Buzzards gotta eat, same as worms
If you doubt that Eastwood was not simply winging it, don’t watch his performance - read the transcript. There may be no better indicator of just how intentional Eastwood’s performance is than to compare the visual impression he gave with the text delivered.
I'll admit to a few cringes on first watching, but that's the age thing in my head, not in his performance. Because I was really surprised when I re-watched it (because of all the controversy) by how great I thought it was. He's not a comedic genius, no; but he has solid timing. Watch it thinking "Bob Newhart" or simply as a performance, not a speech, and you might agree.
*Note the shift in presentation, into the chair bit around 3:40 and back around 8:40.
The link in the article above, to Clint's appearance on the Daily Show, is also instructive -- the man measures his speech as a natural habit -- and the other points made in the article are well-taken. Think of times in his movies when he really didn't want to have to go to the trouble of shooting some fella who was behaving in a terminally misguided fashion... Color me convinced: Well done, Mr Eastwood.
And could anything be pettier, or stupider, than Obama's response? "This seat's taken." No kidding, schmuck. And someone else will be sitting there when you're gone, whether that's next year or in four more. It's an institution, dude, and you're just passing through. What an utter lack of style or class.
*Hmm, looking for the video, I found that Jackie Mason agrees: "The 82-year-old Eastwood, said Mason, 'purposely put on an act of being a little frazzled, of being a little old, to make it sound like he wasn’t being intentionally abusive or directly attacking anybody. He wanted it to sound like the meanderings of an older person who happens to be saying these things. And this was so artfully, perfectly conceived.'"
**PS Is mental masochists that unfamiliar a phrase? I've seen it quoted incorrectly in three transcripts.
I'll admit to a few cringes on first watching, but that's the age thing in my head, not in his performance. Because I was really surprised when I re-watched it (because of all the controversy) by how great I thought it was. He's not a comedic genius, no; but he has solid timing. Watch it thinking "Bob Newhart" or simply as a performance, not a speech, and you might agree.
Click to view*Note the shift in presentation, into the chair bit around 3:40 and back around 8:40.
The link in the article above, to Clint's appearance on the Daily Show, is also instructive -- the man measures his speech as a natural habit -- and the other points made in the article are well-taken. Think of times in his movies when he really didn't want to have to go to the trouble of shooting some fella who was behaving in a terminally misguided fashion... Color me convinced: Well done, Mr Eastwood.
And could anything be pettier, or stupider, than Obama's response? "This seat's taken." No kidding, schmuck. And someone else will be sitting there when you're gone, whether that's next year or in four more. It's an institution, dude, and you're just passing through. What an utter lack of style or class.
*Hmm, looking for the video, I found that Jackie Mason agrees: "The 82-year-old Eastwood, said Mason, 'purposely put on an act of being a little frazzled, of being a little old, to make it sound like he wasn’t being intentionally abusive or directly attacking anybody. He wanted it to sound like the meanderings of an older person who happens to be saying these things. And this was so artfully, perfectly conceived.'"
**PS Is mental masochists that unfamiliar a phrase? I've seen it quoted incorrectly in three transcripts.