Daily Dirt: There’s nothing like a movie with that squint from Clint

By STEVE EIGHINGER

Daily Dirt for July 31, 2021
Go ahead, make my day. I’m in a Clint Eastwood kind of mood. I hope you enjoy Vol. 23 of the Daily Dirt.

1. One of my favorite movie stars, filmmakers and overall personalities is Clint Eastwood. From his early days on “Rawhide” to his spaghetti western era to “Dirty Harry” to “Gran Torino,” The Squint has certainly earned his icon status. These are my five favorite Eastwood films:

A. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976): This performance punctuated Eastwood’s role as a western-type hero, setting the stage for the arrival of the Dirty Harry era of his filmmakinbg.

B. All movies featuring police detective “Dirty Harry” Callahan: Dirty Harry, the GOAT when it comes to movie/TV cops. 

C. “The Bridges of Madison County” (1995): In many ways, this is an anti-Clint Eastwood film, one that deals more with emotions and relationships than it does with hard-core violence and R-rated scripts. And if someone would wish to argue this is his best film ever, I … couldn’t argue. Hats off to Meryl Streep. She was a perfect casting choice to pair with Eastwood.

D. “Gran Torino” (2008): This is arguably Eastwood’s finest performance in the latter half of his career. Eastwood’s character, Walt Kowalski, showed sides of the actor we had not seen before.

E. “The Unforgiven” (1992): This was Eastwood’s final western-themes effort, a film that arguably featured an extraordinary supporting cast anchored by Gene Hackman, Morgan Freeman and Richard Harris.

2. The varsityfun.com website created a list of what its editors call the “99 Best Snacks of All Time.” Any such list is, of course, rather volatile. The site’s top three snacks were all candy bar-esque picks: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Milky Ways and Butterfingers. Those are all solid choices, but for conversation sake, I would also throw in Kit Kats, Snickers and Nestle Crunches.

3. Most intriguing college sports nicknames? How about:
A. Evergreen State College Geoducks.
B. UC-Santa Cruz Banana Slugs.
C. Presbyterian Blue Hose.