Brits give Clint a #9

[wilky1974]

I was just reading this article about a British magazine's poll of the greates living film stars over the age of 50.

It places Clint at #9!!  What a crock!

It even put Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman, and Dustin Hoffman above him!

Here's the link: http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=171666
I would have a hard time keeping Clint out of the top 3 myself, along with Al Pacino and Robert Deniro.  

Sorry, Clint.  You're #1 in my book.

[masterchief]

Clint is no1 in my book aswell, but I'm not worried that Robert De Nero is above him, as he'd be my second choice. I don't really rate Al Pacino, so he shouldn't be second. IMO, my top 5 would be:

1. Clint Eastwood
2. Robert De Niro
3. Christopher Walken
4. Marlon Brando
5. Jack Nicholson

Honourable mention(s):
Samuel L Jackson
Harrison Ford
Morgan Freeman

[vik]

yeh clint no. 1

stupid brits

1. clint
2. paul newman
3. robert redford
4. sean connery
5. roger moore
6. jack nicholson
7. michael caine

what was the magazine anybody know?

[wilky1974]

Okay, here's my top 5:

1.  Clint Eastwood
2.  Al Pacino
3.  Harrison Ford
4.  Christopher Walken
5.  Anthony Hopkins

For Actors under age 50:

1.  Mel Gibson (just barely under 50!)
2.  Johnny Depp
3.  Tom Hanks (just barely under 50!)
4.  Jude Law
5.  Sean Penn

[wilky1974]

what was the magazine anybody know?

The name of the magazine is "Empire."

[Conan]

Clint is no1 in my book aswell, but I'm not worried that Robert De Nero is above him, as he'd be my second choice. I don't really rate Al Pacino, so he shouldn't be second. IMO, my top 5 would be:

1. Clint Eastwood
2. Robert De Niro
3. Christopher Walken
4. Marlon Brando
5. Jack Nicholson

Honourable mention(s):
Samuel L Jackson
Harrison Ford
Morgan Freeman

  Not to be anal, but Brando passed away recently.  Good list though, Walken is one of my favorites.

[wilky1974]

Another big reason you have to give Clint a #1, is because of his directing accomplishments.  I know the poll is about the greatest living "film stars," but when I think of the best film stars, I also include a general feel for what that particular actor "as a whole" has brought to the movie-goers & movie-watchers of the world.  When you do that, you HAVE to factor in Clint's directing abilities and movies like Mystic River, Unforgiven and Bird, to name a few.  I don't see Robert Deniro or Al Pacino spending their spare time directing movies and bringing us a little "extra."

And think of all the ways in which Clint has inspired other artists - his name being used in songs, references to his famous one-liners, music from his movies being used in other movies, etc...  Even our pastor at our church has used Clint's "toughness" as a way we have to be to fight sin and the devil!  

He has had more impact on our culture than the other guys they placed on top in this poll.

[masterchief]

 Not to be anal, but Brando passed away recently.  Good list though, Walken is one of my favorites.

Yeah, it is a great shame he has died, but was a great actor, and I had to mention him. I really like Walken to, although I haven't seen many of his films, and he has got alot of my respect by doing the supurb Fatboy Slim music video 'Weapon of Choice'.

Where's you list Conan?

[Conan]

Yeah, it is a great shame he has died, but was a great actor, and I had to mention him. I really like Walken to, although I haven't seen many of his films, and he has got alot of my respect by doing the supurb Fatboy Slim music video 'Weapon of Choice'.

Where's you list Conan?

  I just mentioned that since the list was supposed to be living actors.

My list off the top of my head....

1. Clint Eastwood
2. Robert De Niro
3. Gene Hackman
4. Christopher Walken
5. Sean Penn

  No surprises there.  Johnny Depp is a hell of an actor, but too young for me to put on that list just yet.  I want to put Bill Murray on there as well...

[masterchief]

 I just mentioned that since the list was supposed to be living actors.

No problem buddy

My list off the top of my head....

1. Clint Eastwood
2. Robert De Niro
3. Gene Hackman
4. Christopher Walken
5. Sean Penn

  No surprises there.  Johnny Depp is a hell of an actor, but too young for me to put on that list just yet.  I want to put Bill Murray on there as well...

Cool list  

[vik]

living actors over 50   - can anybody read  

ha ha johnny depp - actor    - peter pan about right for him

[bigdai]

To be fair to the excellent, informative generally and Godlike Empire magazine the poll was not the opinion of the magazine but of it's readers who voted.  Also Clint was finally placed 8th after Brando stopped being a living legend.  

Personally I would have placed Clint number 1 as a living legend and 'God Among Us' but would not have placed him in the top five as an actor.

As for viks comment of stupid Brits - how can we seriously take on board the opinion of someone who has Roger Moore in their top 5!!!  

I think the reason Clint placed lower than he deserves was due to the fact that his most famous films probably don't resonate quite as strongly with British filmgoers as they do with an American audience.  Horse operas are a good example where they will naturally appeal more to the country whose history they are loosely based on.

[vik]

he don't you get at james 007 - try live and let die  
we're coming for ya  

roger moore as bond was a good change from sean connery - i think he was prety cool

anyway why shouldn't one have a few homegrown actors in their list

i think the vote was probably partly due to the voters age
ask a mature audience and it would be clint for sure  

you know what i find strange is that you look and de niro and pacino - what have they done lately of any contribution - nothin - all this is based on years ago

look at clint, connery, redford , newman, nicholson and caine etc. they are still working and  their still good - ok we seem them less and less but when we see them we still say wow what we missing

roger moore has been an ambassador for unicef helping kids etc. and james bond - why shouldn't he be in the list

gene hackman i can understand but mel gibson - i still wonder why everyone gets excited - is it mad max, lethal weapon or braveheart - what  

[bigdai]

You are not seriously suggesting that Roger Moore deserves to be in the top 5 because of James Bond  .  I cannot even justify that comment with a critical response.  Laughable, ha, ha, ha, ha!!!

I think Empire's readership is widely dispersed across the age ranges although you would have to check with the magazine for details.  However, I think that most very young readers would probably not be voting for actors over the age of fifty anyway.  I don't think you can classify De Niro and Pacino as appealling just to a young audience after all they both began starring in their own films in the late 1960s and reached international fame in the early 1970s.  That is only 7/8 years after Clint first came to real international fame in the dollars trilogy - therefore I would say they are in a similar age bracket for appeal.  

Without getting into a major debate about te quality of the above mentioned actors output over recent years it's fair to say that with the exception of Mystic River Clint hasn't exactly been on top form recently.  For instance Space Cowboys was no Unforgiven or Dirty Harry in the same way that De Niro's The Score was no Goodfellas or Godfather part 2.

I'm not sure that those arguments stand up as reasons for Clint not climbing higher - I think it may be down to differing national tastes in film styles and genres.  As I said in a previous post I would have had Clint as the leading 'God Among Us' but am think of reasons why he wasn't rather than saying 'stupid Brits'.

[allycat]

I was just reading this article about a British magazine's poll of the greates living film stars over the age of 50.

It places Clint at #9!!  What a crock!

It even put Morgan Freeman, Paul Newman, and Dustin Hoffman above him!

Here's the link: http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=171666
I would have a hard time keeping Clint out of the top 3 myself, along with Al Pacino and Robert Deniro.  

Sorry, Clint.  You're #1 in my book.

Actually this is old news. Well okay, I didn't start a specific thread about it, but I did mention it a while back. I have subscribed to Empire magazine for years now (and in my opinion it's one of the best film mags out there). A few months ago we the readers had to vote for who we thought the greatest living actors were (the only criteria was that they had to be over 50, I presume because that way they'd have an extensive body of work, and obviously, they had to be still alive. At the time of voting, Brando was still alive. I believe we were able to vote for 3 actors.)

I commented in another thread (which I forget but if I spent time looking I could probably find my post somewhere) that I had voted for Clint, plus Robert De Niro or Dustin Hoffman (I think the latter, though I can't quite remember) and Judi Dench I think it was. I too was annoyed that Clint only placed 9th but it's not bad considering how many votes were cast and the fact that Clint probably does have a higher profile in America than in the UK. I have no facts on which to base this supposition, but certainly I don't know anyone around my own age who's into Clint (I'm 25). Mind you, as I commented on another thread recently in the off-topic section of the board, I don't know many people who are as passionate about film as I am. Anyway, that might be the reason why Clint doesn't place higher - nothing to do with the voters' ages as we were all voting for actors over 50 anyway.

Anyway, the fact is that the poll is a reflection of personal opinion (the opinions of Empire readers) and I think that there's a pretty good selection of actors in there considering. The quality of the actors shows that Empire readers have pretty good taste (though I am biased, because I am one!). And there are a lot more American actors in there than British or European (I haven't looked at the list recently but I seem to recall that from memory). But I think it's a pretty good selection of actors. And as I said above, don't forget that we were voting for the greatest living actors over 50, which eliminates actors such as Sean Penn and Johnny Depp.

[vik]

stupid brits was a joke bigdai - don't get so worried   - there is a cross section of people on this web board thats why it is so good

i take all points but i still wonder why de niro and hoffman are above clint and what are they basing it on?

as i have said neither have done much in recent years - clint has had unforgiven and mystic river

what are we talking about tootsie or analyse that - hardly a match up

[allycat]

Yeah, I'm a 'stupid Brit' :p though I hate that term. And it's spelt wrong in the thread title!  

Anyway...as for Hoffman - how about The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Kramer Vs Kramer, Rain Man...and De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas, but to name a few. De Niro may not have been that hot recently but Meet The Parents was very funny. The point is, you're not just judging these actors on their recent films, but rather, their extensive body of work. I can't think of a more genius performance than Robert De Niro in Taxi Driver. Well okay, I can, but you know what I mean. If you have seen all of the above films (or even some of them) you'll know what I'm talking about. These actors are some of the greatest there ever were.

[vik]

yeh i've seen the films - but i still think clint outshines them

and actually there is 50 films i would watch again before taxi driver  - ok most of them clint's  

and i can think of a few people who could have taken de niro's role - bronson, mcqueen

i am not trying to be pedantic although it may seem that way - i am just not sure against clint's films that really de niro and hoffman are better

but as you say it comes down to people's choice

[mugsy]

Definitely agree with clint in the top three,however not too sure of Viks idea about Roger Moore being in the top five

[bigdai]

Vik, I never get worried when an American calls the Brits stupid!

Going back to the recent film thing I agree that Analyse That/This - whatever - were not great but I wouldn't consider Unforgiven a recent film any more at 12 years old.  I used that as an example of a good older Clint film and was why I compared it to a similarly aged De Niro classic such as Goodfellas (1990) [or Heat (1995)] in the same way as Dirty Harry (1971) to Godfather Part 2 (1974?).  Pacino is still making a higher ratio of good films than both if we want to bring him into the equation - though I am not saying they are amongst his best films or that all could be critically acclaimed.

As allycat and I have both said it may just come down to the profile of the actors and taste of the public in Britain compared to America.  As a matter of interest is there a magazine in the US that has done a similar recent poll?.

and yet again -  Roger Moore? It's a shame I don't know how to insert a smilie with a shaking head.