Clint Eastwood's career

Great article on Eastwood's career at New Yorker, via Longform. A few things that caught my eye:

+ As the Man with No Name, he kept his head still, at a slight angle; he narrowed his eyes; he scowled and curled his upper lip. It was an arrogant teen-ager’s idea of acting, but he looked mean, amused, coolly amoral. He understood that, for an actor like him, playing a character was less important than establishing an image of implacable male force.

+ As (Garry) Wills pointed out, (John) Wayne, swinging his bulk down the streets of the Old West, couldn’t imagine being challenged by anyone. Eastwood, ever wary, couldn’t imagine a world free of challenge.

+ Eastwood became popular, in part, because he allowed people to dream that they could be effective without being nice.