You should. He turned 81 today. If not for the universe (pick your belief system) aligning just right on this very day we wouldn’t have one of the gruffest, baddest and most iconic men in movie history.
You owe him a massive debt of pop culture. Frankly, we need about 81 more years of him in order to balance out the bad stuff that seeps in, such as the glittery vampires and the overly waxed action heroes.
Hoist a beer to him (Eastwood’s preferred poison, I believe) and watch one of his movies tonight. Any one of them. And wish him a happy birthday, punk.
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My favorite thing about my own birthday is that I share it with Clint Eastwood.
This is a man even the manliest of men should not be ashamed to be in absolute awe of. Not in a swooning, hive-mind faint in a fit of ephebobeatlemania sort of way, but rather more like the mindset of men both inspired and manipulated to mad acts of bravery by someone such as Leonidas of Sparta or General George S. Patton. Besides both on- and off-screen badassery, Mr Eastwood became one of the most renowned and respected (and some would say greatest) directors in modern cinema and even dabbled in politics. Heck, if he pursued it he could have probably become the United States’ first president for life (unless you count FDR, and I don’t).
I saw him in person a couple of years ago and for the first and probably only time in my life felt physically intimidated by an 80 year-old man.
Thank you,Universe,for everything Eastwood. Even his tree talking and gold fever.
Sláinte! Not only did Mr. Eastwood’s movies keep the facist fires burning during those ‘hellish’ six years between Nixon and Reagan, he canned most of Reagan’s tag lines and foreign policy. Best of all I never had to hear his views on Jews, blacks, or women-beating outside of his films.
Jodie Foster never brought him a change of drawers either.
Happy Birthday Clint!
When I was a teen, the “Man With No Name“ character from “ A Fistful of Dollars“ maybe was the biggest inspiration or influence on how I want to carry myself as a grown-up man.
Judge that as you will, but his complete independence, his wit and total self-confidence left an impact on me.
And just for the record, I believe Eastwood created the PERFECT send-off for his on-screen persona (that, basically, stayed the same in every character he portrayed) with „Gran Torino“.
He is one of the last great icons of Hollywood (dammit I STILL miss Tony Curtis)
and I wish him many healthy and happy years to come
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