Exchange Praise

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Just spoke to a British journalist who's just come out of Clint Eastwood's The Exchange. "Absolutely first-rate," he said. "It's long" -- 141 minutes -- "but it's very strong, very moving. There's not a weak point in the entire film." Like Mystic River before, which also dealt with a missing child and the violations that result, The Exchange is a genre piece -- a kidnapping whodunit, set in 1928 -- but, the journo said, Eastwood mines the material for a good deal of "complexity and emotional depth."

Angelina Jolie, he emphasized, "is very, very good," he said. Ditto John Malkovich as an activist minister who helps Jolie's character, Christine Collins, uncover the truth of what's really happened to her kidnapped son. J. Michael Straczynski's script hammers the old-time LAPD for the corruption that was rife in that period, but "its much more of woman's film," the Brit emphasized. "And much more than what the plot suggests."

Eastwood "is amazing," he said. "He just keeps getting and better the older he gets. What is he...close to 80 now? I think he might pull of a Best Director win next weekend."

comment #1

p.Vice says ...

Eastwood is an out-of-touch dinosaur who as a director has made about 4 or 5 decent-quality films in as many decades. Long at 141 minutes? His last four or five pretentious pieces of crap have all run between 130 and 140-odd minutes. It's the same senile bullshit over and over...

comment #2

ZacharyTF says ...

I'm pretty sure 99.9% of directors would love to have the following films on their resume:

Bird
Unforgiven
A Perfect World
Bridges of Madison County
Mystic River
Million Dollar Baby
Flags of our Fathers
Letters from Iwo Jima

Eastwood is at the point now where I look as forward to his films as anything from Scorsese or Spielberg.

comment #3

diesel says ...

p.vice, you're a fucking idiot. half your remarks are pretentious bullshit, designed only to make you look hip, but the thing is, you're the only one who don't see the reverse effect.

comment #4

Jeffrey Kunze says ...

I give Eastwood so much credit. He really loves what he does, and it always shows.

comment #5

The Pope says ...

I think it was William Goldman who, in his book, Hype & Glory (appropriately enough about serving on the Cannes Jury), opined that had Coppola or Scorsese or Altman directed Bird, it would have been hailed as a masterpiece. I think it was with The Outlaw Josey Wales that Pauline Kael and Orson Welles began banging the drum.

... to your list ZachaeryTF, I'm with you on most of them... but I would like to suggest Honkytonk Man.

comment #6

Rich S. says ...

If nothing else, Eastwood must be considered one of the best directors of actors ever. How long did Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman wait for their Oscars? And Hilary Swank and Gene Hackman added their second statuettes to the mantle in Eastwood films.

Looks like Jolie may be the latest to benefit.

comment #7

The Pope says ...

One of the many, many things I really like about Clint is how he just gets on with the job. I think the less you know about a Cilnt movie UNTIL it is released, the better chance it is going to be good. Million Dollar Baby went into production AFTER The Aviator has wrapped... Mystic River no one said boo to until it was about to be relased... and remember back in thos halcyon pre-internet days when Unforgiven was an afterthought as far as the likes of Premiere magazine was concerned when it came to telling us what was going to hit in the summer of 92?
I just read Emanuel Levy (who I must admit is a bit hit and miss) but he gave The Changeling an A.
Mike Goodridge in Screen Daily says it will go all the way "from the Palais to the Academy Awards next March."

comment #8

Richardson says ...

I don't love everything Eastwood has done, and in fact really really disliked 'Million Dollar Baby' for a variety of reasons...

but the guy can sure make movies.

And that list should include 'High Plains Drifter' on it. A lot of folks would add 'Josey Wales' as well, so I wouldn't argue against it.

comment #9

mauberley says ...

No list of the great man's work is complete without "Play Misty For Me". We love you, Cleent! Bravo on what appears to be another triumph.

comment #10

Gaydos says ...

Dear Pope: I thought Kael detested Eastwood and railed against him. But I could be wrong. There is no Kael on my shelves. Please illuminate.

I will admit I hope this is the case as it would make her even more consistently wrong than I found her to be on a regular basis.

The FIRST person I ever heard rave about Eastwood's directing work was Paul Morrissey, who explained why that year's Eastwood, "Sudden Impact" was genius. I must admit I was skeptical, but if time hasn't necessarily proven the indisputable genius of that film, it sure has proven the worth of Eastwood-as-helmer.

It's the best late-career run since John Huston.

HOWEVER, his best work for me will always be in the service of Siegelini. DIRTY HARRY, BEGUILED, ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ; genius.

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