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Other than some Rocky movies and The Right Stuff, I'm fairly certain the only movies I saw in the theater with my Dad were Clint Eastwood flicks. Dad loved Clint Eastwood.
I remember as a kid sitting in the den with Dad and watching Bronco Billy, The Gauntlet, Dirty Harry and numerous Eastwood westerns. When I was old enough, we'd go to the theater whenever a Clint Eastwood movie debuted. We saw Tightrope, Sudden Impact, The Dead Pool, and Heartbreak Ridge together in the theater. I can still remember certain scenes when Dad laughed. The last movie we saw in the theater was Unforgiven. It was by-far Dad's favorite Eastwood movie because it made fun of Clint getting old and really, Dad was getting old with him.
I remember watching the end of In the Line of Fire (on VHS) when Eastwood and Rene Russo were sitting on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Dad blurted, "You see that? You can't do that... sit on those steps. The security guards will make you get up."
"But Dad, they're (Eastwood & Russo) Secret Service agents."
"I'm telling you, they wouldn't let the Pope sit on those steps if he wanted to."
"But Dad, it's a movie."
"Yea... and wow, he (Eastwood) really gave it to that bastard (Malkovich) at the end, didn't he?"
"He sure did!"
And we'd laugh.
Dad died two years ago today. Last night as I got ready for bed I flipped through the TV channels and at the stroke of midnight, Unforgiven started showing on the History Channel. Why it was on the History Channel, I'm not sure, but I stayed up and watched the whole movie. I found myself laughing at the same parts Dad laughed at years ago. I guess I'm getting old, too.
I have yet to see Eastwood in Gran Torino but from what I've heard I'm sure Dad would have really associated with Clint's character in the movie. I'll get around to watching Gran Torino one of these days but right now, for me, watching an Eastwood movie isn't as much fun as it use to be.
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FiN.
