Few figures have dominated both sides of the lens as successfully as Clint Eastwood – first as a tough-guy icon of Westerns and gritty thrillers, and later as the respected filmmaker behind hits like Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven and American Sniper.
With over 50 years behind the camera and four Oscars to his name, Eastwood’s legacy in Hollywood is secure. And now, even in his 90s, the Dirty Harry star continues to direct films with the same stripped-back style that defined much of his career.
But despite his own towering achievements, Eastwood has never been shy about crediting those who came before him – and one filmmaker, in particular, stood out to him above all others.
In a conversation with The Guardian, Eastwood named Don Siegel as the most knowledgeable filmmaker he’d ever encountered. “He knew more about filmmaking than anybody I knew. He knew how to do a lot with very little.”
Siegel directed Eastwood in five features, including Coogan’s Bluff (1968), Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), The Beguiled (1971), Escape from Alcatraz (1979), and most famously Dirty Harry (1971) – a film that not only spawned a franchise, but forever cemented Eastwood’s image as the antihero.
Their partnership helped to refine the sharp, no-frills approach to directing that Eastwood himself would later adopt.
“Don Siegel was much more of an old-school, B-movie director,” Eastwood explained. “He made some of the best B-movies ever made: Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Riot in Cell Block 11.”
Siegel’s early career in the Warner Bros montage department, cutting together scenes and learning the rhythm of film, gave him a foundational grasp of cinematic language that few could match.
By the time he was directing features in the 1940s, he had already internalised the mechanics of pacing and structure – something Eastwood admired deeply.
“He just understood the medium,” Eastwood said, noting how Siegel could stretch resources without sacrificing storytelling.
Whether it was a prison break, a Western showdown, or a tense psychological standoff, Siegel’s style was defined by economy, tension, and strong visual storytelling – qualities that Eastwood would later carry into his own directing career.