"A man's got to know his limitations." Sage advice. Who said it? Confucius? Plato? Oprah? Try Harry Callahan, Clint Eastwood's alter-ego in 1973's Magnum Force. Eastwood, a two-time Oscar winner for Best Director (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) is still going strong at the ripe, young age of 83... and remains the coolest man on the planet in this writer's humble opinion. The quintessential American hero, Eastwood is our choice to receive a Lifetime of Achievement award at the upcoming Teacher's Pet Awards. Yes, Mr. Eastwood... you've finally won a Red Apple!
Eastwood joins distinguished company (Gene Hackman, Kirk Douglas and Christopher Lee) as past honorees. If there was a Mount Rushmore of great American actors, Eastwood would surely be on it (next to Marlon Brando & John Wayne, no doubt.) His broad appeal crosses many borders: His Spaghetti Westerns in the 1960's gained him international fame; while his five turns as "Dirty Harry" cemented his legendary status here in the States. He even turned down a chance to replace Sean Connery as James Bond. He's "Escaped from Alcatraz," travelled to outer space (Space Cowboys) protected Presidents (In the Line of Fire) and even had time to mentor Charlie Sheen in The Rookie. If you've never seen Gran Torino, shame on you: You absolutely have to meet Walt Kowalski, one of my favorite movie characters of all-time.
His career spans 50+ years; but Eastwood has only made 42 film appearances, in addition to his 8-year stint on TV's Rawhide. What he lacks in quantity, he more than makes up for in quality. He received Oscar nominations for Best Actor in the aforementioned Unforgiven & Million Dollar Baby; and his films have grossed a total of almost $1.75 billion domestically.
He served as Mayor of Carmel, California during the late 80's and gave us one of the most famous lines in cinematic history, "I know what you're thinking. "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?" We're all lucky to know Clint Eastwood. Keep rockin' Clint, and congratulations.
