Aim for the Heart

Clint Eastwood is one of the world's most popular action stars, who has matured into a fine American producer-director. Entertaining, illuminating and packed with information, up to and including "The Changeling", this is the first book to cover his full life in the movies, from his beginnings in 1950s B-movies and in TV's "Rawhide" to "Gran Torino" showing how as both actor and filmmaker Eastwood aims for the heart of the drama, whatever the story. Howard Hughes follows Eastwood's craft through over 50 movies. He looks at his launch into superstardom in Sergio Leone's 1960s spaghetti westerns. Back in America, he built on his success as western hero with such films as "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales", winning an Oscar for "Unforgiven" in 1992. He blasted his way through the seventies and eighties as Inspector Harry Francis Callahan, the last hope for law enforcement in San Francisco. He also monkeyed around in two phenomenally popular films with Clyde the orang-utan, which brought tough-guy Eastwood to a whole new audience and made him the biggest box office star of his generation. "Aim for the Heart" also looks at Eastwood's more unusual roles, including "The Beguiled", "The Bridges of Madison County" and "Million Dollar Baby". Since 1970, he has enjoyed parallel success as director-producer of his own Malpaso Productions, with "Bird", "Mystic River" and "Letters from Iwo Jima", demonstrating formidable directing credentials. "Aim for the Heart" covers all Eastwood's movies of many genres in detail, and Eastwood's story is illustrated with film stills, glimpses behind the scenes, and rare poster advertising material. "Aim for the Heart" also includes the most comprehensive credits filmography has ever compiled on Eastwood's work, as star and director.

Filmwriter Howard Hughes is the author of the Filmgoers' Guides: 'Once Upon a Time in the Italian West: The Filmgoers' Guide to Spaghetti Westerns'; 'Crime Wave: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Crime Movies', and 'Stagecoach to Tombstone: The Filmgoers' Guide to the Great Westerns', all I.B. Tauris.