Clint Eastwood’s Surprising Grudge Against Four Iconic Films

Clint Eastwood’s reputation in the film world is built on decades of hard work, both in front of and behind the camera. He’s not the sort to take cheap shots at other people’s projects, knowing full well the effort that goes into making a film, no matter the outcome. Still, there have been a handful of times when he’s let his true feelings slip, and it turns out there are a few celebrated titles he just can’t stand. Even though he’s copped to making a few duds himself, there are only a select few classics that have really got under his skin.

The Karate Kid: A Personal Grudge

Eastwood’s beef with John G Avildsen’s 1984 coming-of-age hit isn’t about the story or the acting—it’s personal. According to Sandra Locke, Eastwood was in talks to direct the film, but he had one condition: his son, Kyle, had to play the lead. When the studio, run by Coca-Cola at the time, knocked back his request, Eastwood walked away from the project. The snub stung so much that he wouldn’t even let a Coke bottle near him after that.

The Missouri Breaks: Not Impressed by the Western

When it comes to westerns, Eastwood’s word carries weight. He’s starred in some of the best, and the genre’s been central to his career. But Arthur Penn’s 1976 film, featuring Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, didn’t win him over. The film wasn’t a hit when it came out, but over time, it’s gained a bit of a cult following. Eastwood, though, wasn’t having it. He called it

“ridiculous,”

and reckoned the script was so poor that even the stars didn’t take it seriously. He even suggested Brando treated the whole thing like a holiday, saying he just wanted to

“go off and screw off somewhere.”

Dersu Uzala: Disappointed by a Master

Akira Kurosawa is a director Eastwood has openly admired, especially since Kurosawa’s Yojimbo inspired A Fistful of Dollars. But Dersu Uzala, Kurosawa’s 1975 film, didn’t do it for him. Despite the film winning an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and being considered a classic by many, Eastwood said he

“thought that was terrible,”

though he did admit it

“did have a nice wind sequence in it.”

Even a mid-tier Kurosawa is still a big deal, but for Eastwood, this one just missed the mark.

The Shining: No Chills for Clint

Horror’s never been Eastwood’s thing, and he’s never tried to hide it. If he ever sat down with Stephen King, they’d have a good laugh about Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, since both of them can’t stand it. Eastwood found it funny that the film was hyped as a masterpiece before anyone had even seen it. After watching, he didn’t hold back, saying

“they would have bombed it right out of the building”

if it hadn’t been made by Kubrick. He also reckoned

“there just wasn’t anything at all terrifying about it,”

and described a key scene as

“dead as a dick.”

In his words,

“It was just a giant failure.”