Clint Eastwood was one of the biggest movie stars of the 1970s and had several career-defining roles throughout this decade. Coming off his huge success as The Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s film Dollar Trilogy During the 1960s, Eastwood did not slow down in the following decade, as he dedicated himself to action films, comedies, dramas and thrillers. With unparalleled on-screen charisma and a tough-guy reputation, Eastwood’s 1970s filmography could be the perfect summary of his entire career.
In the 1970s, Eastwood continued to play tough Western gunmen and even led a new franchise as Inspector Harry Callahan in the Dirty Harry series. While this decade had some extraordinary highs, it also featured several lows, as some comedies and action releases failed to make the same impact as his greatest works. A true icon of the 1970s and beyond, Eastwood even carved out a second career as a director during this time and was among the most impactful artists of the decade.
15
Every Way But Loose (1978)
Clint Eastwood as Philo Beddoe
Although the idea of an offbeat comedy starring Clint Eastwood and his pet orangutan named Clyde may sound like the contents of a strange fever dream, this was actually a real film released in 1978. As an interesting juxtaposition to Eastwood’s stern and serious persona in roles like The Man With No Name and Dirty Harry, there was something strangely engaging about the crazy antics seen in this strange story of love and revenge. While In every way but loose was the lowest rung of Eastwood’s work in the 1970s, the 1980 sequel Any way you can it was much worse.
14
The Challenge (1977)
Clint Eastwood as Detective Ben Shockley
Clint Eastwood directed himself in the action thriller The Gauntleta story about a helpless police officer in love with a prostitute. With Eastwood’s character accompanying his love interest from Las Vegas to Phoenix to testify against the mob, in a development that surprised absolutely no one, many characters do everything in their power to ensure they don’t get there alive. The Gauntlet It was silly and exaggerated. but it maintained a certain charm as a love it or hate it film.
13
The Eiger Sanction (1975)
Clint Eastwood as Agent C-2 Dr. Jonathan Hemlock
The Eiger Sanction saw Clint Eastwood play an art history professor, mountain climber and former assassin blackmailed by his secret government agency employers into returning for one last job. With a disappointing script and lackluster acting the most impressive thing about The Eiger Sanction were the picturesque visuals of his climbing scenes in the Swiss mountains. This Eastwood action film lacked the urgency of the star and director’s best work in the genre, but it still contained enough fun sequences to make it worth seeking out for those who love Eastwood’s unique action hero persona.
12
Joe Kidd (1972)
Clint Eastwood as Joseph Joe Kidd
Clint Eastwood had some incredible Western films from the 1970s, and one of the least talked about releases was Joe Kidd. This saw Eastwood portray a former bounty hunter hired to track down a Mexican revolutionary fighting for land reforms. As an incredible example of revisionist Western film, Joe Kidd took many of the tenets of classic western films that were taken for granted and delved into the morality behind them. While Eastwood had better Westerns before and after this one, Joe Kidd it was still an interesting addition to his Wild West filmography.
11
Kelly’s Heroes (1970)
Clint Eastwood as Kelly
The WWII heist movie Kelly’s Heroes starred Clint Eastwood as the leader of a team of American soldiers attempting to rob a French bank of your Nazi gold. As a groundbreaking war film that acted as a satire on modern military efforts, Kelly’s Heroes had a clever subtext imbued in its hybrid narrative that oscillated between a heist adventure and a battlefield action war movie. While some of the humor may not be up to current standards, Kelly’s Heroes was a witty, light-hearted adventure that highlighted Eastwood’s often underrated comedic talents.
10
The Executioner (1976)
Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan
In the third entry of Dirty Harry series, The Executionerthis franchise began to embrace its more comedic side with witty dialogue and high levels of violence. Inspector Harry Callahan was still an engaging antihero when he teamed up with a rookie inspector to take down a gang of terrorists made up of Vietnam veterans, but this remained the series’ weakest entry of the 1970s. Dirty Harry styles, despite the strong moments, this is where the series went from being really great to simply good.
9
Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970)
Clint Eastwood as Hogan
Clint Eastwood played gunslinger Hogan in Two Mules for Sister Sarah, a Western adventure set during the French intervention in Mexico. Like a Civil War soldier saving a nun from a gang of bandits, the unlikely partnership at the center of this film created an interesting story of mismatched Western friendship between Eastwood and Shirley MacLaine. This was the second of five films Eastwood made with director Don Siegel and Two mules for sister Sara it acted as a firm showcase of the duo’s artistic compatibility.
8
Play Misty for Me (1971)
Clint Eastwood as Dave Garver
Although Clint Eastwood’s career has been categorized by action films and westerns, it was interesting to note that his directorial debut was the psychological thriller Play Misty for me. Eastwood played a radio DJ being stalked by an obsessive fan in a suspenseful story that brought to mind the best of the genre, such as Alfred Hitchcock Psychopath. With an unstable villain at the center of its story, Play Misty for me was an anomaly in Eastwood’s career and an often underrated hidden gem among his acting and directing work.
7
Magnum Force (1973)
Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan
The second outing of Clint Eastwood’s independent cop Dirty Harry Callahan was Magnum Forcethe sequel that proved the franchise potential of this series. With Dirty Harry on the trail of a conspiracy involving vigilante cops killing San Francisco’s undesirables, Magnum Force deftly pulled back the curtain on the moment when taking matters into your own hands went too far, even for Callahan. With questionable morality at the center of this film’s story Magnum Force showed a new side to Harry’s violent nature.
Clint Eastwood as John “Thunderbolt” Doherty
Clint Eastwood and Jeff Bridges team up in Michael Cimino’s directorial debut, Thunderbolt and Lightfoota crime comedy about an undercover preacher unwittingly rescued from murder by a car thief. Like a funny crime comedy with the hard edge of a drama, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot balanced its contradictory nature as a story of muggings, shootings, and robberies. Although Eastwood and Bridges made an attractive duo, it must be admitted that Bridges stole the show and was even nominated for an Oscar for his incredible performance.
5
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Clint Eastwood as Frank Morris
The finale of Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel’s five films together was the prison thriller Escape from Alcatrazrecounting the true 1962 prisoner escape from the maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. With Eastwood as the escape leader, Frank Morris, this tense, claustrophobic thriller was a box office success and represented a high point in Siegel’s directing career. Eastwood exuded charisma in this masterfully elegant release which has truly stood the test of time and remains one of the best prison films ever made.
4
The Deceived (1971)
Clint Eastwood as Corporal John ‘McBee’ McBurney
The deceived it was a southern gothic western which incorporated elements of a psychological thriller to explore the story of a recovering Union soldier who wins the hearts of the women at a Confederate girls’ boarding school. Like a hypnotic Civil War drama, the women in The deceived they were complex because the film propagated a strange, schizophrenic air of repressed sexual hysteria. Although director Sofia Coppola leaned toward feminist themes of The deceived in his 2017 adaptation of Thomas P. Cullinan’s original novel Eastwood’s The deceived it was his most atypical film of the 1970s.
3
High Plains Drifter (1973)
Clint Eastwood as The Stranger
In his characterization of The Stranger in High Plains DrifterClint Eastwood echoed the antihero archetype he was best known for encapsulating as The Man With No Name in Sergio Leone’s film Dollar Trilogy. As a mysterious stranger meting out justice in a corrupt frontier mining town, High Plains Drifter It was the first Western film Eastwood directed, although his deep understanding of the genre was clear from beginning to end. Like a self-conscious presentation of a typical Eastwood Western hero, High Plains Drifter It was a self-aware film. with a distinct sense of humor.
2
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
Clint Eastwood as Josey Wales
Clint Eastwood’s greatest Western of the 1970s was the intensely violent triumph of Outlaw Josey Wales. Set during the American Civil War, this relentless tale of revenge saw Eastwood play the titular outlaw seeking revenge against the band of pro-Union Jayhawker militants who killed his wife and son. With nothing left to lose as anger and heartache drive his mission, Josey Wales’s devastation and innate need for revenge played like a powerful revisionist Western that explored the darker side of grief.
1
Dirty Harry (1971)
Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan
The meaningless characterization Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry helped spawn a new subgenre of action films about complicated cops who play by their own rules. With endless iconic quotes like “Do I feel lucky? Well, what about you, punk?”, Dirty Harry was a definitive release for Eastwood and his best film of the 1970s. Being the beginning of a franchise with five feature films Clint Eastwood would return to Harry more than any other character in his long and acclaimed career before retiring him for good in 1988.