Best Clint Eastwood Movies, Ranked: As Actor and Director
In short: Our top five Clint Eastwood films: Unforgiven, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Million Dollar Baby, Dirty Harry and Mystic River. He has won four Oscars, Best Picture and Best Director for both Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, and kept directing into his nineties, most recently with Juror #2 (2024).
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1. Unforgiven (1992)
Eastwood directs and stars as William Munny, a retired killer who takes one last job. A western that takes apart the myths his own career built, with Gene Hackman and Morgan Freeman. Four Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Director.
2. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)
The third of Sergio Leone's Dollars films, with Eastwood's Man with No Name, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef racing for buried gold. Ennio Morricone's score is one of the most famous ever.
3. Million Dollar Baby (2004)
A gruff boxing trainer (Eastwood) reluctantly coaches a determined fighter (Hilary Swank). A sports film that turns into something much heavier. Best Picture and Best Director again.
4. Dirty Harry (1971)
Don Siegel's thriller made Inspector Harry Callahan, and "Do you feel lucky?", part of film history. Controversial then and now for its view of policing.
5. Mystic River (2003)
Eastwood directs Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon as childhood friends reunited by a murder. Penn and Robbins both won Oscars.
6. Gran Torino (2008)
A bitter Korean War veteran befriends his Hmong American neighbours in Detroit. Funny, uncomfortable and moving.
7. Letters from Iwo Jima (2006)
Released alongside Flags of Our Fathers, it shows the battle from the Japanese side, almost entirely in Japanese. Nominated for Best Picture.
8. Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Don Siegel's lean, quiet prison-break film, based on the real 1962 escape.
9. In the Line of Fire (1993)
Eastwood as an ageing Secret Service agent haunted by the Kennedy assassination, against John Malkovich's chilling would-be assassin.
10. Juror #2 (2024)
A juror (Nicholas Hoult) realises he may be connected to the case he's deciding. A sharp, old-fashioned moral thriller directed at 94.
Honourable mentions
- A Fistful of Dollars (1964) and For a Few Dollars More (1965): the first two Leone westerns.
- The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976): his first great western as director.
- American Sniper (2014): his biggest box-office hit, and divisive.
- Sully (2016): Tom Hanks as the pilot who landed on the Hudson.
Our verdict
Start with The Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the legend, then Unforgiven for the man looking back at it.
Frequently asked questions
How many Oscars has Clint Eastwood won? Four: Best Picture and Best Director for both Unforgiven (1992) and Million Dollar Baby (2004). He also received the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in 1995.
What is Clint Eastwood's most recent film? Juror #2 (2024), a courtroom drama he directed with Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette, released when he was 94.
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