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Topics: Film and TV, Hollywood
Ellie Kemp
Topics: Film and TV, Hollywood
Clint Eastwood has revealed the 'worst' movie he's starred in, which made him question his entire career.
Reassuring to know that even the greats have their moments, isn't it?
The 94-year-old, critically-acclaimed filmmaker has many strings to his bow: actor, producer, director, and even music composer.
He's perhaps best known for his directing, winning five Academy Awards and as many Golden Globe Awards for 1992 Western Unforgiven and 2004 sport drama Million Dollar Baby.
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Despite his illustrious career spanning six and a half decades, Eastwood very much nearly threw in the towel after fronting 'the worst movie ever made'.
Every director has their least favorite movies; Martin Scorsese regrets a movie he made with Leonardo DiCaprio, while Steven Spielberg cringes while watching a fan-favorite starring Robin Williams.
Eastwood's career low, however, came when he was 27 years old.
Attempting to make a name as an actor in the infamously cut-throat industry, he'd taken on a string of uncredited roles in B-list movies.
He thought his luck had changed after landing a supporting role alongside Hollywood legend Scott Brady.
Eastwood was cast as an ex-Confederate solider in the 1958 western movie Ambush at Cimarron Pass.
The movie, set in 1867, centers on bitter enemies who must join forces to survive.
Two former Confederate soldiers and a calvary sergeant must escort a prisoner through dangerous Native American land.
But the movie was so bad, it was dubbed 'the lousiest Western ever made' by both critics and Eastwood alike.
Reflecting on how quickly the movie was made, the American Sniper director told Hollywood Reporter: “It was probably the worst film ever made. But I had the second lead in it, and an actor named Scott Brady was the lead.
"And the film was made in eight days. So it was really el speedo grande.”
Going to see the movie in theaters is what really made Eastwood question his life.
He told the publication: “I went to see it, and I saw that film, and I said I’m through. I’ve got to go back to school. I’ve got to do something else. I’ve got to get a job of other sorts.”
Speaking to Crawdaddy Magazine, he recalled: “It was so bad I just kept sinking lower and lower in my seat. I said to my wife, ‘I’m going to quit, I’m really going to quit'.”
But fate dealt Eastwood a better hand. Not long after the film, he ran into a Universal producer and was eventually cast as Rowdy Yates in the 1958 CBS series Rawhide.
The series ran for seven years, cementing Eastwood as a western icon.
He then rose to international fame as 'Man with No Name' in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of Spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s, as well as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
The rest, as they say, is history...