Alternate Universe: Clint Eastwood as Bond in the 70's

Agent Lee

I've always loved Clint Eastwood (particularly for his turn as The Man With No Name in the Dollars trilogy, and for his own westerns) but never seriously entertained the idea of him as a good Bond, despite knowing he was considered for the role before Moore got it. But this week I watched some of the Dirty Harry movies for the first time, and I dunno, there was just something about watching Clint Eastwood walk around with a suit and a gun, doing urban action scenes, and spouting out one-liners that made me imagine an alternate 1970s were Eastwood HAD taken the role and been Bond for the entire decade. And I liked what I saw.

Imagine a series of 70s Bond films with Clint Eastwood as Bond, that took a turn back to the ambiance of the early films (DN, FRWL) with a healthy dose of the grit and violence of 70s action thrillers like Dirty Harry and The French Connection. Imagine these films directed by the likes of Don Siegel, William Friedkin, Steven Spielberg, and maybe even Eastwood himself.

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Moore and the light-hearted camp of Bond in the 70s, but imagining this alternate universe of gritty 70s Bond films starring Clint Eastwood just really gets me excited.

Barbel

I know what you're thinking (sorry, couldn't resist) but then we'd have been deprived of the glories of Eastwood's career as it turned out. Sure, he'd still have made some of the films he did but Bond responsibilities would've gotten in the road of the vital early 70s classics and successes he built his directorial career on and the path he took would have been a different one.

Gassy Man

Eastwood playing Bond would have been tonally wrong, which is why he's never played a Bond-like character. The closest he ever came was Hemlock in The Eiger Sanction, which is just all the other characters he played but with a Ph.D. and a turtleneck. Eastwood was a younger generation's existential version of John Wayne, without the baggage that comes from believing in anything. In the U.S., he took the western ideal further away from the cleancut confines of 1950s mainstream America and closer to the "redneck" territory of today's scruffy, amoral vagabond. Eastwood's one- or two-note performances would have worn thin as Bond.

Gassy Man

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEc1aEYmiA8

heartbroken_mr_drax

I think McGarnagle from The Simpsons was probably how good his Bond performance could've been: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Q35DsVCnwM

Oakvale

Barbel wrote:

I know what you're thinking (sorry, couldn't resist) but then we'd have been deprived of the glories of Eastwood's career as it turned out. Sure, he'd still have made some of the films he did but Bond responsibilities would've gotten in the road of the vital early 70s classics and successes he built his directorial career on and the path he took would have been a different one.

It's probably safe to say that he wouldn't have entered into politics, and therefore have given that awful speech at the RNC, meaning perhaps the 2012 election goes diff.... never mind, that's a matter for another thread.

In any case, I think it's important to remember that while Moore get's a bad rap now by some, his movies were successful and he was the right Bond for the "time". I'm sure the spectacle of seeing Eastwood, even if he is not as well known in this timeline of film, as Bond would be well noted and his first two (at best) Bond movies grossing fairly well, certainly better than LALD or TMWTGG.

I can't imagine him inhabiting the role for long, though, and I think there is the important question on if he would try a British accent (or if any American Bond actor would)? Can't see it.

superado

I'm against it and personally don't think he can convincingly deliver a British accent. Therefore, any shot for a plausible "what if" would necessitate an outright shift to Americanizing Bond, like how it was done for the CBS TV version of CR.

Leone mentioned that the Dollars trilogy had a Bond influence, starting with the credits and going on with the Man With No Name character development. To Leone's initial disapproval and against an actors conventional wisdom and insticts, Eastwood lobbied for lesser lines to provide more dimension; it worked, but more significantly for me that direction evokes the feel of Literary Bond.

Who knows? Maybe the conceptual leap for the public wouldn't be that jarring, with star power helping alleviate the shock. Going American was the decision the producers had already made only to be cancelled by Connery's return; maybe they identified some wisdom in such a move?

Oakvale

^I don't disagree with that, at all.

Also, if Eastwood were to be cast (which, by the way, would likely be very short lived, 2-3 movies at best), I'm sure it would make casting Americans as Bond more normal, so that might lead to some interesting effects long term.... George Clooney in 1995, anyone?

welshguy34

I cannot see it and would be against it. I am a big Eastwood fan but cannot see him playing a Brit. Moore is my least favourite Bond but I respect the job he did with the series and still enjoy his films.

HowardB

Clint would have made a good Felix Leiter. Not quite the Leiter of the novels personality-wise but with his screen presence good enough to make a Leiter spin-off series of his own.

Gassy Man

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CoolHandBond

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Mr Snow

HowardB wrote:

Clint would have made a good Felix Leiter. Not quite the Leiter of the novels personality-wise but with his screen presence good enough to make a Leiter spin-off series of his own.

As soon as I read that I thought of Jack Lord. I totally agree he (Eastwood) would have made a great Felix Leiter as did Jack Lord.

Jack Lord as we know went on to play Steve McGarrett in the brilliant series Hawaii Five-0. Clint Eastwood as well as Lord had good acting careers prior to James Bond and it makes me wonder (sounds like something from a Led Zeppelin classic ) who would have been the better Felix Leiter in Dr. No? I think six of one, half a dozen of the other.

A spin-off series with Eastwood as Leiter? In my opinion a definite yes.

welshguy34

HowardB wrote:

Clint would have made a good Felix Leiter. Not quite the Leiter of the novels personality-wise but with his screen presence good enough to make a Leiter spin-off series of his own.

Now this I do agree with. It would have been great if he had done Goldfinger and Thunderball.

HowardB

Back in '62 Eastwood would have jumped at the opportunity for a co-starring role in any decent movie. At that time Eastwood had gotten his first big break with the TV series Rawhide, which ran from 1959-1966. As far as feature films, Eastwood was pretty much a non-entity in the US until his first Italian Western, A Fistful of Dollars (actually filmed in '64) was finally released in the USA in 1967. Eastwood was paid $15,000 for Fistful so he would have surely welcomed the payday for a supporting role in a Bond film. How long Harry and Cubby could have kept Eastwood on as Leiter is another story. I'm guessing Thunderball would have been the end of it. It certainly would have been interesting if EON would have wanted to do a Leiter spin-off with Eastwood. It's possible that even Eastwood may have balked at doing a spin-off thinking that Leiter would be just the "American Bond". Interesting to ponder however. -{

Charmed & Dangerous

One of Eastwood's best early roles, in my opinion, is his turn as Lt Schaeffer in Where Eagles Dare. He handles a Walther PPK well and the WWII/ spy setting and Eastwood's lean presence in a military uniform evokes an early Pre-Casino Royale Literary Bond.

However Eastwood's co-star in the film, Richard Burton, is a much closer fit and it's easy to see why he was seriously considered for the role alongside Patrick McGoohan and others. Eastwood has the cool, saturnine good looks but not the demeanour of Bond.

superado

What I can't see Eastwood doing are those crash-edit fights and fast running, based on his lumbering, John Wayne style fights and the running he did in Dirty Harry, The Eiger Sanction, Firefox, Heartbreak Ridge and In the Line of Fire (though he was no spring chicken in the last 2). Of course they could have used stuntmen like they did for Roger Moore's running scenes, but the usual bag of tricks for fight scenes would seem so unlike Clint Eastwood's physicality.

HowardB

Where Eagles Dare is one of my favorite action films. The scene where Eastwood holds off a horde of German troops, at times firing two MP 40's at once is about as good as it gets. I have to think the famous action director, John Woo, famous for his incredible shootouts had to be influenced by that scene.

welshguy34

Where Eagles Dare is still one of the best war films made to this day. Eastwood was excellent as Schaeffer but as one of the above posters says it is Burton that resembles Bond more - OK, I am Welsh so could be a little biased - and would have made a good choice after Connery.

superado

On the Clint Eastwood Bond experiment, "Do me a favor, will you? Next time you have one of these things, keep it an all-British operation." -Lt. Morris Schaffer )

DC1888

He would have made a great Felix Leiter. Would have been great to see him work with Bond throughout the film.

Agent Lee

HowardB wrote:

Clint would have made a good Felix Leiter. Not quite the Leiter of the novels personality-wise but with his screen presence good enough to make a Leiter spin-off series of his own.

Yeah I like the sound of that

heartbroken_mr_drax

I do like the idea but I can't look past the fact that he's typecast as a moody, gruff, Vietnam vet style recluse. Unless you want to look at Paint My Wagon...