The
Malpaso production company was established by Clint Eastwood and his financial
adviser, Irving Leonard, in 1967, between the star’s return from Europe and the
commencement of Hang ’Em High. While
Eastwood’s name was above the titles, below them you would often find the same
people in support – a veritable stock company. All the actors here made three
or more appearances in Malpaso movies during Eastwood’s box-office prime. One thing is for certain: they'd never forget the day he drifted into town...
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| "Laugh at me you bastard and I'll shoot you where you stand": Michael Cavanaugh in The Enforcer |
MICHAEL CAVANAUGH
(1942-) Chameleonic all-rounder, predominantly
a TV performer, who essayed two memorably slimy supporting roles for Eastwood:
as a cynical ‘revolutionary’ in The
Enforcer, who makes the fatal mistake of belittling Harry’s female partner
(played by Tyne Daly – Cavanaugh later guested on two episodes of Cagney & Lacey); as the crooked
assistant DA in The Gauntlet, who
connives with the police commissioner against Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
The Enforcer; The Gauntlet; Any Which Way
You Can
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| "Then the whiskey run out, then the beer run out": Matt Clark in The Outlaw Josey Wales |
MATT CLARK
(1936-) Drawling, scrawny-looking
character player who, along with the likes of Luke Askew, Bo Hopkins and
Geoffrey Lewis, helped define the uncouth, naturalistic texture of Seventies
revisionist westerns. Forged his skills as a member of the famous Living
Theatre Company in New York. His roles for Eastwood were relatively minor – he stood
out as the wry bartender of Santa Rio in The
Outlaw Josey Wales – but he made a telling contribution to American genre cinema.
Worked with major film-makers such as Peckinpah, Aldrich and Huston, essaying
outlaws and lawmen, criminals and cops, with deftness and vividness. Recently
popped up as a prospector in spoof western A
Million Ways to Die in the West.
The Beguiled; The Outlaw Josey Wales;
Honkytonk Man
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| "Things have changed in Lago...": Jack Ging in High Plains Drifter |
JACK GING
(1931-) His versatility and fit-anywhere
face earned him a good living on TV. Among many credits, he had a recurring
role as an army general on The A-Team.
Of the smattering of film roles in his 35-year career, one of his most notable
was Morg Allen in High Plains Drifter,
squire of the tarty Callie Travers (Marianna Hill). Wounded by Eastwood’s
stranger in an attempted ambush, he meets a nasty demise at the hands of
Geoffrey Lewis.
Hang ’Em High; Play Misty for Me; High
Plains Drifter
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| It's a Dirty job: Harry Guardino as Lt Bressler in The Enforcer |
HARRY GUARDINO
(1925-95) Swarthy, tough-looking
Italian-American with a thick Brooklyn brogue. Retained from Madigan by Don Siegel for Dirty Harry, where his police lieutenant
brooks no nonsense – well, a minimum of nonsense – from Eastwood’s maverick
detective. Wore a more perturbed expression in The Enforcer, the strain of being Harry’s superior taking its toll.
Realised the ‘dream’ of every Italian-American actor – to play a mobster – in
the Which Way films.
Dirty Harry; The Enforcer; Every Which
Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can
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| Laying down the law: Pat Hingle recruits Jed Cooper in Hang 'Em High |
PAT HINGLE
(1924-2009) Another actor charged with
keeping Eastwood’s lone-wolf law enforcers in line. Portly, gruff-voiced and
authoritative (he played a lot of judges, military men and high-ranking
policemen), he is best known latterly for portraying Commissioner Gordon in
four pre-Nolan Batman movies.
Hang ’Em High; The Gauntlet; Sudden
Impact
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| Them's black widders: Roy Jenson (right) with Bill McKinney in Every Which Way But Loose |
ROY JENSON
(1927-2007) Bulky supporting actor, a
fixture in westerns and crime films in the Sixties and Seventies. Initially a
stunt performer, he picked up small roles as henchmen and outlaws, often on TV.
Worked with the likes of Peckinpah and Milius; in Chinatown, he restrained Jack Nicholson while Roman Polanski gave
him a nose job. Played bikers in three films for Eastwood, notably one of the
comical Black Widows in the Which Way
series.
Paint Your Wagon; Thunderbolt and
Lightfoot; The Gauntlet; Every Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can;
Honkytonk Man
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| "Come down out of there, you bastard! I'll cut your heart out!" Geoffrey Lewis in High Plains Drifter |
GEOFFREY LEWIS
(1935-2015) Consummate character actor,
with piercing blue eyes and furrowed, deeply expressive features that assumed
amiable or threatening aspects as required. Eastwood’s antagonist in High Plains Drifter, he turned sidekick
for the Which Way movies, a dry comic
foil for the star and his simian companion. Supplemented film work with
numerous TV appearances. Father of actress/singer Juliette Lewis.
High Plains Drifter; Thunderbolt and
Lightfoot; Every Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can; Bronco Billy; Pink
Cadillac; Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
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| "Must you, Bronco Billy?" |
SONDRA LOCKE
(1944-) Willowy, doe-eyed actress whose
life and career were defined – and circumscribed, in a sense – by her relationship
with Eastwood. Hit the ground running with an Oscar-nominated performance as a
mute in The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
in 1968, but struggled to capitalise until she entered Eastwood’s orbit,
playing his love interest on screen and off for 14 years. Effective as the
waif-like Laura Lee (“a little odd”) in Josey
Wales, she failed to convince as a tough-talking hooker in The Gauntlet. She was more assured in
the less demanding Which Way films
and Bronco Billy, and struck an
intense note as the vengeful heroine of Sudden
Impact.
The Outlaw Josey Wales; The Gauntlet;
Every Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can; Bronco Billy; Sudden Impact
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| The bad and the bumbling: Bill McKinney in The Outlaw Josey Wales (top) and Every Which Way... |
BILL McKINNEY
(1931-2011) Typecast as a heavy after his
feral turn as a backwoods sodomite in Deliverance,
the Tennessee native joined Eastwood’s stock company via a bizarre cameo as a bunny-killing
psychopath in Thunderbolt and Lightfoot.
“I improvised quite a bit on that,” the actor remembered. “Shootin’ the rabbits…
was kinda weird. But all in all, it came off funny.” Projected unyielding
fanaticism as the murderous militiaman who slaughters the hero’s family in The Outlaw Josey Wales, but his later
Eastwood projects tapped his raw comedic skills.
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot; The Outlaw
Josey Wales; The Gauntlet; Every Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can;
Bronco Billy; Pink Cadillac
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| "You're a sweet man, Harry" - John Mitchum as Frank DiGiorgio in The Enforcer |
JOHN MITCHUM
(1919-2001) Bob’s burly younger brother.
Never star material, but a serviceable supporting player from the Forties
onwards. Once married to Gloria Grahame’s sister. Punched out the star of his
first film (1947’s The Prairie),
unaware of the convention of pulling his shots. Scored his most prominent roles
in his middle years, notably as Frank ‘Fatso’ DiGiorgio, Callahan’s linguine-loving
best friend on the force, in the first three Dirty Harry films.
Paint Your Wagon; Dirty Harry; High
Plains Drifter; Magnum Force; The Enforcer; The Outlaw Josey Wales
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| "I gots to know..." - Albert Popwell in Dirty Harry (top) and The Enforcer (below) |
ALBERT POPWELL
(1926-99) Lean black actor with a languid
manner. As the hippy Wonderful Digby in Coogan’s
Bluff, he stared down the shaft of a broken bottle wielded by Eastwood. As
a wounded bank robber in Dirty Harry,
he stared down the barrel of the world’s most famous .44 – and didn’t feel
lucky. Played a pimp, militant and cop respectively in the next three
instalments in the series, always with a streetwise swagger. Outside the
Eastwood canon, he is best known for Cleopatra
Jones and its sequel.
Coogan’s Bluff; Dirty Harry; Magnum
Force; The Enforcer; Sudden Impact
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| John Quade in The Outlaw Josey Wales (top) and Every Which Way... (below) |
JOHN QUADE
(1938-2009) Like Popwell, Quade was the
recipient of a classic Eastwoodism. Challenging the stranger in High Plains Drifter, Quade’s would-be
tough guy is told: “You’re gonna look awfully silly with that knife stickin’ up
your ass.” The stocky actor, with his pockmarked, somewhat lizardlike face, was
a prolific TV villain, although he displayed a facility for comedy as the ill-starred
leader of the bungling biker gang in the Which
Way films. “He looked like he could do murder and mayhem at any moment, but he was a big teddy bear,” his wife
said. In later life he found a new calling as a Christian activist.
High Plains Drifter; The Outlaw Josey
Wales; Every Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can
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| Bad to the bone: Dan Vadis in High Plains Drifter |
DAN VADIS
(1938-87) A member of Mae West’s
muscleman revue in the Fifties, he gravitated to Italy to star in torso-flexing
potboilers. Played a string of villains in Euro-westerns with considerable
vigour, returning to the US to repeat the trick for Eastwood. His role as an
Indian chief in Bronco Billy was a
welcome change of pace. He died of a drugs overdose. His mentor, Gordon
Mitchell, described him as hot-tempered and headstrong: “He thought he could do
anything, control anything… He started taking drugs and he thought he could
control it.”
High Plains Drifter; The Gauntlet; Every
Which Way But Loose; Any Which Way You Can; Bronco Billy
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| "And this is for wearing that jacket" - Gregory Walcott gets some tailoring advice |
GREGORY WALCOTT
(1928-2015) First crossed Eastwood’s path
on Rawhide, by which time he’d
‘enjoyed’ a featured role in the notorious Plan
9 from Outer Space. He was a match for Eastwood in terms of physical
stature – they were both 6ft 4in – but was knocked down to size by the latter more
than once in their features together. Equipped himself well as a blowhard
lawman in Joe Kidd and Every Which Way But Loose, and as the
odious and badly dressed Pope opposite Eastwood’s mountaineering assassin in The Eiger Sanction.
Joe Kidd; Thunderbolt and Lightfoot; The
Eiger Sanction; Every Which Way But Loose
Kevin Grant
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