Clint Eastwood’s Surprising Disdain for Four Beloved Films

Clint Eastwood, a figure synonymous with Hollywood gravitas, is not one to casually disparage the work of his peers. Having spent decades both in front of and behind the camera, he understands the sheer effort that goes into crafting a film, regardless of its outcome. Yet, on rare occasions, even Eastwood has found himself unable to conceal his distaste for certain titles—remarkably, all of them widely regarded as classics.

It is not in his nature to be openly scathing, but these particular films have provoked such a strong reaction that he has not shied away from voicing his opinions. Interestingly, his criticisms are not reserved for obscure or poorly received productions; rather, they are directed at some of the most celebrated works in cinema history.

The Karate Kid: A Personal Grudge

Eastwood’s aversion to John G Avildsen’s 1984 coming-of-age tale is rooted in personal disappointment rather than artistic critique. According to Sandra Locke, Eastwood was once in talks to direct the film, with the stipulation that his son, Kyle, would take the lead role. When Columbia Pictures declined this request, Eastwood withdrew from the project and, in a fit of pique, reportedly refused to have anything to do with Coca-Cola, the company overseeing the studio at the time.

The Missouri Breaks: A Western Misfire

Few genres are as closely associated with Eastwood as the western, so his dismissal of Arthur Penn’s 1976 film The Missouri Breaks is particularly striking. The film, notable for bringing together Marlon Brando and Jack Nicholson, failed to impress both critics and audiences upon release, though it has since been re-evaluated more favourably. Eastwood, however, was not swayed, labelling it

“ridiculous”

and remarking that

“it wasn’t a good script and they obviously felt so, too.”

He went so far as to suggest that Brando treated the production as little more than a holiday, saying the actor used the opportunity to

“go off and screw off somewhere.”

Dersu Uzala: Disappointment from a Master

Despite his admiration for Akira Kurosawa—whose work inspired Eastwood’s own career-defining roles—he found little to praise in the 1975 film Dersu Uzala. While the film earned an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film and is considered a significant achievement, Eastwood was blunt in his assessment, stating he

“thought that was terrible,”

though he conceded it featured

“a nice wind sequence.”

Even a mid-tier effort from Kurosawa, in Eastwood’s view, failed to meet the high standards set by the director’s other works.

The Shining: Unimpressed by a Horror Landmark

Horror has never been Eastwood’s preferred genre, and his reaction to Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 adaptation of The Shining was particularly dismissive. Sharing a rare point of agreement with Stephen King, Eastwood found the film’s reputation for terror to be entirely unearned. He remarked that

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

had it not been directed by Kubrick, adding that

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

He described the infamous axe murder scene as

“dead as a dick,”

and summed up his view in just a few words:

“It was just a giant failure.”