All language subtitles for CLINT EASTWOOD - A Cinematic Legacy - Episode 8

you get it I don't know I wish I could have seen
their faces this is an amazing story that so few

people know about that was swept under the carpet
for 60 years there are plenty other photos taken

that day but none anybody wanted to see the
right picture can win or lose a war it's far

greater than any sort of fiction that you could
ever read okay let's do it again Clint is able

in his movies to do this thing where he both makes
a great war movie and he kind of deconstructs the

idea of a war movie this is primarily a British
operation I'm an American I don't even know why

the hell I'm here Li tenant you're here because
you're an American when he gets into a project

he gets into a project and he's just completely
involved with all the details of the research

and so you know it's pretty good we have Clen
with being a researcher and then you look back

and say oh there they go yeah that's the
great thing about Clintwood he wants to

make sure it looks 100% authentic and real and
it feels like it's World War II and it [Music]

did Clint Eastwood's diverse career includes
dramas action films westerns and even a

musical but no stories are closer to his
heart than those that portray the plight

of a soldier in Wartime his dedication to
authenticity inspires his collaborators

it was an incredible experience to be able to
do this with him I mean if you ask me who the

ideal director is you want Clint Eastwood
cuz Clint just had a great way of casting

people that understood the responsibility how
you doing you okay oh [ __ ] it's good to see

you you're my hero bro yeah you always have
been let's go KL Colonel's waiting the legend

huh what happen you all right I'm just tired
man I'm going home I'm proud of you everybody

felt so honored to be there to do service to Seal
Team 3 they took it very seriously very seriously

and they just wanted to get it right lieutenant
in the next 15 minutes we have to create enough

confusion to get out of here alive major right now
you got me about as confused as I ever hope to be

Eastwood's history with war movies dates back to
the earliest days of his film career when he was

cast opposite a cinema Legend I had never done a
picture with wellknown people in it and Richard

Burton was going to be in the thing and my agent
thought oh God it'll be you and Richard Burton

it'll be a thing so I went to Austria and so I met
Richard Burton who was uh with Elizabeth Taylor at

that time and they all invited me up to cocktails
of which they were more accustomed to than I was

Austria was very cold we shot it in the winter
time but Austria was great great food not a good

Austrian beer and with Richard you had to stop
quite a few times in the picture we try this one

behind us we'd be driving along to go somewhere
and he'd say there's a nice little hostel down

here that has great brandy or something like
that so he had to stop and it was interesting

conac make that too certainly unusual wearing
war uniforms as opposed to pontios and Stetsons

and so forth we've been up in the mountains uh
shooting from cable cars and hanging from cables

and sliding off the roofs and shooting Germans
thought I shot a lot of people with a SI shooter

you should see how we can do with a machine gun
the film like this I think it's very apt casting

to cast Clint Eastwood and myself because we such
enormous contract in type he's tall and slow and

drawly sort of all Gary Cooper and as good as
Gary Cooper perhaps even better and I'm short

and thick and fast talking is that it major yes
that's it do me a favor will you next time you

have one of these things keep it an all British
operation Eastwood's Early Education in war films

continued when he was cast in Kelly's Heroes along
onside another group of Veteran performers we had

Don Rickles on the picture who was constantly
entertaining I uh I got a little favor to ask

of you well you stop crying I haven't even asked
you yet the hell's the matter with you we had a

crew of austrians we had a crew of English we
had a crew that had Americans and he would do

skits every morning he'd do thing and he'd insult
every one of those groups I just mentioned and uh

everybody was lying on the floor laughing so
it was a kind of an interesting picture this

is of course ladies and gentlemen Clint a with a
wonderful star Clint we've been on the picture now

for with you about two days and I want to say I'm
be here for the whole cast Clint fed up you don't

know this Clint started out in raw high he was
the one that kept saying yaha yaha and a producer

one day said get the dumbbell that's yelling yah
then he met Brian Hutton our 9-year-old director

who was not here today unfortunately then at
the end after he insulted all these people he

insult some Austrian people who you know didn't
quite know what they were hearing and they they

going of laugh like what are we do now pick
up our equipment and get out of here before

a German Patrol comes along oh that's great as
his career progressed Eastwood moved behind the

camera where his War films became a canvas for
powerful personal stories of Honor commitment and

patriotism look look at

[Music] that no wartime image in American
history passes the photograph captured by

AP photographer Joe Rosenthal of the raising of
the flag on iima the film inspired by that image

came to Eastwood through another director
with a long history of War films we were

both talking with our tux John backstage
after an award ceremony and Clint said I

hear you've got this book called Flags of Our
Fathers really an interesting book I read it

and I believe I said yeah I haven't quite been
able to crack it I haven't quite gotten an ADD

ation to a screenplay that I'm happy with yet
do you want to take a crack at it he said yes

send it over the flag raising of course and the
and the famous photograph became the the most

important photograph of World War II the power
of the image was not lost on a teenage paper boy

living in Sacramento I was 11 years old when
World War II broke out and uh it was in every

newspaper that I saw I delivered newspapers
and it just sort of symbolized the war effort

it was the biggest battle in Marine Corps history
more casualties and more Medals of Honor given out

in that battle than any other Battle in History
to bring the gritty reality of War to the screen

Eastwood avoided over rehearsing his actors
prior to battle scenes it was Clint's idea from

the beginning to have us not prepared to have it
be very much like it would be on the battlefield

all of these young men just sort of thrown into
uniform and be ambushed as they were what a hell

of an experience i' had never seen anything like
that um where things were exploding all around

you I'd look to my left and see a line of 500
Marines firing guns I mean it was so immersive

your adrenaline and your emotion is kicked
in you can't help but be affected by that

environment Go Go you were caught off guard
constantly and your reactions were very real

action once action was called and and you
were running through the field it was it

was electric you really didn't have to act
you just had to be there and live it stop

when the time came to recreate an indelible
moment of American History the actors needed

no prompting to feel the gravity of the
moment shooting the flag racing scene was

really incredible the night before we all sat
in our hotel rooms and we just watched it over

and over uh watching exactly what our guys did
like I noticed that Franklin for some reason he

puts it up and he looks down in his hand twice
and I and nobody has any idea why he does it

and I don't think anybody really would have
noticed if you hadn't seen it like 75 or 80

times it was a really emotionally charged day
you could sense this sort of palpable energy

in the crew and and the rest of the cast of
something very special was happening and then

we just did it and for some reason when we did
it it happened like it happened it's just kind

of what happened Mike's hand fell right over
mine uh Irish hands went up in in the way that

they went up it was really an incredible moment
I think for everybody it's a Monumental moment

we raise the flag and then literally the whole
island just explodes in in cheers and forz and

and the the ships off the island all you know
hug their horns and stuff and you know the the

Marines all over the rest of the island thr the
rifles and they felt like that they'd won the

battle for iima to see that flag fluttering in
the wind and everything being cograph down to

the exact Nuance of how it happened Clint told us
that we'd done a great job and that was uh rare

for him to express that kind of emotion with
us and so it was it was a good day jeez look

at [Music] that for his young cast Flags of Our
Fathers would become an unforgettable experience

I will never look at the flag the same way again
uh I will never think of war the same way again

and and if anyone kind of romanticizes the idea
of War boy this project in particular will change

that Viewpoint I think yeah I'm very proud to be
part of something like this the movie completely

honors these young marines and the people who
sacrific so much for war but it also says in a

very Unapologetic way that you know war is Hell
first and foremost move on Mike m can you hear

us to be able to explore what these guys did
and what they went through I will walk away

with having had one of the most incredible
experiences of my life something that always

stuck with me throughout filming the movie as
well was the wars are always fought by the boys

you know the boys and it's he makes a point of
that at the end of the film and we're all running

around and we're all just splashing around in
the surf you know just being what we are [Music]

as he was shooting Flags of Our Fathers
Eastwood found himself wondering about

the plight of the men on the other side
of the battlefield in the middle of Flags

of Our Fathers he came to me one day and he
said I'd like to talk to you about an idea

I just had I'd like to also tell the story of
iojima from the Japanese point of view I want

to tell the story of kobashi the general
who was defending EO while I was was still

putting Flags of Our Fathers together
I would went off and shot letters from

uima I became curious about General kurabayashi
especially when American generals were saying he

was one of the smartest generals on the island
so I figured what was so smart about him so I

went back and started reading a book and the only
book available was a book on some letters that

he had written home to his family while he was
an Envoy here in the United States in 1928 and

[Music] 30 you [Music] are he was so interesting
man and uh he had studied in United States and

Canada and he totally understood about the
American and the feelings and the culture

and the Customs he sent 41 letters from this
island and so it's a very family man in his

letters home he was concerned about his his
kids and I just found a very sensitive man

with the exact same concerns that I have or any
father has you break it down to the coming from

the different walks of life and how it's a life
Interrupted uh just as it was for the Americans

[Music]

Eastwood's decision to make two films rather than
one enabled him to illuminate Common Ground shared

by soldiers on both sides knowing he was with
you that day and seeing him in that photograph

I don't know why it makes me feel better but it
does it's so silly isn't it no it's not when you

boil it down to the emotions of the people
they're dealing with the same thing you're

dealing with a young man who is conscripted to
be sent over to iima knowing that the odds of him

getting back are going to be really remote and
then finally believing he's never going to get

[Music] back I think what Clint is doing in
telling the Japanese side of this story is

revolutionary I think it's been something that
is long overdue I must say I had a great time

doing it because to visit another culture
and do it in another language it was great

to to look at the same battle the same war from
two different perspectives it all boils down to

young men being sent off to end their lives
prematurely no matter what side you're on

[Music]

no hero I'm I can't take them calling me a hero

all I did was try not to get
shot Mike was a hero [Music]

n

[Applause] [Music]