Clint Eastwood’s New Movie Confirms The Secret Truth Of His Entire Career

Clint Eastwood’s latest film, Cry Macho, confirms the secret truth of his Hollywood career: that he’s not equally gifted at both acting and directing. Eastwood has remained a staple of Hollywood since his rise to fame as a performer in the westerns of Sergio Leone beginning with A Fistful of Dollars in 1964. Throughout his later career, however, he has split his time between directing and acting, often with great success. While Cry Macho sees Eastwood return to his cowboy western roots, it also highlights his varied cinematic strengths.

Eastwood stars as a former rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder in 1978. His character takes a job from a former employer (Dwight Yoakim) to retrieve the man’s son from the boy’s alcoholic mom in rural Mexico. Together Eastwood and the young boy (Eduardo Minett) face a challenging journey home. Along the way, Eastwood teaches the boy what it means to be a good man and in doing so discovers a sense of self-redemption. The film is based on a novel of the same name written by N. Richard Nash in 1975. Nash received a “Screenplay by” credit on the film, which he shares with screenwriter Nick Schenk (The Mule).

Though the film is not one of Eastwood’s biggest critically acclaimed movies, it has performed adequately with a 52% on Rotten Tomatoes. However, the film does point to a hidden truth present in Eastwood’s impressive filmography. This truth is especially evident in Eastwood’s contemporary films of the last decades. While Clint Eastwood is an entirely competent and wonderfully charismatic performer, he’s simply a better director than he is an actor. This is not to degrade Eastwood’s historic and beloved performances. It is merely to point out his repeated achievements behind the camera.

Obviously, Clint Eastwood is recognized for playing a number of notable characters such as Dirty Harry and his famous performances in spaghetti-westerns. These roles have without a doubt cemented his place as a Hollywood icon. Despite so many famous roles and iconic films, Eastwood has only received two Academy Award nominations for actor in a leading role: in Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven. Perhaps even more surprising is his total lack of Golden Globe nomination for acting. For an actor of his fame and significance, Eastwood’s distinct lack of acting nominations certainly raises some questions.

Conversely, Eastwood has been recognized many times as a filmmaker with five Best Picture nominations and two Best Picture wins at the Academy Awards. In both instances, Eastwood also took home the Oscar for Best Director as well. Remarkably, these wins correlate with his only two acting nominations mentioned above, Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven. Additionally, Eastwood has received seven Golden Globe nominations for Best Director and three wins. Comparing his directorial nominations compared to his acting nominations, it seems to prove his abilities as a filmmaker outweighs his aptitude for acting.

Though nominations do not inevitably provide the full picture of an individual’s career, there seems to be a clear trend present in Clint Eastwood’s work. Eastwood is undoubtedly a skilled actor, but films like American Sniper, Sully, and Million Dollar Baby prove he is an incredibly gifted and versatile director. Moreover, it’s likely his decades of acting which have made him the talented director he is. Consequently, Eastwood remains a genuine Hollywood legend despite Cry Macho’s continued indication he may be better suited to the director’s chair than the silver screen.