The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I have a long running history with this film. When we spent the weekends with my dad as a kid, he use to watch the most inappropriate movies. You know, the normal child's movies: Saving Private Ryan, The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, anything with guns and guts. So nostalgic.

Needless to say, Clint Eastwood haunted my dreams, until I was at least twelve.  He is portrayed as being somehow superior.  He is above the law. He is stronger than his adversaries. He is fearless and seems virtually immortal. Clint Eastwood's characters have embodied the ultimate man.

Eastwood in The Outlaw Josey Wales = TOO MUCH MAN

As the Man with No Name (Blondie), he is emotionless, even in times of great struggle (trudging through the desert without water for miles) and gives no signs of emotional weakness even when his mortal body is failing him. He always finds his way out of tough moments with the most flawless reactions (mostly bad-ass one liners) as if he had been planning his escape the entire time.

Clint Eastwood's characters are the man of all men.  They are frequently mean for the sake of being mean, superior to those around them and constantly prove this through their silent and competitive (survival of the fittest) nature. He doesn't need to entertain other's feelings or circumstance and doesn't think twice about the law in regards to himself.  He is the aura of all bad-assery that has a tiny soft side somewhere in his heart.

There is very little variation between the Clint Eastwood brand and Clint Eastwood the person as evident by his lifetime achievements of multiple baby mamas, a collection of Academy Awards, a mean golf swing, and an always furrowed brow.  His politics leave little room for compassion and he has no time for useless women in his life (he goes through them like crappy Dunkin' Donut's napkins). It's unclear whether his personality informed his career decisions or whether the myth of Clint Eastwood was even too much for his mortal self to bear.