Living Legend Clint Eastwood, 91, Continues To Defy Age As He Stars As Ex-Rodeo Rider In New Trailer — Fans Thrilled

Aug 11, 2021

At 91 years old, Academy Award-winning legend Clint Eastwood is showing no signs of slowing down. Eastwood first made a name for himself acting in Sergio Leone’s “spaghetti westerns,” only to become one of Hollywood’s most respected directors with critically acclaimed films like “Million Dollar Baby.” Despite entering into what most would deem a star’s twilight years, Eastwood continues to direct and act in critically acclaimed films like “The Mule,” which came out in 2018. And it turns out that this 91-year-old superstar has at least one more film in him, as Eastwood is back with “Cry Macho,” a Warner Bros. production that is set to show in theaters on Sept. 17 in the U.S.

Given his multiple talents as both a director and an actor, Eastwood worked both behind and in front of the camera for “Cry Macho.” In fact, he plays the film’s main character, a retired rodeo competitor named Mike Milo who breeds horses. The action starts when an old boss contacts Mike and asks him to bring his son from Mexico to the U.S.

Eastwood directed “Cry Macho” based on N. Richard Nash’s 1975 novel by the same name. 

While most directors and actors retire by age 91, Eastwood continues to make films — and critically acclaimed ones at that. The last movie that saw Eastwood behind the camera was “Richard Jewell,” which depicts the true events of the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing.

“As usual, Eastwood displays his astonishingly streamlined style of storytelling. There's not a wasted beat in the film,” Bill Newcott of The Saturday Evening Post wrote in his review of the movie.

Whereas some Hollywood greats get their first taste of showbusiness early on in life, Eastwood had to endure the worst years of The Great Depression since he was born on May 31, 1930 in San Francisco, CA. While his family initially traveled and looked for work during this period, they eventually settled in Piedmont, where Eastwood would graduate from high school in 1949, according to Biography.com.

But it wasn’t until after graduating and serving in the military that Eastwood found his way to Los Angeles, where he first starred in movies like “Revenge of the Creature” and “Francis in the Navy.” Despite landing only minor roles at first, and despite having little acting practice, Eastwood got his big break when he was casted in the TV western “Rawhide” in 1958. Eastwood’s role as a handsome, no-nonsense cowboy threw the young actor into the spotlight, and from then on he continued to land similar parts in westerns and gritty action films like “Dirty Harry” in the 1970s.

One of Eastwood’s more modern classics is “Million Dollar Baby,” which he both directed and starred in as a cantankerous boxing trainer who trains a waitress from the Ozarks to be prize winning athlete. By this time in his career, Eastwood was already 74 years old — for most actors and directors that means retirement. And yet,  Eastwood was still producing excellent work as “Million Dollar Baby” shows. Not only did the film win a number of Oscars, as Biography.com reports — Best Picture and Best Director Academy Awards for Eastwood and Oscars for actors Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman — but the film also received widespread critical acclaim in the press.

The late film critic Roger Ebert called the film “a masterpiece.” 

“(The film) finds the simplicity and directness of classical storytelling; it is the kind of movie where you sit very quietly in the theater and are drawn deeply into lives that you care very much about,” Ebert wrote.

After such a long, prolific career in Hollywood, it’s still tempting to ask whether Eastwood might be thinking about retirement, especially as he nears his mid-90s. But Eastwood doesn’t seem like he’s finished yet. As recently as January 2020, Eastwood put rumors of his retirement to rest.

“I like doing it, it’s nice to be able to have a paying job,” Eastwood told presenter Alison Hammond on the U.K. TV show "This Morning" in January 2020. “I like being in films, I like making films and I started directing films because I thought one day I’m going to look up on screen and say, ‘That’s enough Eastwood, you’d better do something else.’ So I thought, ‘If I direct, I can let other people be on screen.’”

“Cry Macho” is evidence that Eastwood wasn’t bluffing. According to People Magazine, Eastwood first considered working on the movie 40 years ago.

"(Producer) Al Ruddy asked me if I would do it and I felt I was too young for the part," Eastwood said of the film in his interview with People. "I thought I might direct it then but it went by the wayside. Then, about a year ago, we brought it back out and feels like I'm just at the right age now and I thought it'd be fun to do."

Naturally, fans are ecstatic.

“Clint Eastwood. The most reliable force of nature in Hollywood. An absolute legend. 🙌" a fan commented on “Cry Macho’s” trailer.

What’s your favorite Eastwood movie? Can you believe that he’s still directing and acting at age 91? Let us know — and be sure to pass this on to other Clint Eastwood fans!