10 Most Badass Clint Eastwood Movies, Ranked (2024)

We all know the unforgettable characters that legendary Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood has delivered on the big screen. The Man With No Name, Dirty Harry Callahan, and Josey Wales are just a few. But which of his many films brings out the most badassery of the icon? Although best known for his genre-defining turns in Westerns, Eastwood has had many kick-ass movies in various other genres over a career spanning eight fantastic full decades.

Clint Eastwood has played all manner of cowboys: a cop who plays by his own rules, a jet fighter pilot, and a Secret Service man charged with protecting the POTUS. Some of his movies give us a side of the versatile actor in ways that can only be defined as deliciously bad to the bone. Here is a list of the films that brought out the most hardcore badass in Eastwood - many of which he directed himself.

10 'Firefox' (1982)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

In a criminally underseen and underrated Clint Eastwood film, Firefox delivers Eastwood in a role we rarely see him play. Only a handful of people on the planet can fly the new, state-of-the-art jet called the Firefox. Lucky for us, Eastwood is the only American who can handle the super jet fighter's pure speed and Mach force as he tries to steal the weapon from the Russians. Eastwood is entangled in a Cold War game of subterfuge, and there should have been more of these movies.

This isn't one of the films you would think Eastwood would direct, but kudos for stretching a little bit and pulling off an underrated espionage thriller. Clint plays Mitchell Gant and goes through a variety of disguises, trying to steal Firefox. Once he's in the co*ckpit, state-of-the-art early 80s aerial special effects make the movie a thrill ride until the very end. For its time, Firefox was a Top Gun: Maverick type of innovative undertaking.

Firefox (1982)

PG

Action

Adventure

Thriller

Release Date

June 18, 1982

Director

Clint Eastwood

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Freddie Jones , David Huffman , Warren Clarke , Ronald Lacey , Kenneth Colley , Klaus Löwitsch , Nigel Hawthorne

Runtime

136 Minutes

RENT ON Amazon

9 'Gran Torino' (2008)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

As Clint Eastwood has entered the golden years of his amazingly illustrious career, he has embraced the role of the "get off my lawn" old man while resisting letting the old man into his psyche. In 2008's Gran Torino, he plays Walt Kowalski, a curmudgeonly Korean War vet who initially pushes his friendly Korean next-door neighbors away, only to discover that they are worth his time and protection from a ruthless street gang.

Some of the best Eastwood roles portray a man who has to overcome his own preconceived notion of someone. The organic friendship he forms with a young Korean boy named Thao (Bee Vang) while they work together on Walt's resplendent Gran Torino muscle car is why we love watching his films. He continues to tell relevant and timely stories that address modern problems and ignorant biases.

WATCH ON NETFLIX

8 'In the Line of Fire' (1993)

Directed by Wolfgang Petersen

Eastwood handed the reins of In the Line of Fire over to the accomplished director, Wolfgang Petersen, so that he could focus on the part of middle-aged Secret Service stud Frank Horrigan. He's out to prove that he's far from retirement and can still take a bullet (again) to protect the POTUS. The lanky star runs alongside the motorcade like a spry deer to keep his place in the most prestigious detail in the Secret Service. In the Line of Fire was a clever way to get Eastwood into a political thriller without dealing with politics.

A remarkable cast, including René Russo and John Malkovich, joins Eastwood in perhaps Malkovich's most diabolical and crazed role, Mitch Leary. Leary is a disgruntled lunatic who has his sights set on assassinating the president. He wants to play cat-and-mouse games with Horrigan, but as usual, Eastwood is too damn badass to fall for the Machiavellian tactics of a maniacal killer. You really thought you would cap the POTUS with a wooden gun, Malkovich? Not on Clint's watch.

In the Line of Fire (1993)

R

Release Date

July 8, 1993

Director

Wolfgang Petersen

Cast

Clint Eastwood , John Malkovich , Rene Russo , Dylan McDermott , Gary Cole , Fred Dalton Thompson

Runtime

128

Main Genre

Action

WATCH ON NETFLIX

7 'Pale Rider' (1985)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

In a decade that was the weakest for the Western genre in history, Eastwood still delivered a memorable 1985 movie called Pale Rider. When the local miners are preyed upon by greedy landowners led by Coy LaHood (Richard Dysart) who try to roll over the helpless citizens of a small town, Eastwood plays a mercurial drifter known as Preacher. He is just what the doctor ordered, given that he has the patented Eastwood gunslinging skills and temperament.

Pale Rider is arguably the best Western film of the 1980s, and it deserves a spot on the list as Clint loads the entire town's future on his broad shoulders and stands up for the working man. But the real badassery of Pale Rider is in the title's significance. Pale Rider is a reference to the Four Horsem*n of the Apocalypse. Eastwood rides the pale horse, which symbolizes death. The film is not his best by any stretch, but it is still the highest-grossing western during the '80s, and it defined the decade.

Pale Rider (1985)

R

Western

Drama

Release Date

June 26, 1985

Director

Clint Eastwood

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Michael Moriarty , John Russell

Runtime

116 minutes

RENT ON PRIME VIDEO

6 'For a Few Dollars More' (1965)

Directed by Sergio Leone

We could easily have included all three of The Man With No Name movies on this list. Still, for the sake of some variety that showcases Clint Eastwood's talent and range, we're going to place For a Few Dollars More squarely at number six at the expense of A Fistful of Dollars, which is absolutely deserving as the first film of the Sergio Leone trilogy. Of course, the other film in the collaboration will be addressed later in the list.

After hitting a home run with the character in Leone and Eastwood's maiden spaghetti western, the sequel is arguably better than the first. It doubles down on the greatness of the first film and gives audiences who crave the genre another look at what would become the most legendary Western character of all time. Eastwood is so incredibly relaxed and cavalier as the wily gunslinger that audiences knew that they were seeing cinematic history as far back as 1964.

For a Few Dollars More

R

Western

See Also

Northwestern announces 2024 Nemmers Prize winners

Release Date

May 10, 1965

Director

Sergio Leone

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Lee Van Cleef , Gian Maria Volonte , Mara Krupp , Luigi Pistilli , Klaus Kinski

Runtime

132

RENT ON Amazon

5 'Hang 'em High' (1968)

Directed by Ted Post

The best version of Clint Eastwood is one who is seeking retribution. If you're foolish enough to try to kill him, you had better finish the job. In Hang'em High, the gritty Western star plays Marshal Jed Cooper. When a gang of outlaws tries to leave him dangling with a rope around his neck, the game is afoot and compelling enough to land in the top five of our list.

If Marvel Comics thinks they created the look of Wolverine in the X-Men, they had better take a look at Eastwood in this high-stakes, dusty drama. As Jed Cooper, Clint wore fabulous hair and scruffy sideburns some fifty years before Hugh Jackman unleashed his claws as a mutant. The movie is both raw and underrated, and it may be one of the legend's best and coolest films that has flown under the radar of even the biggest Western fan.

RENT ON Amazon

4 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

An Eastwood scorned is the most compelling and kick-ass version of the actor you'll ever get. When his wife and child are murdered by Union soldiers, Josey is the only man to make it out alive when Captain Terrill (Bill McKinney) massacres a group of prisoners. Josey manages to pick off several of Terrill's men before having to flee to the Lone Star State. He is then The Outlaw Josey Wales, who must fight to protect the family that has taken him in.

The shot of Eastwood as Josey Wales with both pistols drawn and raised to either side of his head is one of the seminal moments captured in any Western film. Aside from the images of The Man With No Name, Eastwood's deeply furrowed brow and scowl, like Josey Wales's, are as scary and intimidating as you will see the actor. If you draw your pistol on Wales, you had better be prepared to die because the draw is silky smooth and terrifying.

The Outlaw Josey Wales

PG

Western

Release Date

June 30, 1976

Director

Clint Eastwood

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Chief Dan George , Sondra Locke , Bill McKinney , John Vernon , Paula Trueman

Runtime

135 minutes

RENT ON Amazon

3 'The Unforgiven' (1992)

Directed by Clint Eastwood

Just when he thinks he's out, they pull him back in. Eastwood delivers an Oscar-caliber performance as cowboy William Munny. The movie actually did win an Academy Award in 1992, due in large part to Eastwood's reputation but also because of a stellar supporting cast that includes Morgan Freeman, Gene Hackman, and Richard Harris. Clint would also direct the film, as he was prone to do—especially during the latter half of his career.

There is no more badass Clint Eastwood than an angry and vengeful one. Eastwood versus Hackman is cinema at its best, but having them go toe to toe in the Wild West is just pure, unfiltered cinematic goodness. Getting Morgan Freeman after his brilliant turns in Glory and Driving Miss Daisy, and just before he broke out in The Shawshank Redemption, was a coup for Eastwood. This movie has so much talent that having a stellar screenplay and a fulfilling character arc for Munny was the icing on the cake—a no-brainer top-three badass Eastwood film.

The Unforgiven

Approved

Western

Drama

Romance

Release Date

April 6, 1960

Director

John Huston

Cast

Burt Lancaster , Audrey Hepburn , John Saxon , Lillian Gish

Runtime

125 minutes

RENT ON Amazon

2 'Dirty Harry' (1971)

Directed by Don Siegel

Fans of the Western genre that defined Clint Eastwood will be just fine, with Dirty Harry landing at the number two spot and not number one. Dirty Harry gave us a cop who wasn't afraid to break the rules and meted out justice as he saw fit. Harry Callahan was the judge, jury, and executioner on the streets of San Francisco, and even though his methods were highly questionable at the time and even more so now, that is what makes the movie revolutionary and spectacular.

Cops before Dirty Harry were the "just the facts, ma'am" types that we saw in Dragnet until Steve McQueen blew the lid off the coat-and-tie pencil-pushing type. Eastwood took what McQueen did in Bullitt and took it up a notch as a city cop who was dangerously trigger-happy and never took guff from anyone—especially a diabolical serial sniper played deftly by Andrew Robinson.

Dirty Harry

R

Action

Crime

Thriller

Release Date

December 23, 1971

Director

Don Siegel

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Harry Guardino , Reni Santoni , John Vernon , Andrew Robinson , John Larch

Runtime

102

RENT ON Amazon

1 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' (1966)

Directed by Sergio Leone

When you hear the Morricone harmonica as the backdrop to a scowling Eastwood as he swaggers into the picture, it will always give audiences goosebumps. In The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, The Man With No Name is as intimidating as gunslingers get on screen. Eastwood was a natural, with his squinting eyes and chomping down on that burning cigar. His hat was tilted ever so slightly, and the five o'clock shadow is what men try to emulate to this day.

An excellent and authentic cast of Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach firmly established the spaghetti western as a subgenre of the wildly popular genre that began in the silent era and continued to snowball during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Eastwood is the quintessential cowboy in a kick-ass movie that has an unflinching storyline, including deceit, duplicity, and the ultimate betrayal. It is easily the legendary actor's most badass film.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Release Date

December 29, 1967

Director

Sergio Leone

Cast

Clint Eastwood , Eli Wallach , Lee Van Cleef , Aldo Giuffrè , Luigi Pistilli

Runtime

178 Minutes

Main Genre

Western

RENT ON Amazon

NEXT: The 10 Best Clint Eastwood Movie Characters, Ranked