”
Rona Barrett’s Hollywood
, circa 1972.

Burton’s smoking habits: Burton discussed his lifelong cigarette addiction and his drinking with Ambrose Heron on British TV in 1977. (Details not available.)

“Clint and Richard …”: Ingrid Pitt, interview by Rusty White,
Einsiders.com
, June 1, 2002.

“The script was given to me …”: Quoted in Kaminsky,
Clint Eastwood
, chap. 7.

When Doubles Dare:
This joke has many reported sources, including Bragg,
Burton
, 196.

“We don’t believe …” and “By [the time …]”: Maggie Eastwood and Clint Eastwood, respectively, quoted in Tim Chadwick, “We Don’t Believe in Togetherness,”
Screen Stars
, July 1971.

the two immediately began an on-set affair: The Eastwood-Seberg affair has numerous sources, most thoroughly McGilligan, Richards, and Schickel.

Seberg’s heart was broken: Richards,
Played Out
, quotes several of Seberg’s friends on her great disappointment after the relationship ended. In a French newspaper interview (quoted by Richards) Seberg referred to her affair with a man “who was the absolute opposite” of her husband, “an outdoor type.” She said, “It’s always a bit of a shock to discover that people aren’t sincere.” Schickel,
Eastwood
, speculated that Seberg’s emotional and professional career declined as much because of her failed romance with Eastwood as her troubles with the FBI.

charitable reviews:
Paint Your Wagon
is “a big, bawdy rip-roaring Western musical of the gold rush in California,” said the
New York Daily News
. It “will have an uphill fight to be a blockbusting box-office hit,” said
Variety
. “Thought overproduced and sometimes a little weird, the movie is pretty interesting,” said
Women’s Wear Daily
. “Amiable,” said Vincent Canby in the
New York Times;
“[s]toic and handsome,” Charles Champlin said of Clint in the
Los Angeles Times
. Among the film’s harshest critics was Pauline Kael, who wrote in
The New Yorker
that Clint “hardly seems to be in the movie. He’s controlled in such an uninteresting way; it’s not an actor’s control, which enables one to release something—it’s the kind of control that keeps one from releasing anything … [the film] has finally broken the back of the American movie industry.”

“I feel Don Siegel is …”: Quoted in Kaminsky,
Clint Eastwood
.

“There was no question …”: Siegel,
Siegel Film
, 365.

“I think [the Leone films] changed …”: Quoted in Frayling,
Clint Eastwood
, 61–67.

“I worked on
Kelly’s Heroes …”:
Rickles,
Rickles’ Book
, 141–42.

“It was [originally] …”: Quoted in Michael Henry, “Entretien avec Clint Eastwood,”
Positif 2
87 (January 1985).

“Why should I open …”: Quoted in McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, 185.

“as another spaghetti …”: James Bacon,
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, October 14, 1971.

“Eastwood films …”: Siegel,
Siegel Film
, 356.

“Don Siegel told me …”: Quoted in Kaminsky,
Clint Eastwood
. “[The studio] …”: Quoted in Judy Fayard, “Just About Everybody,”
Personalities
. (Further source information for
Personalities
is unknown.)

“After 17 years …”: Quoted in Rex Reed, “Calendar,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 1971, 50, 62.

“My father died …”: Quoted in Cal Fussman,
Esquire
, January 2009.

“It was just an ideal …”: Quoted in “Clint Eastwood,”
The Directors: Master Collection
, AFI (American Film Institute).

“I started getting interested in directing …”: Ibid.

“I was lying in bed …”: Quoted in Peter Biskind,
Premiere
, April 1993.

“a good-luck charm …”: Siegel,
Siegel Film
, 494.

“I was absolutely …”: Quoted in James Bacon, “Entertainment,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, May 15, 1972. The footnote is also based on this source.

“There’s only one problem …”: John Cassavetes, quoted in Duncan,
Icons
, 82. Clint repeats the story in the AFI
Directors
series.

“I’ve traveled all over …”: Quoted in Tom Cavanaugh,
Mainliner
, September 1971.

“desultory romance,”: Biskind,
Easy Riders
, 234.

“In Hollywood, …”: Ibid.

“There are a million …”: Quoted in Tim Chadwick, “We Don’t Believe in Togetherness,”
Screen Stars
, July 1971.

“Clint lives a double life …”: Earl Leaf, “The Way They Were,”
Rona Barrett’s Hollywood
, circa 1972.

“Harry’s pursuit of Scorpio …”: Knapp,
Directed
, 43. Knapp elaborates on the doppelgänger aspect this way: “Harry embarks on a desperate crusade to rid San Francisco of a mad killer, only to discover that he is alienated from himself and the people he has ostensibly sworn to protect” (37).

“I was the one who hired …”: Quoted in Patrick McGilligan,
Focus on Film 25
(Summer–Fall 1976).

“exhausting and detrimental”: Quoted in Joyce Haber,
Los Angeles Times
, May 3, 1972.

“Directing is hard work …”: Quoted by the Associated Press, August 15, 1972.

The decision to toss the badge: Siegel,
Siegel Film
, 366, 375.

“The film … made the basic contest …”: Pauline Kael’s review
of Dirty Harry
appeared in the January 1, 1972, issue
of The New Yorker
.

“We live in …”: Quoted in Cal Fussman,
Esquire
, January 2009.

“looking more like …”: Richard Thompson and Tim Hunter, “Clint Eastwood, Auteur,”
Film Comment
14, no. 1 (January–February 1978).

“This was a small film …”: Quoted in Patrick McGilligan,
Focus on Film
25 (Summer–Fall 1976).

“People who go to the movies …”: Quoted in Clinch,
Eastwood
, 66.

“Lenny Hirshan took a script …”: Interview by Charlie Rose, PBS, October 8, 2003.

“I must confess …”: Clint, in an article billed as self-penned,
Action
, March 4, 1973.

His disappointment and anger: This episode is discussed in McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, and Bach,
Final Cut
. Clint’s swearing he would never work for UA again is from Bach.

“I went into …”: Sondra Locke, quoted in Marcia Borie,
Hollywood Reporter
, July 2, 1976.

“It was a very difficult …”: Quoted in Michael Henry, “Entretien avec Clint Eastwood,”
Positif 287
(January 1985).

“the only time [Clint] ever …”: James Bacon, “Clint’s Cliff Hanger,”
Los Angeles Herald-Examiner
, October 22, 1974.

Hog’s Breath Inn: Some of the details in the description are from Phyllis Jervey, “Hog’s Breath Inn Opens Without Fanfare,”
Pine Cone
[Carmel-by-the-Sea], date undetermined, circa 1970s.

“There’s nothing I can do about it.”: Maggie Eastwood, quoted in Peter J. Oppenheimer, “Action Hero Clint Eastwood: I’m Just Doing What I Dreamed of as a Kid,”
Family Weekly
, December 29, 1974.

“romantic Casanova …”: Paul Lippman, quoted in Thompson,
Billion Dollar Man
, 89; unattributed. Clint’s response is also from Lippman, also unat-tributed.

“‘So what have you been …’ ”: Locke,
Very Ugly
, 138.

“the worst thing that …”: Philip Kaufman, quoted in McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, 261.

“What Kael says …”: Dr. Ronald Lowell, quoted in Mary Murphy, “Clint and Kael,”
Los Angeles Times
, April 12, 1976.

“I don’t have any new …”: Quoted in Catherine Nixon Cooke, “The Mysterious Clint Eastwood,”
Coronet
(February 1975).

“People thought …”: Quoted in Larry Cole, “Clint’s Not Cute When He’s Angry,”
Village Voice
, May 24, 1976.

The reason was simple…: Said James Fargo, “He wasn’t even in San Francisco, basically because he was having the affair with Sondra.” Quoted in McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, 275–76; the attribution is unclear.

Clint had inserted it: “[The script] was in very good shape. There was a minor amount of rewriting, a lot of deletions. I did it myself,” Clint said, in an interview by Richard Thompson and Tim Hunter, “Clint Eastwood, Auteur,”
Film Comment
14, no. 1 (January–February 1978).

People
magazine “scooped”:
People
, February 13, 1978.

“In today’s climate …”: Richard Schickel,
Time
, January 9, 1978.

“In a modern society …”: William Hare,
Hollywood Studio
(February 1978).

“The script … had been around …”: Quoted in Charles Champlin,
Los Angeles Times
, January 18, 1981.

“it would be theirs forever …”: McGilligan,
Life and Legend
, 303.

“I’ve been advised …”: Quoted in Iain Blair,
Film and Video
14, no. 3 (March 1977).

“I don’t know”: See “Clint Eastwood Talks About Clint Eastwood as He Stars in
Escape from Alcatraz
Film,” unidentified interview, probably from Universal Pictures, circa 1979, Margaret Herrick Library.

“During [1978] Clint began …”: Locke,
Very Ugly
, 162–63.

“When I was sent the script …”: Quoted in Michael Henry, “Entretien avec Clint Eastwood,”
Positif 2
87 (January 1985).

“In the westerns …”:
Inside the Actors Studio
, October 5, 2003.

“Eastwood is living proof …”: Norman Mailer, in
Parade
, October 23, 1983.

“Clint Eastwood brought in …”: Robert Daley, quoted in Army Archerd,
Variety
, November 12, 1979.

“We’ve done okay …”: Quoted in
Variety
, July 28, 1980.

“reports are circulating …”:
Us
, October 14, 1980.

“We meet as often as we can …”: Henry Wynberg, quoted in Ansi Vallens, “Playboy Who Won Liz Taylor on Rebound Finds New Love—Eastwood’s Wife,”
Us
, October 21, 1980.

“Rarely did Clint acknowledge …”: Locke,
Very Ugly
, 186.

“It was like an homage …”: Quoted in AFI
Directors
series.

“Naturally, I talked about it …”: Locke,
Very Ugly
, 184.

“When you point …”:
Inside the Actors Studio
, October 5, 2003.

“It was just a whimsical thing …”: AFI
Directors
series.

“Not until
Tightrope …
”: Bingham,
Acting Male
, 186.

Megan Rose: Details of her affair with Clint are from interviews she gave McGilligan, as reported in
Life and Legend
, and by several friends who know them both.

Edwards had asked her …: The details of this story are from Locke,
Very Ugly
, 189–90.

“Before I knew it …”: Sondra Locke, quoted in Reynolds,
My Life
, 3.

Locke as a director: “I began to explore the idea of turning to directing and mentioned it to Clint. ‘That’d be a great idea,’ he quickly responded.” Locke,
Very Ugly
, 191.

“I’ve always considered …”: Quoted in
Newsweek
, July 22, 1985.

“Maybe there were …”: Quoted in John Vinocur, “Clint Eastwood, Seriously,”
New York Times Magazine
, February 24, 1985.

“The Eastwood persona …”: Ibid.

“Clint Eastwood is an artist …”: Ibid.

“I enjoyed going there …”:
Inside the Actors Studio
, October 5, 2003.

“Clint Eastwood, depuis …”:
From an article in French by Philippe Labro; the magazine it appeared in is unsourced.

“I don’t need …”: Quoted in
Pine Cone
(weekly newspaper of Carmel), February 5, 1986.

beat-up yellow Volkswagen convertible: Associated Press, April 9, 1986.

“Heartbreak Ridge
[is about] …”: Quoted in Milan Pavlovič, “Kein Popcorn-Film [Not a Popcorn Movie],”
Steadycam
10 (Fall 1988).