Tough Ain't Enough

New Perspectives on the Films of Clint Eastwood

Edited by Lester D. Friedman and David Desser

Rutgers University Press

Throughout his lengthy career as both an actor and a director, Clint Eastwood has appeared in virtually every major film genre and, at this point in his career, has emerged as one of America’s most popular, recognizable, and respected filmmakers. He also remains a controversial figure in the political landscape, often characterized as the most prominent conservative voice in mostly liberal Hollywood. At Eastwood’s late age, his critical success as actor and director, his combative willingness to confront serious cultural issues in his films, and his undeniable talent behind the camera all call for a new and comprehensive study that considers and contextualizes his multiple roles, both on and off screen. Tough Ain’t Enough offers readers a series of original essays by prominent cinema scholars that explore the actor-director’s extensive career. The result is a far-reaching and nuanced portrait of one of America’s most prolific and thoughtful filmmakers.

The editors have assembled a diverse group of scholars and turned them loose to make sense of the vast array of contradictions that is Clint Eastwood. This is a unique and extraordinary collection with not a weak chapter in it. Dennis Bingham, author of Whose Lives Are They Anyway?: The Biopic as Contemporary Film Genre

Chronicle of Higher Education 'New Scholarly Books' Weekly Book List, August 31, 2018,' compiled by Nina C. Ayoub Chronicle of Higher Education

Highly recommended.' Choice

LESTER D. FRIEDMAN is a professor emeritus of the Media and Society Program at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva, New York. He is the author or editor of over twenty books, including Monstrous Progeny: A History of the Frankenstein Narratives (Rutgers University Press).

DAVID DESSER is an emeritus professor of cinema studies and comparative and world literatures at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He has written and edited eleven books, including The Cinema of Hong Kong: History, Arts, Identity.

Chapter 1: The Teller and the Tale: An Introduction to the Films of Clint Eastwood
Lester D. Friedman and David Desser
Part I: Crosscurrents
Chapter 2: “I Don’t Want Nobody Belonging to Me”: Riding the Post-Leone Western
Stephen Prince
Chapter 3: “God/Country/Family:” The Military Movies
Lester D. Friedman
Chapter 4: “A Man’s Got to Know His Limitations”: The Cop Films from Nixon through Reagan
Jonathan Kirshner
Chapter 5: “I’m Not So Tough”: Melodrama and Performance in the Later Films
Diane Carson
Chapter 6: “Heroes are Something We Create: The Biopics”
David Sterritt
Part II: Controversies
Chapter 7: “I Am a Camera”: Clint Eastwood’s Performative Gaze
Murray Pomerance
Chapter 8: “You ain’t ugly like me; it’s just that we both got scars”: Women in Eastwood’s Films
Lucy Bolton
Chapter 9: “I know I'm as blind as a slab of concrete, but I'm not helpless”: Eastwood and the Aging Action Hero
David Desser
Chapter 10: “Seems like we can’t trust the White Man”: The Theater of Race in and out of Eastwood’s Films
Alexandra Keller
Chapter 11: Play Music for Me: Eastwood’s Film Scores
Charity Lofthouse
Acknowledgments
Notes on Contributors
Index

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