The Top Directors Working Today: Clint Eastwood

Back when I talked about Pedro Almodovar I said "there are 3 major directors that I personally feel are highly overrated." Clint Eastwood is one of those three.

Eastwood has crafted some astonishing films, but I’ve too often found myself trapped in the theatre waiting for this old man to get to his point. He's great to his leads, who require little direction, but often abandons his supporting cast. (No better example of this than the gym rats and Swank’s family in Million Dollar Baby.) And his stubborn refusal to be stylish is maddening.

I’m impressed that, at his age, he helmed 2 major Iwo Jima pictures. I was not impressed with the films themselves.

According to the poll on Filmspotting.net... he's on his way, but quite a few remain unconvinced.

11% think he's a Legend working at the top of his game.
11% think he's usually Great and certainly one of our Best Directors.
33% think he's solid and sometimes Great.
26% don't think he's bad, just a bit overrated.
19% don't understand why everyone loves his work so much.

I have a lot of respect for him, especially his Westerns, a genre in which he really is the last great director.
-sdedalus

Considering he's made two masterpieces (Unforgiven and , yes, Million Dollar Baby), even taking his misfires into account I can't consider him overrated.
-gateway

The film's he's been making from Mystic River to present have been very top-notch, solid films at their finest. He's clearly on the top of his game.
-The Void99

He is the definition of solid, but I just can't get excited about his films. But he's unlikely to make a stinker.
-Marquis Wowser of Lancashire

Unlikely to make a stinker? Did you watch ANY of his films between Unforgiven and Mystic River? Garden of Good and Evil. True Crime. Absolute Power. Bloodwork. Space freaking Cowboys. Awful, to a film.
-terroristfistjab