15 Major Films Across Clint Eastwood’s Career
Few figures loom larger in American cinema than Clint Eastwood.
One era had him squinting through dusty Westerns, another found him reinventing himself behind the camera with Oscar-winning dramas.
Playing hard-edged icons or directing quiet, thoughtful stories, his six-decade run proves reinvention can be just as powerful as reputation.
Note: Film credits, release years, and award outcomes reflect widely documented public records and major reference sources available at the time of writing, but some production details, plot interpretations, and cultural context can vary by source and viewer perspective.
15. Gran Torino
Porch-bound scowls greet neighborhood kids as Walt Kowalski guards his space, nursing decades of bitterness and regret.
In a 2008 turn that surprised audiences, Clint Eastwood embodied a Korean War veteran forced to confront deeply rooted prejudices. Vintage Gran Torino resting in his garage comes to symbolize everything he refuses to let go from a vanishing version of America.
Arrival of Hmong neighbors next door flips his carefully contained world in directions that land as both funny and quietly devastating.
Central question lingers over Gran Torino, asking whether redemption remains possible after a lifetime spent carrying anger.
14. The Gauntlet
Bullets shred a house like confetti while Ben Shockley realizes his simple escort job just became a death trap.
This 1977 action thriller pairs Eastwood with Sondra Locke as a cop and witness fighting their way through a gauntlet of corrupt officials. The title sequence delivers exactly what it promises: a relentless barrage of obstacles and firepower.
Eastwood’s direction keeps the tension cranked to eleven as the unlikely duo fighting their way through escalating set-ups that culminate in an armored bus run into Phoenix. Pure adrenaline with a side of conspiracy paranoia.
13. The Eiger Sanction
Dangling thousands of feet above Swiss valleys, Jonathan Hemlock contemplates his life choices.
Eastwood directed and starred in this 1975 spy thriller about an art professor and retired assassin forced into one last climb up the treacherous Eiger mountain. The film mixes James Bond-style intrigue with genuine mountaineering danger.
Eastwood performed many of his own stunts on actual Alpine faces, adding authenticity that green screens could never match. Critics were mixed, but the vertigo-inducing climbing sequences remain impressive decades later, proving Eastwood’s commitment to practical action.
12. Sully
208 seconds changed everything. Directed by Clint Eastwood in 2016, the film recounts Captain Chesley Sullenberger’s emergency landing of US Airways Flight 1549 on the Hudson River.
Calm professionalism defines the portrayal by Tom Hanks, capturing how skill and split-second judgment saved 155 lives.
After the miracle, tension shifts toward investigators who scrutinize every decision made during those terrifying moments. Rather than chasing suspense through uncertainty, Sully finds its power in the human cost of being labeled a hero when the job itself demanded perfection.
11. Hereafter
Three strangers across the globe share one haunting connection: they’ve all touched death and lived to question everything.
Eastwood’s 2010 supernatural drama weaves together a French journalist’s tsunami survival, a London boy’s grief, and an American psychic desperate to escape his gift. Matt Damon plays the reluctant medium who just wants to work in a factory and be left alone.
The film asks big questions about what lies beyond without offering easy answers, trading special effects for quiet contemplation about loss, connection, and whether some doors should remain closed.
10. Breezy
She shows up at his door carrying a guitar and a bright, unshakable optimism.
Eastwood directed but didn’t star in this 1973 May-December romance about a middle-aged divorcé and a much younger free spirit who disrupts his carefully ordered life. Kay Lenz plays the title character with infectious charm.
The film explores generational divides and unexpected love with more tenderness than critics expected from the Dirty Harry director.
Though it flopped commercially, Breezy showed Eastwood’s range behind the camera, proving he could handle intimate character studies alongside action spectacles.
9. Absolute Power
Retirement plans drive Luther Whitney toward one last mansion job. Plans collapse fast once a murder tied to the President of the United States unfolds before his eyes.
Released in 1997, a political thriller directed by and starring Clint Eastwood adapts a novel by David Baldacci, turning a veteran burglar into the most wanted man in America for knowing too much.
Scenery-chewing menace comes from Gene Hackman as a corrupt commander-in-chief, while a hunted cat burglar races to survive long enough to expose the truth.
Old-school thriller satisfaction anchors Absolute Power, reminding viewers that knowledge of buried secrets can be the sharpest weapon of all.
8. Firefox
Stealing a thought-controlled Soviet super-jet seemed like a good idea on paper.
Eastwood directed and starred in this 1982 Cold War thriller about a burned-out pilot who must infiltrate Russia and fly out their most advanced weapon. The Firefox aircraft responds to thoughts in Russian, adding linguistic pressure to an already impossible mission.
The film’s special effects were cutting-edge for their time, though they’ve aged about as well as a VHS tape left in the sun.
Still, the premise remains irresistible: one man, one plane, and the entire Soviet Air Force on his tail across the Arctic.
7. American Sniper
Through a rifle scope, Chris Kyle watches a split-second, life-or-death decision through a rifle scope, and time seems to freeze.
Released in 2014, a biographical drama directed by Clint Eastwood traces the life of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history across four tours in Iraq.
Physical transformation and total immersion define the performance by Bradley Cooper, portraying a Texas rodeo cowboy turned legendary warrior grappling with the cost of protecting fellow soldiers.
Intense public debate followed, with audiences arguing over heroism, warfare, and the true price of survival. Emotional weight settles on the struggle between battlefield duty and family life at home, as American Sniper asks what happens when war refuses to stay overseas.
6. Escape From Alcatraz
Cold water surrounds the Rock, and Frank Morris studies every crack in the concrete like it’s a treasure map.
Eastwood stars in this 1979 thriller based on the true story of the most famous Alcatraz escape, one that ended with an unconfirmed fate. Director Don Siegel crafts a methodical procedural showing how patience, ingenuity, and dummy heads made from papier-mâché (and other improvised materials) fool guards.
The film respects the intelligence of both its protagonist and its audience, building tension through meticulous planning rather than explosive action.
Nobody knows if Morris survived the frigid bay crossing, which makes the ending perfect.
5. Letters From Iwo Jima
Most war films raise statues to heroism. Mourning replaces celebration in a 2006 companion piece directed by Clint Eastwood, which recounts the Battle of Iwo Jima entirely from the Japanese perspective and unfolds almost fully in Japanese with subtitles.
Letters from home get read as soldiers dig tunnels they understand will soon become their tombs.
Respect for the characters fills every frame, underscoring how young men suffer the same losses no matter which flag they salute. Critical praise followed, with many calling Letters from Iwo Jima a rare masterwork of empathy.
4. Dirty Harry
Go ahead, make my day. Debut moment arrived in 1971 when Harry Callahan first appeared, launching the template for the ultimate movie cop despite the famous line coming later.
Armed with a .44 Magnum and no patience for red tape, Inspector Callahan stalks a serial killer across the steep streets of San Francisco. Steely presence from Clint Eastwood defined the antihero lawman for generations.
Debate ignited around justice and vigilantism, and the questions still linger, helping Dirty Harry prove that great thrillers can challenge viewers while keeping them locked to their seats.
3. Million Dollar Baby
The speed bag rattles in an empty gym while Frankie Dunn watches his fighter shadow-box.
Eastwood directed and starred in this 2004 heartbreaker about a crusty boxing trainer and the determined woman who refuses to give up on her dreams. Hilary Swank’s Maggie Fitzgerald punches her way into Frankie’s guarded heart.
What starts as a sports story becomes something far more profound about family, sacrifice, and impossible choices. The film collected four Oscars and left audiences reaching for tissues in the final act.
2. Unforgiven
Rain slips from the brim of a hat as William Munny rides toward one last reckoning with violence and consequences.
Behind and in front of the camera, Clint Eastwood dismantled every Western myth he once helped create with a 1992 vision built on regret and consequence. Romantic gloss falls away as violence appears ugly and permanent, leaving no room for legend-making.
Four Academy Awards followed, including Best Picture and Best Director, confirming that Unforgiven reinvented a genre that once defined its creator.
Haunted eyes in Munny’s final journey carry the weight of every trigger pulled and every life lost.
1. The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
The whistle of Ennio Morricone’s score still gives moviegoers chills.
This 1966 masterpiece closed out the Dollars Trilogy and turned Eastwood into a global sensation. As the poncho-wearing Man with No Name, he navigates a Civil War treasure hunt alongside two equally ruthless outlaws.
The final three-way duel remains one of cinema’s most imitated sequences. Sergio Leone’s extreme close-ups and sweeping desert vistas redefined what Westerns could be, proving that less dialogue often means more impact.
