If you’re looking for prestige, Clint Eastwood will give you Unforgiven. If you’re in the mood for a gripping thriller to kill a Sunday afternoon, Eastwood has you covered with Absolute Power. The release of the searing revisionist Western in 1992 was a watershed moment for Eastwood, who was finally recognized by the Academy Awards, winning Best Director and Best Picture. After establishing credibility as an auteur with thoughtful reflections on violence and the anti-hero, Eastwood, as an actor and director, took daring risks and explored new realms, evident by his follow-up films, the moody road-trip drama, A Perfect World, and The Bridges of Madison County, which showed his unprecedented romantic side. As a safety net, he could always count on films like Absolute Power, which reminded audiences of his innate movie star charm and exceptional craft as an entertainer. The film was also a reunion with his Unforgiven co-star Gene Hackman, providing his usual magnetic and sinister presence.
‘Absolute Power’ Comments on the Distrust of the American Government
Absolute Power, a movie about an aging career thief, Luther Whitney (Eastwood), who witnesses President Alan Richmond (Hackman) commit adultery and cover up the murder of his mistress by Secret Service agents, is a familiar milieu for Eastwood. Crime thrillers, from his Hollywood breakout in Dirty Harry to his turn as a tortured Secret Service agent in In the Line of Fire, are his bread and butter. When operating behind the camera, Eastwood preferred to challenge himself, pushing the Western genre to mythical heights in Pale Rider and deconstructing the music biopic with the story of Charlie Parker in Bird. Absolute Power is his chance to proverbially let his hair down and make a no-frills, riveting piece of entertainment. With a script by William Goldman and an all-star lineup of actors that includes Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Scott Glenn, Dennis Haysbert, and Judy Davis, the movie delivers the goods.
In all likelihood, no party involved in the production of Absolute Power envisioned the film as a prophetic text. A year after the movie, based on a novel by prolific suspense writer David Baldacci, depicting a fictitious president in an extramarital affair with Christy Sullivan (Melora Hardin) was released in 1997, the salacious Bill Clinton sex scandal in the Oval Office hit the front pages. Of course, Eastwood’s film takes the scandal to extremes by using the president’s fling as a ploy for a murder conspiracy, but textual connections to real-life presidencies are inevitable.
Hackman’s corrupt and disreputable commander in chief belongs to the post-Richard Nixon climate, where the American public is innately suspicious of the discreet Presidential powers behind the closed doors of the White House. The film’s title indicates the dystopian reality of the presidential office and that the person inside the Oval Office supersedes justice and due process. Judy Davis’ Gloria Russell, Richmond’s chief of staff, is the sinister mastermind behind the cover-up. She embodies a caricature of women in power who are ruthless and deadset on obtaining power. Eastwood’s Achilles Heel as a director is his reliance on broad, over-the-top villainous women to amplify the stakes — later seen with Margo Martindale and Olivia Wilde’s characters in Million Dollar Baby and Richard Jewell, respectively.
Clint Eastwood Channels Hitchcock Thrillers in ‘Absolute Power’
Clint Eastwood, an expeditious filmmaker on set, directs Absolute Power with a tight grip despite an intricately plotted script by William Goldman, the writer of All the President’s Men and Marathon Man. (Goldman is certainly no stranger to political scandal.) Following the riveting opening heist, showing Whitney performing a rudimentary job while inadvertently becoming a key witness to a murder and a prime suspect, the narrative undergoes a series of twists and turns. Whitney, instead of fleeing the country, decides to pursue justice after seeing President Richmond on television commiserating with the widower Walter Sullivan (E.G. Marshall), a major financial supporter and oblivious to the President’s complicity in his wife’s murder.
The look of disgust on Eastwood’s face as the President’s two-faced nature washes over him is pure Eastwood, evocative of the searing glare of The Man With No Name in the Dollars trilogy. The detective in charge of the case, Seth Frank (Harris), knows Whitney’s rap sheet, but he believes his innocence concerning Christy’s murder. While cooperating with Secret Service agent, Burton (Glenn) to bring down the President, Whitney, framed for the murder, becomes the target of assassins hired by Sullivan. Whitney’s estranged daughter, Kate (Linney), is surveyed and threatened by forces orchestrating the cover-up.
Clint Eastwood’s thriller channels the oeuvre of Alfred Hitchcock. The wrongfully accused man, criminals on the run, and an ominous conspiracy are essential Hitchcockian traits. Where Eastwood cribs most from the Master of Suspense is in the elaborate thriller set pieces, including the opening heist, the sniper shootout at the outdoor café, the attempt on Kate’s life in the hospital, and the subsequent takedown of the assassin, Collin (Haysbert), by Whitney. Eastwood crafts these scenes precisely, laying out the stakes and geography of each set piece economically without rushing the suspense. Slowly drawing out the intensity of each beat of a set piece was integral to Hitchcock’s vision, and Eastwood followed suit. He packs micro-moments of suspense within the macro scope of the café shootout, such as when Whitney’s clothes are left on the ground amid the chaos, and we cut to him dressed in a police uniform, surreptitiously escaping the scene.
Clint Eastwood Brings Levity to His Political Thriller
No cinematic artist has had as many swan songs or career reflections as Clint Eastwood. By 2021, when he starred in and directed another Western about an aging cowboy in his last hurrah in Cry Macho, the character archetype played like a punchline. He’s fascinated by his on-screen image and cultural legacy without any vanity. When Absolute Power was released, only five years after Unforgiven, Eastwood aggressively confronting his image as a violent anti-hero was a novelty. In Unforgiven, aging was a curse for Will Munny, as getting old forced him to confront his internal demons. Eastwood approaches these concerns with a more affable touch in Absolute Power. For such a dark thriller, the film has an unexpected sense of humor, as Whitney often cracks jokes about his old age — even making a crack about AARP in one instance. Amid the sinister political scandal, Eastwood’s self-deprecating charm provides refreshing levity.
Compared to the deeply personal films that preceded it, the premise of Absolute Power suggests that Eastwood was selling out to make a cheap genre picture. However, with its sincere reflection on aging and a father’s estranged relationship with his daughter, the Eastwood stamp is all over this film. Kate’s memory of her father during childhood is of him behind prison bars. Her distant connection to Whitney seems as if it would be personal to Eastwood, a figure with multiple romantic partners who fathered many children with these women. This thematic element encapsulates the success of Absolute Power, as it is a basic thriller elevated to the highest order by top talent. Clint Eastwood plays a weathered criminal. Gene Hackman plays a shady politician. The best character actors around steal scenes left and right. What else could you ask for?