Last Updated on February 28, 2024
As an actor and director, Clint Eastwood has been active in the movie industry for decades. He is best known for his rough-edged cowboy roles but he also acted in several entertaining comedy dramas. We wanted to present you with a smorgasbord that showcases this versatile actor’s best work. So, sit back and enjoy Clintwoood’s top movies from several genres as well as his best modern films and his oldest classics.
1. The Mule (2018)
IMDB Rating: 6.3/10
Earl’s interest in horticulture causes him to miss his daughter’s wedding, leading to them becoming estranged and eventually, his marriage also falls apart. Years later, Earl is alone and facing foreclosure, so when a cartel offers him a lucrative job as a drug mule he accepts.
Earl becomes the best mule that they have ever had and he uses the money to save his house. He also puts his granddaughter through college. But when the cartel gets a bloodthirsty new leader and the authorities close in, Earl risks execution and prison to reconcile with his family.
2. American Sniper (2014)
IMDB Rating: 7.3/10
Directed by Clint Eastwood, this movie is based on a remarkable true story. The film follows the key events that made Chris Kyle one of the deadliest snipers in US history. Born in Texas, Kyle became a Navy SEAL in 1998 and served four tours in Iraq.
The movie shows the horrible realities of war and Kyle’s struggle to balance his family life with his desire to serve his country, culminating in a tragedy that captured the hearts of Americans.
3. Play Misty For Me (1971)
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
Dave Garver is a popular radio show host who is getting increasingly irritated with a female caller who keeps requesting that he plays the song “Misty” for her. When he becomes bored with his girlfriend, Dave impulsively sleeps with a woman he meets at a bar.
His belief that the encounter is a one-night stand is rudely shattered when he realizes that the woman is an obsessive fan of his show – and that she is the one who wants to hear the song Misty every day. When he tries to get rid of her, the fan’s psychotic obsession with him threatens the lives of both Dave and his girlfriend.
4. Absolute Power (1997)
IMDB Rating: 6.7/10
Luther Whitney is an ageing cat burglar but he is the best in the game. One night, when he robs the house of billionaire Walter Sullivan, he gets more than he had bargained for. Not only does he see the President of the United States engaging in an affair with Sullivan’s wife – but he also becomes a witness when the Secret Service kills her after she tried to defend herself from the President’s violent advances.
Whitney flees but is spotted by the Secret Service agents and he is ultimately framed for the victim’s murder. Whitney has to convince the police that the President is guilty and in order to succeed, he needs the help of his own estranged daughter.
5. The Bridges of Madison County (1995)
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
Francesca lives on a farm in Madison County and although she has a loyal husband and two loving kids, something is missing from her life. When her family leaves for four days to visit a fair, she meets photographer Robert Kincaid who is on assignment to photograph the county’s historic bridges.
Looking for directions to a certain bridge, she offers to ride along and show him the way. This is the start of a four-day affair that offers her the passion that is missing from her marriage and a new life. But when he asks her to go away with him, Francesca is torn. Must she stay at the farm with her family or leave with Robert?
6. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
IMDB Rating: 8.1/10
When waitress Maggie arrives at Frankie Dunn’s boxing gym, seeking him out as a trainer, he has his reservations. But after he takes her on, he realizes that Maggie has talent. She has a penchant for quick knockouts and soon enough, she rises through the ranks of the women’s amateur boxing world with impressive speed.
Maggie’s first title fight arrives and it comes with a million-dollar prize. But when things do not go as planned, it changes both of their lives forever and she asks Frankie for a terrible favor.
7. In The Line Of Fire (1993)
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
Secret Service agent Frank Horrigan is haunted by a single failure – while assigned to protect President Kennedy, he failed to stop the now-infamous JFK’s assassination. Despite his age, Horrigan is still on active duty and after he receives taunting messages that threaten the sitting president’s life, he returns to the president’s active security detail.
But Horrigan’s demons make him see enemies everywhere and after he mistakes several innocent situations as threats, he is kicked off the team. However, as the threats continue and Horrigan becomes annoyed by the FBI who hides the killer’s mysterious identity, he becomes determined not to let another president die on his watch.
8. Mystic River (2003)
IMDB Rating: 7.9/10
The movie follows three friends from Boston; Jimmy, Sean, and Dave. Their lives are rocked by two traumatic incidents. The first happened when they were children. While playing together, Dave was kidnapped and abused by two men for days and although he managed to escape, the experience haunted him forever afterwards.
As adults, Jimmy’s daughter is murdered and as he follows a trail of clues, he concludes that Dave might have been responsible. Deciding to take the law into his own hands, Jimmy confronts his old friend.
9. Dirty Harry (1971)
IMDB Rating: 7.7/10
In San Francisco, a psychopathic sniper is killing victims and he demands huge ransoms to stop more deaths. SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan is assigned to the case and from the start, he does not agree with his superiors’ way of dealing with the so-called Scorpio killer. When Scorpio abducts a teenage girl, Harry finds and tortures the man to reveal her whereabouts.
Because of Harry’s actions, he is kicked off the case and Scorpio walks free. But Callahan is not done – he decides to stalk the killer and finish the man’s reign of terror one way or the other. This leads to an action-packed chase and standoff.
10. Escape From Alcatraz (1979)
IMDB Rating: 7.6/10
In 1960, Frank Morris’s uncanny ability to escape from several prisons lands him in a maximum-security facility on Alcatraz Island. Since no one has ever escaped from this prison, it would appear that Frank’s running days are over.
Based on the non-fiction book about the infamous 1962 escape from Alcatraz Island, the movie follows Frank striking up friendships with several inmates and how they hatch an ingenious plan to get off the island and cross the dangerous stretch of water back to San Francisco Bay.
11. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966)
IMDB Rating: 8.8/10
Here Clint Eastwood’s character stoically never reveals his name, although he is nicknamed “Blondie” by bandit Tuco Ramirez after the latter is rescued by him. The pair start a racket where Blondie hands Tuco over to a town’s authorities, claim the bounty on his head and then rescue the bandit before they split the money.
But at one point the relationship sours and this is also the time when they learn the location of a large cache of gold. Tuco and Goldie have to keep an eye on each other while also dealing with a dangerous mercenary who also wants the treasure.
12. The Beguiled (1971)
IMDB Rating: 7.2/10
Usually, Clint Eastwood plays a rough-edged hero but this time he is a super sleaze. In this film, his character is a Union soldier called John McBurney. Wounded during the Civil War, he is taken in by a school for girls in Mississippi.
His flirtatious nature soon has different students and teachers interested in him but the conflicting romances threaten the school’s stability and safety. When things boil over, the women and girls hatch a plan to get rid of John before a nearby Confederate camp realizes that they have been sheltering a Union soldier.
13. Thunderbolt And Lightfoot (1974)
IMDB Rating: 7.0/10
When Lightfoot accidentally saves the life of a bank robber known as “The Thunderbolt,” the latter decides to reward him. Thunderbolt reveals that he has stashed the loot from a previous bank robbery in an old schoolhouse and that the two of them can collect and share the cash.
But the new friends must deal with Thunderbolt’s old gang who mistakenly believes that he had betrayed them to hide the money for himself. With repeated attempts on their lives, they travel in search of the schoolhouse while also evading the police and dealing with several funny mishaps along the way.
14. A Fistful Of Dollars (1964)
IMDB Rating: 8.0/10
Remember Blondie from The Good, The Bad And The Ugly? A Fistful Of Dollars is an earlier instalment in the series. Referred to as “the Stranger,” he arrives in a small town near the Mexico-United States border where he learns from a bartender that the settlement has two feuding smuggling families.
Seeing a chance to make some money, the Stranger decides to pit the families against each other. But the situation soon spirals out of control and he finds himself not only rescuing innocent victims but he also is also in for the fight of his life.
15. Every Which Way but Loose (1978)
IMDB Rating: 6.4/10
Philo Beddoe is a truck driver with a talent for bare-knuckle fighting and he also has a pet orangutan. When he meets a woman called Lynn at a bar, their connection makes Philo believe that he has found his soulmate. But one morning, he discovers that Lynn has packed up and left for Denver, Colorado. Not wanting to lose her, he decides to go on a road trip to find Lynn.
The movie has comedic overtones and this is highlighted by the trouble Philo gets into along the way. Specifically, he earns the wrath of a motorcycle gang and a police officer and they go to great lengths to get even with him. At the end of the day, Philo also has to face Lynn’s true nature for better or worse.
16. Unforgiven (1992)
IMDB Rating: 8.2/10
Will Munny is an ageing farmer and widower, raising two kids. But he is also a formerly notorious killer and outlaw. So, when a young gunslinger offers him a partnership in a bounty hunt where they have to catch and kill cowboys who had cut up a woman’s face. In need of money to save his farm, Will reluctantly agrees to do one more hit.
But the pair is up against a lot of resistance. There are other bounty hunters who want the reward and they will play dirty to get it. Will and his partner must also look for their prey in a town where no guns are allowed and men like Will are not welcome.