Clint Eastwood Retires from Hollywood: 5 of his best movies you can watch on streaming
A man’s got to know his limitations
Clint Eastwood has announced his Hollywood retirement at the age of 96. Through eight decades in the industry, he became not just one of movie-making’s most iconic actors but also a director who won multiple oscars (and countless other accolades) for his work behind the camera.
He’s directed 40 movies, and featured as an actor in many more than that.
And despite having entered his "old man" era as an actor decades ago, 2024 film Juror #2 proved he still had the juice well into his 90s.
If you fancy digging into the Clint Eastwood movie archive, here are five suggestions from across his career you can check out on streaming services.
Gran Torino
Eastwood is Walt Kowalski in Gran Torino, a seemingly racist war veteran who sneers at anyone who passes by. But when his neighbour attempts to steal his car, Kowalski decides to protect the kid from the gang that put him up to it. And the two are forever changed in the process. What could be mawkish is delivered with real substance thanks to great direction — not to mention a top performance — from Eastwood.
- Stream on Netflix or HBO Max
Mystic River
Considered by many to be Eastwood’s 2000s masterpiece, this film is about a murder of a young girl that reunites three old friends — played by Sean Penn, Tim Robbins and Kevin Bacon. But one of them is father to the murdered girl, and another is a key suspect. Eastwood doesn’t star in his one, but his unfussy direction works wonders for the movie.
- Stream on Prime Video or HBO Max
The Good, The Bad and the Ugly
A few years after Eastwood’s iconic “man with no name” character was established in Leone’s A Fistful of Dollars, we got The Good, The Bad and the Ugly. There’s an hours-long debate to be had about which of Leone’s spaghetti westerns with Eastwood was the best. But this time we’re picking this one. It takes place during the American Civil War, and is a real epic, spanning not just an epic journey, but also an epic runtime of up to 3 hours depending on the cut you watch.
- Stream on BBC iPlayer or MGM+
Juror #2
- Stream on HBO Max
Clint Eastwood’s last major film was Juror #2, an intriguing 2024 thriller with a central performance from the brilliant Nicholas Hoult. It was effectively buried by Warner Bros., given a very limited cinematic release, but is well worth a watch if you missed it first time around. Hoult’s Justin Kemp is enlisted to a jury on a local murder trial. But this is a much spicier mystery than a plain old courtroom drama, even if much of the film rolls out in the courthouse.
Million Dollar Baby
Hilary Swank and Eastwood star in this most celebrated of boxing movies. She is an amateur boxer who is taken under the wing of Frankie Dunn, who trains her into professional shape. This is one of those sport movies you don’t have to have any appreciation of the subject matter to love. But prepare for an emotional punch. Million Dollar Baby won four Oscars including Best Picture and Best Director, as well as a Best Actress award for Hilary Swank.
- Stream on Prime Video
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