10 Best Clint Eastwood Movies of All-Time

In his role as Private Kelly in a 1970 movie titled Kelly’s Heroes, Eastwood proved himself to be a real actor with the range to step out of the good guy persona he was known for. Although the movie satirizes the military and is a world apart from Eastwood’s usual working style, it’s a fun change of pace and shows Eastwood’s range. And with $5,200,000 at the Domestic Box Office, Eastwood had produced one of his best movies with that amount of exposure.

The Clint Eastwood-directed 1971 movie Play Misty for Me was an apex event in his career. It was his first project as a director, the first of what became many. Play Misty for Me, which was not one of Eastwood’s usual genres, is one of the best mysterious and romantic thrillers going. He depicted the role of a radio DJ, whom Evelyn excitedly chased all over the town (Jessica Walter).

Interesting fact: Eastwood became mayor of the city of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, where this movie was shot. Considering its ’71 release, this movie has earned a position of number 7411 at All-Time Worldwide Box Office with $10,600,000.

Unforgiven launched Eastwood’s unlikely comeback as an Academy Award favorite, and he went on to win both the Best Picture and the Directors’ Guild awards. Although Eastwood’s cinematography received most of the accolades at the time, his performance in this movie is just as outstanding.

Eastwood embodies the seedy underbelly of the Old West as Will Munny, a former outlaw clinging on to life on the straight and narrow, in Unforgiven, a movie that deals with the aftermath of bloodshed. With over 2 hours of running time, the movie’s opening grossed $15,018,007 and  $159 million overall.

This drama is about Frank Morris’s escape from the famed San Francisco prison. Clint Eastwood, who plays the role of Morris, is the only person who challenges the baddest jail in the world. The final act of this movie takes you through the attempt to escape and evade arrest by Morris and his friends. It is fun to watch an all-time great. The movie earned 43,005,351 dollars gross worldwide with an investment of $8,000,000.

This movie set itself apart in the action comedy genre, starring Eastwood as boxer Philo Beddoe. The movie is almost equally popular with both audiences and critics, with Eastwood’s uncommon decision to make an orangutan his sidekick possibly being the main attraction.

While Eastwood’s comedic timing was on full display, the movie also had touching moments demonstrating his immense acting talent. Despite its almost parody-like tone, both Every Which Way but Loose and its 1980 sequel, Any Which Way You Can, are among Eastwood’s highest-grossing movies ($320 million and over $230 million, respectively).

Dirty Harry, released in 1971 and starring Clint Eastwood as the stern Detective Harry Callahan, is one of Eastwood’s most renowned movies. Eastwood’s portrayal of Callahan, an antihero with contradictory values, was one of his most successful.

Dirty Harry is a great cops-and-killers movie, with director Don Siegel capturing Eastwood’s tough guy aura perfectly on screen. With a budget of $4 million, the movie earned $36 million, which was astonishing at the time.

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot tells the story of a bank robber who with the help of a young misfit gets his old gang back together for a new heist. Eastwood lets Jeff Bridges shine in this entertaining and touching movie. This 70s Money Heist vibe movie made $25,000,000 on All-Time Worldwide Box Office and was a success.

Eastwood’s “Blondie” is the Western antihero with a poncho, six-shooters, and moral ambiguity. This massive, crazy homage to the John Wayne and John Ford movies is the actor’s finest work with Leone. Even though it has been copied many times, the original is still unrivaled in its savagery and originality (the movie climax is the best gunfight ever). And it is Eastwood, with his sun-kissed look, who captivates the camera and gives a performance that will be remembered for generations.

Generally regarded as one of the best Westerns of all time, the third installment of the “Dollars trilogy” stars Clint Eastwood’s gunfighter as “the Good” by default, alongside Lee Van Cleef’s black-clad “Bad” and Eli Wallach’s charismatically immoral “Ugly.” They are determined to find a lost treasure trove of Confederate wealth and will not allow the Civil War to derail their pursuit. The movie culminates in the longest, most intense confrontation ever shot in cinema. The picture was a smashing hit with nearly $38 million worldwide.

The Spaghetti Western was born in 1964 with this groundbreaking Italian-Spanish coproduction, filmed with Sergio Leone’s characteristic pulp fervor and inspired by Kurosawa’s work. And it catapulted Clint Eastwood to legendary status.

His hat, poncho, grizzly beard, short cigar, and eyes continually screwed up—as if looking into the sun or concealing a grin of incredulous disgust—depict his horrifying, abrupt maturation in this movie. When compared to the blander Rawhide-style westerns that had taken over television, The Man With No Name and the savage Dollars movies were a tremendous slap in the face.

In a rumored contract, Eastwood stipulated a pay of $15,000 for his role as the lead in A Fistful of Dollars. Eastwood received much more money due to the movie’s unexpected success in Italy, resulting in a substantially larger budget for the sequel. The movie is said to have made between $14 million to $19 million, which was a big success according to 1964 standards.

Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar Baby” is a genuine, deep, and realistic masterwork. The narrative protagonists are an elderly fight trainer and a country girl with boxing aspirations. However, this is not a boxing movie; it follows the life of a boxer. Frankie, played by Eastwood, is a boxing trainer and poet in Los Angeles. Maggie, played by Hilary Swank, is a waitress from southwest Missouri. She started working at 13 and views boxing as a lifelong escape from her job.

Even Rotten Tomatoes gives this movie a solid  90% Fresh rating. The movie won 4 Academy Awards for Best Director to Eastwood, Best Picture, Best Actress, and Best Supporting Actor. The movie grossed a total of $216.8 million worldwide.