Over at Esquire there’s an interview with Clint Eastwood, and I just had to post some excerpts here. This has been a rough year for Hollywood in regards to the passing away of some awesome actors and directors from an earlier era. An era before political correctness and sensitivity training ruled the day.
We’ve lost the likes of old greats like Roy Scheider, Charlton Heston, Paul Newman and Sydney Pollack (among many others). And I’m already dreading the day we lose Clint Eastwood.
In my brief and utterly inadequate eulogy of Roy Scheider, I took some heat for saying:
Roy Scheider was one of a now dwindling number of “man’s man” actors. Tough guys who drank whiskey, smoked cigarettes, had craggy facial features and wouldn’t be caught dead in the same room with a metrosexual.
To me, the few comments I received about that exemplified exactly the sort of thing Clint Eastwood said in a recent interview. I’m going to break my rule of no profanity on the site so that his comments come across as he intended. Clint is 93 years old now (and still looks like he could kick anybody’s ass), and he had a few things to say about society, or people in general today:
“My father had a couple of kids at the beginning of the Depression. There was not much employment. Not much welfare. People barely got by. People were tougher then.”
“We live in more of a pussy generation now, where everybody’s become used to saying, “Well, how do we handle it psychologically?” In those days, you just punched the bully back and duked it out. Even if the guy was older and could push you around, at least you were respected for fighting back, and you’d be left alone from then on.”
“I don’t know if I can tell you exactly when the pussy generation started. Maybe when people started asking about the meaning of life.”
Amen, Clint. Amen.
Of course in today’s online world, people are “tough” behind their little keyboards – saying things to people who disagree with them that are so vile and reprehensible that they defy description. Of course this is done anonymously, behind some clever nickname and perhaps a fake email address.
But “real world” toughness? God forbid there’s a problem with someone’s iPod or they hit a “no cell reception” zone – it’s the end of the world. Oh, and as far as saying something vile to someone’s face? Highly doubtful – although they might say “yeah, I’d say it to your face!” Again, online and anonymously. 😎
God forbid the U.S. encounters any real hardship on a broad scale – I think most of us would fold like a house of cards.
Clint Eastwood directed and will star in Gran Torino, opening on January 9th – and you can bet your ass I’ll be seeing it (and reviewing it here).