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2020: Clint Eastwood to Direct and STAR in a Movie at Age 90


Me, I was always hoping that this would happen:

Clint Eastwood has managed to maintain a career as a film director all through his 80's and he is now 90. He only occasionally has agreed to star in a movie in the last 15 years, but two of them were substantial hits: Gran Torino(2008) and The Mule(2018.)

Eastwood can probably direct well into his 90s, given his fitness and health. Bu the HISTORIC thing for Clint to do is to STAR -- over the title -- in a movie at age 90(or older.)

Comes now word that Clint intends to do just that: he will direct and star in a movie called "Cry Macho."

In these COVID-19 times, we can only hope that this movie gets made and Clint completes it as a star. If he does so, he will pretty much have beaten every single male movie star before him in staying "above the title and bankable" after age 90.

A few character guys(Ernest Borgnine, Eli Wallach) worked past 90, but not as over the title stars.

Meanwhile: James Dean died in his 20s. Steve McQueen died at 50. Bogart died at 57. Gary Cooper and Clark Gable died around age 60(a little more, a little less.) Cary Grant retired at 62(and lived about 20 more years.) Spencer Tracy died at 67. Burt Reynolds(Clint's peer for about a decade, but eventually not) died at 82. Gene Hackman, Sean Connery, and probably Jack Nicholson all retired in their 70's.

Nope..its Clint Eastwood who has the chance to make movie star history and headline a movie at 90(and unlike Pacino and DeNiro...he's done no TV , broadcast, cable or otherwise, since stardom hit.)

Its worth living through 2021 to see it!

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Definitely one the greatest and most productive careers in Hollywood history. I doubt anyone could have predicted this when he was on Rawhide in the early 1960s. He learned his craft well by watching efficient directors like Sergio Leone and Don Siegel. 71 acting credits and 41 directing credits (soon to be 72 and 42). Hats off to a legend!

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WOW. Great post.

I never realized that Cary Grant retired so young. One of his best movies(my very limited CG viewing experience) was made a couple of years before he retired. Charade (1963).

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I've been seeing "Charade" streaming lately, but didn't know if it was worth checking out. Now I'll have to, thanks!

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I wonder if Clyde the Orangutan is still alive. If he is, they should team up one more time.

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Nice post.

I was just looking to see if Clint had any new projects lined up. Oddly, there is no mention at all of this film on his IMDB page or his Wikipedia page. But I was able to find a few articles about it by searching for the title.

I really hope that Clint never retires. I just want him to keel over one day on set in the middle of shooting whatever his latest film is. That seems like a fitting end to me and something tells me he would agree. If he lives to be 100 then I want him to keep making movies all the way to the end. The film landscape will be less without him.

As you say, he's 90 years old, but hopefully he can hang in there with us for a little while longer.

I think we should also talk about other directors who continued to work into their later years. A few that come to mind for me include Robert Altman, whose A Prairie Home Companion was released the same year he died (2006). He was 81. Sidney Lumet also continued to work into his 80s, releasing Before the Devil Knows You're Dead in 2007. If my math is correct, he would've been 82 that year. Woody Allen has also continued to work into his 80s; Scorsese is 77 and shows no signs of stopping; and Spielberg is 72 and also doesn't look like he'll be calling it quits any time soon.

But Clint is clearly special. 90 years old and still going! What a legend!

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