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Victor Maccharoli- Clint Eastwood gets interviewed by the press as he walks down the red carpet Thursday night at the Arlington Theater to get the Lucky Brand Modern Master Award.

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Eastwood honored at festival

By COLBY FRAZIER — Jan. 30, 2009

Say the name Clint Eastwood and a flash of images will appear: the gun-wielding cop in “Dirty Harry,” a lean and rough cowboy in countless westerns — also with a gun — a special agent for the American president, a gun there too, or maybe in the corner of a boxing ring, dabbing the blood from a fighter’s split lip.

That grimace, that .44-caliber Magnum, the most tender of moments, and the most hardened. And perhaps most notably, that ability to not only act, but to direct and thrive in both seats at the same time.

That’s Eastwood. And one would be hard pressed to find a soul in the sold-out Arlington Theater who disagrees, even Sean Penn.

“There’s simply nobody better,” said Penn, who presented Eastwood with the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Modern Master Award. “He does what politics should do; he makes us proud.”

Few actors have matched Eastwood’s body of work. In fact, most would say no one has.

Leonard Maltin, the film festival’s go-to-guy for on stage interviews, kicked the night off with a disclaimer, urging the crowd to not overreact if he didn’t touch on every aspect of Eastwood’s storied resume.

“Maybe we’ll do a whole week some time,” he said. “Then maybe we’ll have a shot at it.”

When Eastwood, 78, walked onto the stage, a spotlight shining the way, a woman yelled, “You’re hot.”

Maltin said he could only hope that when he reaches that age, he’ll have as much luck.

“I tell people I’m 78,” Eastwood replied with a straight face. “I’m really only 38.”

With that, Maltin began churning through Eastwood’s career, starting pretty much from the beginning.

Back in the early 1960s, Eastwood said he had no idea what the future held, but rather, he was just happy to work.

“I didn’t envision anything,” he said. “I took any job that would come along.”

Making $75 a week, Eastwood continued doing small parts until he fell into the role of Rowdy Yates in the television series “Rawhide.”

During the season recess, Eastwood said he’d go to Europe where he worked with director Sergio Leone on “A Fistful of Dollars.”

But when he returned for another season of “Rawhide,” the work he’d been doing in Europe hadn’t been released yet in the states due to legal issues, he said.

When those films did start screening domestically, Eastwood arrived at the forefront of American cinema.

Maltin recalled seeing Eastwood in Leone’s films for the first time: “It was like somebody slapping you in the face and saying ‘look at this,’” he said.

Eastwood said Leone’s films so different, few, if any American directors would have dared take them on.

In a scene from “For a Few Dollars More,” the sequel to “A Fistful of Dollars,” Eastwood steps goes toe-to-toe with a rival, and steps on the man’s toes. The man returns the gesture, and Eastwood slugs him in the face.

As the man moves to retrieve his hat, Eastwood shoots it. Then, Eastwood shoots it again, and again, and again, until finally his revolver is out of range.

The other man places his hat on his head and pulls out a gun twice as big as Eastwood’s, and shoots the hat off his head. Before Eastwood’s hat can hit the ground, the man shoots it repeatedly, propelling the beaten hat into the air.

“Sergio had some good ideas,” Eastwood said. “I just thought this is great. I’m going to fly with this. What the hell?”

With “Dirty Harry,” Eastwood said he read the script and said to himself, “I like this guy.”

While much of Eastwood’s early career had him entangled in rough and tumble westerns, he said he never wanted to be painted into one particular genre.

Eastwood also said he enjoys making statements with his films.

As “Dirty” Harry Callahan, Eastwood said he related to the character’s frustration with bureaucracy, though he admitted, to many fans’ disappointment, he wasn’t anything like Callahan.

In “The Beguiled,” Eastwood plays an injured civil war soldier who’s good with the ladies. He said he took to the role because it showed the “sickness of War.”

“The Beguiled” also marked Eastwood’s directorial debut.

Since then, 1971 to be exact, Eastwood has gone on to direct more than 30 films, including a recent string that includes the likes of “Letters from Iwo Jima,” “Changeling,” “Mystic River,” “Million Dollar Baby,” “Flags of Our Fathers,” and most recently, “Gran Torino.”

Eastwood has also starred in many of these films, a double-duty he doesn’t recommend.

“It’s always better to have someone else” acting or directing, he said.

As an actor, Eastwood said he was able to let go of his inhibitions, advice he often gives to acting students.

From the director’s chair, Eastwood said he gives actors space and tries not to interfere with the flow.

“I respect what they’re doing and I want the best for them,” he said. “I like to see what they bring.”

For those who miss seeing Eastwood in a cowboy hat, pistol on his side, it will take a script better than that used to make “Unforgiven” to lure him back.

“I have no ambition to try and top that,” he said of the film that earned him two of his four Oscars.

Asked about his notoriously strong work ethic, Eastwood simply said he’s the kind of guy who agrees to finish a project by a certain date, do it for a set price, and on a handshake, does it.

Then, he moves on to something else, a characteristic movie lovers have come to appreciate and expect from Eastwood on a regular basis.

“I don’t like wasting time,” he said. “I like to just do the job and then move on.”

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