Clint Eastwood Still Riding High

Feb. 8, 2007 — -- He may be 76 years old, but he behaves as if he's still one of the young Turks of Hollywood.

Hot on the heels of winning the best director and best picture Oscars for "Million Dollar Baby," Clint Eastwood didn't rest on his laurels.

In 2006, he released two epic films about World War II -- one from the American perspective, one from the Japanese -- and though the double project has long generated industry buzz, it's the latter that has proved surprisingly strong.

"Letters From Iwo Jima" earned Eastwood his fourth double nomination for best picture and director, but this one certainly seems the most unlikely: "Letters From Iwo Jima" is not only a Japanese-language film about a former U.S. enemy, but it was shot in half the time and with a fifth the budget of its sister film, "Flags of Our Fathers."

Both movies shatter conventional thinking and challenge our beliefs about violence and war. In "Flags," Eastwood digs hard into the glorification of our heroes; in "Letters," Eastwood probes the heart of the enemy.

The films, Eastwood says, are not anti-American, but anti-war.

"War is not mankind's most noble effort, and we should try to cure it," he said.

The films mark the latest move in Eastwood's extraordinary arc from one of film's most violent vigilantes to an eloquent advocate for peace.

Eastwood started out as the tough guy's tough guy, starring in the "Rawhide" television series and "spaghetti Westerns."

But he earned his immortality more than 20 years ago as "Dirty Harry" Callahan with just five words: "Go ahead. Make my day."

The line from 1983's "Sudden Impact" is No. 6 on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest movie quotes of all time. It even became the defiant cry of conservative president Ronald Reagan, as a challenge to opponents who wanted to raise taxes.

For many, Eastwood's Dirty Harry character is one that still resonates. But Eastwood's wife, Dina, once said that Eastwood in real life was actually closer to Robert Kinkade, the sensitive photographer he played opposite Meryl Streep in "The Bridges of Madison County."