Clint Eastwood dominated the genre for decades, but what are his best action sequences? Eastwood may not be counted alongside the likes of Sylvester Stallone or Dolph Lundgren, but a look at his filmography displays a wealth of action experience.
From the Dirty Harry franchise to his final “lawman” role, Blood Work, he was rarely framed without a giant revolver in hand. In a way, Eastwood’s 1970s work helped shape where action movies went in the decades ahead. Films like The Gauntlet or The Enforcer put an increasing emphasis on bigger shootouts, chases and snappy quips.
Eastwood’s screen persona was well-suited to those kinds of parts, too. He was always in great shape (even in his later years), and his terseness with words and iconic squint made him a magnetic presence. As both director and actor, Eastwood also had a gift with hard-hitting setpieces, be they a car chase or an old-fashioned punch-up.
Magnum Force (1973) – The Palancio Raid
This Dirty Harry sequel greatly upped the action quota, and it’s rare for ten minutes to pass without some type of action beat. The highlight comes around the midway point, where Harry leads a team of officers to lead a raid on a gangster named Palancio. Sadly, Palancio gets tipped off by an anonymous source, and a raging firefight ensues.
Magnum Force director Ted Post stages this raid with stark intensity, opening with a shocking shotgun blast and climaxing with Harry on the hood of an escaping car. This bullet-riddled raid feels like an early blueprint for Heat’s bank robbery shootout, and is on a much bigger scale than anything found in the first Dirty Harry.
The Gauntlet (1977) – Running The Gauntlet
Eastwood directed The Gauntlet in addition to starring as a loser cop tasked with escorting an important witness. Along the way, they escape various deathtraps, including a house that’s literally demolished by gunfire, an attack by bikers, and a helicopter sniper. The film sold itself on its outrageous setpieces, with Clint saving the best for last.
This sees Eastwood and Sondra Locke’s Gus driving a heavily armored bus through a “gauntlet” of armored officers. While it might stretch credibility real thin, the duo survives another wave of gunfire to reach their destination, and the whole scene is delightfully over the top.
Firefox (1982) – “Boy, Is This A Machine”
Firefox plays like a Metal Gear Solid movie, where Eastwood’s pilot has to stealth his way into the Soviet Union to steal an experimental aircraft. The film was intended to be a major blockbuster, but despite ending its run with a respectable gross, it was roundly criticized for moving far too slow in the first half.
Firefox’s second act kicks things up a gear when the titular craft is stolen, and Eastwood is pursued by hostile forces. There’s a particularly great scene that shows off the plane’s incredible speed, where it not only outruns multiple missiles, it knocks an enemy helicopter out of the air, causing it to explode.
Where Eagles Dare (1968) – Schaffer Holds Off The Nazis
Where Eagles Dare feels like the closest thing there is a Wolfenstein movie. Like Firefox, it moves slow in its first half, setting up the central mission to an isolated German fortress in Bavaria. Once things have gone to hell, the film is basically non-stop action until the finale, as Richard Burton and Clint’s spies mow down hordes of Nazis.
This includes an extended setpiece where Eastwood’s Schaffer holds off a horde of soldiers by himself. Clint dual-wields submachine guns, casually tosses back grenades thrown his way and wryly smirks at a soldier before cutting him down. It’s not realistic, but Clint has rarely looked cooler onscreen.
Sudden Impact (1983) – “Go Ahead, Make My Day”
“Go ahead, make my day” is Dirty Harry’s most famous quote, but it’s often wrongly attributed to the first outing. Instead, it comes from an early action scene in the fourth movie, where Harry unknowingly walks into the middle of a diner robbery. This results in a tense standoff between the gruff detective and the would-be thieves.
Sudden Impact is the only Dirty Harry sequel directed by Clint Eastwood himself.
After giving them an ultimatum to give up, Harry introduces three of them to his .44 Magnum, before staring down the surviving member. Despite hiding behind a hostage, all Harry has to do is cock his revolver and hiss his iconic line before the thief realizes that surrendering would be the polite thing to do.
The Rookie (1990) – The Freeway Chase
The Rookie was Clint’s swing at a Lethal Weapon-style buddy comedy. While it has some great action, its oddly mean-spirited tone and lack of any real laughs are a big issue. Nonetheless, the action thriller opens on a doozy of a setpiece, where Clint’s violent detective chases a truck loaded with cars down a freeway.
Desperate to get Clint’s cop off their tail, the thieves start offloading cars onto the freeway. While Bad Boys 2 has a similar chase, Clint’s is superior because it’s all practical and real. It’s a crunchy, visceral little chase, and unfortunately, the early highlight of The Rookie itself.
The Eiger Sanction (1975) – Cutting The Rope
The Eiger Sanction was based on a James Bond parody novel, but the resulting adaptation feels like Clint didn’t quite understand it was a comedy. Thus, it’s loaded with off-putting, non-PC humor and silly spyjinks, but if nothing else, the final act features some harrowing climbing sequences.
The most stomach-churning involves Clint’s Hemlock climbing up a steep section of the Eiger with his climbing party. In short order, two members slide to their deaths, and Hemlock is left dangling by a rope. However, Hemlock soon has to cut his own lifeline to get pulled to safety in a truly nail-biting moment.
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) – Ambushing The Ambush
The Outlaw Josey Wales is one of Eastwood’s best Westerns, and a perfect mix of pulp adventure and anti-war fable. The opening sees the Confederate pals of Eastwood’s Josey being tricked into surrendering to Union forces, only to get machine-gunned to death. Spotting this ambush from a distance, Josey decides to intervene.
He soon takes command of the mounted gun and starts massacring the Union forces himself. Eastwood’s staging of this Outlaw Josey Wales shootout is impeccable, and despite the inherent implausibility of one man holding off so many soldiers, it’s so thrilling that audiences won’t be questioning the logic on initial viewing.
Dirty Harry (1971) – Harry Vs Scorpio
While “Dirty” Harry and vicious serial killer Scorpio (Andrew Robinson) face off twice before Dirty Harry’s finale, their final meeting is the most important. When Scorpio takes a school bus hostage, Harry decides enough is enough and intervenes directly. He jumps on the roof of the captured bus, forces it to stop and chases Scorpio into a quarry.
They take potshots at one another, leading to a standoff with a hostage. Harry ends up wounding Scorpio to allow the boy to escape, and then gives another, darker rendition of his iconic “Do you feel lucky?” speech. Scorpio does feel lucky – but it turns out he shouldn’t.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) – The Mexican Standoff
Possibly the most famous sequence in Eastwood’s entire career comes from the ending of The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This sees Eastwood’s “Man with No Name,” Lee Van Cleef’s Angel Eyes and Eli Wallach’s Tuco face off in a cemetery, with each man waiting for someone to draw first.
Sergio Leone’s use of close-ups and editing, combined with Ennio Morricone’s superb score, makes this the ultimate movie standoff. Sure, the outcome is obvious, but this duel is easily Clint Eastwood’s most impactful shootout and one of the most cinematic showdowns ever filmed.
- Birthdate
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May 31, 1930
- Birthplace
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San Francisco, California, USA
- Professions
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Actor, Director, Producer, Composer
- Height
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6 feet 4 inches
