plato's cave forty (being a film journal) univers du western

Clint Eastwood - High Plains Drifter - 1973

Some actors of note and key films from

Clint Eastwood's second film as director

Clint Eastwood
- A Fistful of Dollars - 1964, Sergio Leone
- For a Few Dollars More - 1965, Sergio Leone
- The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - 1966, Sergio Leone
- Hang 'Em High - 1968, Ted Post
- Coogan's Bluff - 1968,  Don Siegel
- Two Mules for Sister Sara - 1970,  Don Siegel
- The Beguiled - 1971,  Don Siegel
- Play Misty for Me - 1971, Clint Eastwood
- Dirty Harry - 1971,  Don Siegel
- Joe Kidd - 1972 , John Sturges
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- Magnum Force - 1973, Ted Post
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot - 1974, Michael Cimino
- The Eiger Sanction - 1975, Clint Eastwood
- The Outlaw Josey Wales - 1976, Clint Eastwood
- The Gauntlet - 1977, Clint Eastwood
- Every Which Way But Loose - 1978, James Fargo
- Escape from Alcatraz - 1979, Clint Eastwood
- Bronco Billy - 1980,  Clint Eastwood
- Firefox - 1982,  Clint Eastwood
- Pale Rider - 1985,  Clint Eastwood
- Unforgiven - 1992,  Clint Eastwood
- In the Line of Fire - 1993, Wolfgang Petersen
- A Perfect World - 1993, Clint Eastwood
- The Bridges of Madison County - 1995, Clint Eastwood
- Absolute Power - 1997,  Clint Eastwood
- True Crime - 1999,  Clint Eastwood
- Blood Work - 2002,  Clint Eastwood
- Million Dollar Baby - 2004,  Clint Eastwood
- Gran Torino - 2008,  Clint Eastwood

John Quade (left)
- Bad Company - 1972, Robert Benton
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- Papillon - 1973, Franklin J. Schaffner
- The Sting - 1973, George Roy Hill
- Rancho Deluxe - 1975, Frank Perry
- 92 in the Shade - 1975, Thomas McGuane
- The Outlaw Josey Wales - 1976, Clint Eastwood
- Every Which Way But Loose - 1978, James Fargo

Geoffrey Lewis
- Bad Company - 1972, Robert Benton
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- Dillinger - 1973, John Milius
- Thunderbolt and Lightfoot - 1974, Michael Cimino
- Every Which Way But Loose - 1978, James Fargo
- Bronco Billy - 1980,  Clint Eastwood

John Hillerman
- The Last Picture Show - 1971, Peter Bogdanovich
- What's Up, Doc? - 1972,  Peter Bogdanovich
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- Paper Moon - 1973,  Peter Bogdanovich
- Chinatown - 1974, Roman Polanski
- The Day of the Locust - 1975, John Schlesinger

Billy Curtis
- The Wizard of Oz - 1939
- Meet John Doe - 1941, Frank Capra
- Saboteur - 1942, Alfred Hitchcock
- Limelight - 1952, Charles Chaplin
- The Incredible Shrinking Man - 1957, Jack Arnold
- Planet of the Apes - 1968, Franklin J. Schaffner
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood

Anthony James
- In the Heat of the Night - 1967, Norman Jewison
- Vanishing Point - 1971, Richard C. Sarafian
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- Unforgiven - 1992,  Clint Eastwood

Verna Bloom
- Medium Cool - 1969, Haskell Wexler
- The Hired Hand - 1971, Peter Fonda
- High Plains Drifter - 1973, Clint Eastwood
- After Hours - 1985, Martin Scorsese
- The Last Temptation of Christ - 1988, Martin Scorsese

plato's cave six (being a film journal)

clint eastwood - million dollar baby - 2004

have probably seen this film 10-15 times. grows on me more and more each time. possibly a bit overemotional or heavy of ending, that doesn't bother me. one thing - it has such a spare and unique view of the city of angels, it is hard to bring another view of los angeles like this to mind.

the photography by tom stern, who shot many of eastwood's recent classics including mystic river and gran torino, is restricted to a minimal pallet that confuses the viewer in terms of when the film takes place. the trainer's interest in yeats (see below) and gaelic (see above) reflects very nicely with the mood of the film. yet more than anything, the trio of actors; eastwood swank and freeman, encourages multiple viewings. especially mr. freeman. he is outstanding in every film i have seen him in. it gives one goosebumps.

          the lake isle of innisfree

i will arise and go now, and go to innisfree,
and a small cabin build there, of clay and wattles made:
nine bean-rows will i have there, a hive for the honey-bee;
and live alone in the bee-loud glade.

and i shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping
     slow,
dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket
     sings;
there midnight’s all a glimmer, and noon a purple glow,
and evening full of the linnet’s wings.

i will arise and go now, for always night and day
i hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore;
while i stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey,
i hear it in the deep heart’s core.

          w. b. yeats

          morgan freeman

- the pawnbroker (man on the street) - 1964,  sidney lumet
- brubaker - 1980, stuart rosenberg
- driving miss daisy - 1989, bruce beresford
- unforgiven - 1992, clint eastwood
- the shawshank redemption - 1994, frank darabont
- se7en - 1995, david fincher
- million dollar baby - 2004, clint eastwood
- batman begins - 2005, christopher nolan
- war of the worlds - 2005, steven spielberg
- gone baby gone - 2007, ben affleck
- the dark knight - 2008, christopher nolan
- the dark knight rises - 2012,  christopher nolan