jawfish

Clint and Arnold
john posted in politics & culture on January 16th, 2007

Who could have guessed that two movie icons would become interesting productive citizens in their old age?

I confess to being a fan of spaghetti-westerns, but not of the Dirty Harry series. The other Clint Eastwood roles blur in my memory, something about a chimp, for instance. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminator movies were fun, but I passed on the comedies. The early days of bodybuilding are pure camp. Neither showed signs of substance beyond bright lights and a cool stare.

Clint Eastwood Arnold Schwarzenegger

Then Eastwood quixotically took on the mayorship of Carmel, and Ahnold stormed in as the Gray Davis Usurper in the governorship. Neither start boded well. Eastwood gave up on city management and went back to movies, and Ahnold threw his celebrity around, did exactly what Davis would have done, and claimed to be ‘Kalifournyah’s’ savior. Stumping for Bush in Ohio, and palling around with Jay Leno failed to help him pass any legislation and his much-ballyhooed ballot initiatives went down in a storm of voter scorn.

That was before. As a non-supporter of Ahnold - that accent, that bodybuilding, that attitude, that waste of my money, worst of all that support for Bush who screwed California in the Enron electricity and gas swindle, I have to admit that he has come around. He has learned to work with a Democratic legislature, and to keep his distance from the nut-case Republican fringe. He has adopted a positive and risky leadership position on several tough issues, like Global Warming and health care. He has gotten the first set of big bond issues passed. His latest State of the State speech was much more statesmanlike than anything out of Washington, and quite formidable in its plan.

The Governator

Eastwood has somehow changed into an exceptional filmmaker, with Mystic River, Unforgiven, and Million Dollar Baby, all films with very strong scripts and emphasis on acting and character development. His two latest films, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters From Iwo Jima, are reported to be quite good, and have a very interesting double viewpoint about the battle for Iwo Jima, so necessary ( for the American effort) at the time and so wasteful for both sides. Coming from a guy who was, in some ways, the successor to John Wayne, the transition is remarkable.

The New Clint

Perhaps both men look good against the damning-with-faint-praise background of today’s business and political leadership, against the cheesy movie biz, and the universal publicity-whoring of the television. Let’s not let that take away our genuine admiration for learning from mistakes and taking big risks at an age when most guys are picking out Lazy-Boys. Imagine yourself a very wealthy and successful fellow in your later years, would you have the nerve and energy and chutzpah to make a big change and subject yourself to public ridicule?

References:

Eastwood interviewed by Terry Gross