What was the moment you fell in love with Clint Eastwood, and why?

[bdc28]

Its occurred to me that there is no better way to explain ourselves than the moment you became a die hard Clint Eastwood fan. For me it was when I was 12 years old.

I was in the seventh grade and was skipping school. I had to do that because three of the local gangs in my neighborhood had taken to terrorizing me and jumping me in school, at the mall, in the street...wherever they found me. So for awhile I just did what I figured to be logical...and hid.

In Washington DC in the early 80s we had what was called the MID DAY MOVIE, usually older movies... and it was watching this that I saw him. This person that was unbelievably cool and controlled. He didnt show fear and he was minimalistic. He even took a beating like I did, alone with Lee Van Cleef (that should tell you the movie I was watching). I became obsessed, he was everything that a scared, scarred and awkward teenager could never be.

You could find me later standing in the mirror, working on a squint...talking in a hushed tone...trying to walk laconically.....some of that survives to this day LOL.

So.....whats your story?

[AKA23]

This is a great topic! However, I don't fully remember this for myself. I became an Eastwood fan very early in my life, at around 9 or 10 years old. I do remember that I really wanted to see "In the Line of Fire" in theaters, but my parents asked some friends of theirs who had seen it and they said it wouldn't be appropriate for a young child and recommended that they not let me see it, so I didn't at that time. I remember when I went to visit my grandmother in another state for the Christmas holidays that she rented it for me and I got to watch it! I also remember that I first watched "Unforgiven" went it came on one of the premium channels that we had. I had a TV in my room, so I turned it on at night and kept the volume down pretty low so my parents wouldn't realize that I was watching it! I don't think these were the very first Eastwood films that I ever saw though, so I don't remember my earliest introductions to him and what movies made me so interested in watching these later films. But, "In the Line of Fire" is still my favorite film of his, so it could be that part of the reason is that I saw it when I was so young when I was just discovering Eastwood and his films. 

[Gant]

Difficult to remember an exact age. I reckon I was around 12 or 13 ( 1974/5) when Fisfull of Dollars and Coogans  Bluff
turned up on tv. One western and one modern setting? I think I was pretty much immediately hooked..

[Perry]

      For me it was when he starting doing movies with Sondra Locke......

[batfunk2]

Great topic ! I gradually became a fan thanks to countless TV reruns. But the real turning point was discovering Clint Eastwood as a director in 1995  with his 3 masterpieces Unforgiven, A Perfect World and Bridges of Madison County.
But I only discovered it at the cinema when I was 27, with Blood Work lol