What's the big deal with Clint Eastwood?

[Ronja]

IMO, anyone who can play in a touching and/or believable way in both Rawhide, Dirty Harry, Honkytonk Man, and Bridges of Madison County, deserves at least some respect, stupid political opinions or not.

Who wrote they didn't respect him for his work as an actor/director because of his 'stupid political opinions' ?

Nobody, AFAIK.

I likely resonated with Seraph's comment about Mel Gibson when I wrote that. Clint is from the more benign end of my spectrum of "actors I am vary of due to their activities IRL" - at quite the other end are people like Gibson. I don't watch any Mel Gibson or Tom Cruise movies anymore, because I can't forget their religious craziness effectively enough, and the knowledge spoils the movies for me. I'm not sure if I'm sorry for that - there are more good movies in the world than I'll ever have time to watch, anyway.

[Hermit]

IMO, anyone who can play in a touching and/or believable way in both Rawhide, Dirty Harry, Honkytonk Man, and Bridges of Madison County, deserves at least some respect, stupid political opinions or not.

I did say there is a redeeming aspect to Eastwood, citing Flags of Our Fathers as an example, but I am most certainly not among those who have a man crush on him, and that is primarily because of his advocacy of illiberal views as illustrated in the Dirty Harry movies. Vigilantism sucks. Leave it to the Ku Klux Klan and the Hollywood blacklist stemming from McCarthyism, thanks.

The intellectual frame of mind of people is a very major determinant in regard to my liking for them, particularly in regard to those who I have never met. If I ever had a man crush on any show-biz celebrity, it would be someone like Alan Alda, even if they were nowhere near the calibre of Eastwood as an actor, director or producer.