Clint Eastwood's 10 Greatest Action Sequences, Ranked

Clint Eastwood's 10 Greatest Action Sequences, Ranked Dirty-Harry-Clint-Eastwood-2

Image via Warner Bros.

By Jeremy Urquhart Published 1 minute ago Jeremy has more than 2100 published articles on Collider to his name, and has been writing for the site since February 2022. He's an omnivore when it comes to his movie-watching diet, so will gladly watch and write about almost anything, from old Godzilla films to gangster flicks to samurai movies to classic musicals to the French New Wave to the MCU... well, maybe not the Disney+ shows. His favorite directors include Martin Scorsese, Sergio Leone, Akira Kurosawa, Quentin Tarantino, Werner Herzog, John Woo, Bob Fosse, Fritz Lang, Guillermo del Toro, and Yoji Yamada. He's also very proud of the fact that he's seen every single Nicolas Cage movie released before 2022, even though doing so often felt like a tremendous waste of time. He's plagued by the question of whether or not The Room is genuinely terrible or some kind of accidental masterpiece, and has been for more than 12 years (and a similar number of viewings). When he's not writing lists - and the occasional feature article - for Collider, he also likes to upload film reviews to his Letterboxd profile (username: Jeremy Urquhart) and Instagram account. He is also currently in the process of trying to become a Stephen King expert by reading all 2397 novels written by the author. Sign in to your Collider account Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap

One of the manliest men to ever man, Clint Eastwood has been around for decades upon decades at this point, first achieving fame through Western roles on the small screen (Rawhide) and the big screen (A Fistful of Dollars), and then he got into directing by the early 1970s. If he’d only been an actor, he’d be an icon for those roles, and then if he’d only ever done work behind the camera, he’d still probably be legendary.

It's neat, then, that he’s done both, though most of the films he’s directed are dramas more so than action movies. Plenty of his best action sequences involved him acting in movies directed by other people, though he directed himself in certain movies that had a bit of action, too. Also, there’s one movie here that he didn’t star in, but it did impress with one large-scale set piece, so it kind of had to be included. Also also, not all the movies here are action movies necessarily, but you can have action scenes in films of other genres, so that’s why they're here (deal with it).

10 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' (1976)

Eastwood on the Gatling Gun

Image via Warner Bros.

At the start of The Outlaw Josey Wales, things mostly revolve around the titular character (played by Eastwood) seeking revenge for the murder of his family, which takes place near the end of the Civil War. But then things spiral out of control a little, because revenge is never simple, and Wales becomes something of a reluctant anti-hero for various downtrodden people he comes across.

It’s more of a Western than an action movie, but there is a good deal of violence here, with some of it being cathartic (like Wales mowing down a bunch of people with a Gatling gun), while other acts of violence are shown as genuinely horrifying. The Outlaw Josey Wales is one of Clint Eastwood’s personal favorite films, of all the ones he’s had a role in, be it directing or acting, and it’s not too hard to see why.

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

The Bridge Sequence

Bridge explosion from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - 1966 (1)

Image via Produzioni Europee Associate

Predominantly a Western, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is also an epic, and that means it has room to function as something of an action/adventure movie, a buddy comedy, and even a Civil War film, all at once. It’s got a sequence near the end that puts the Civil War stuff at the center, with two of the title characters needing to get past a large battle taking place over a bridge.

So, among all the fighting, they sneak out to blow the bridge up, and the whole scene does culminate with that explosion, which looks genuinely dangerous (like the production of the movie itself apparently was). Sergio Leone did succeed in making The Good, the Bad and the Ugly feel pretty close to the ultimate Western movie, and also more than just a Western, and there’s enough spectacle to the whole sequence surrounding the bridge to make it count as an action scene of sorts.

8 'The Eiger Sanction' (1975)

Climbing the Mountain

Image via Universal Pictures

The Eiger Sanction is a lesser-known Clint Eastwood film, made at a time when he was particularly prolific as both an actor and director, so maybe that’s why it gets buried a little, as a result. It feels a bit like a spy movie, which is an interesting change of pace for Eastwood, since he gets to play more of an international adventurer/assassin here, rather than a cowboy, Old West anti-hero, or modern-day police officer.

It's tempting to compare it to another movie (well, series) about a certain spy, but The Eiger Sanction is a little slower and not quite as polished as some of the best espionage-related films out there. Still, when it hits, it is impressive, as is the case whenever the movie spends time showing mountain climbing, as that stuff is genuinely tense and features Eastwood doing some impressive stunts, too.

7 'The Enforcer' (1976)

The Alcatraz Finale

Image via Warner Bros.

While Escape from Alcatraz is the most iconic Alcatraz-related movie that Clint Eastwood ever starred in, it’d just be a bit too much of a stretch to say anything there feels like an action scene. The movie is exciting as a thriller, and it not being here isn't supposed to suggest otherwise, but it’s more tense than explosive or action-focused. It’s got something of an honorable mention thanks to all this rambling though, in any event.

But The Enforcer, on the other hand? This is the third movie in the Dirty Harry series, and it concludes with an action sequence on Alcatraz Island that is a bit more explosive and action-oriented. The setting does most of the heavy-lifting, because a shootout on Alcatraz is inherently cool (see also most of the action in The Rock), but there’s nothing wrong with some simple pleasures when you're talking about action films.

6 'Where Eagles Dare' (1968)

Holding Off German Soldiers in the Hallway

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

A World War II film that’s also an (underrated) action movie, Where Eagles Dare is one of those quintessential “pulling off an impossible mission” kind of films, and a mostly satisfying one. That mission involves a team having to plan the rescue of an American general who’s being held in a seemingly impenetrable castle, with the structure playing out as expected; you know, assembling the team, forming the plan, and carrying out the task itself, all in a very three-act way.

But it worked for Seven Samurai and The Dirty Dozen, and it also works for Where Eagles Dare. Eastwood gets to be a badass, of course, exemplified most by the sequence that sees him holding off a bunch of German soldiers in a hallway with an MP40 sub-machine gun. It’s simple, maybe, compared to some of the other scenes mentioned here, but it’s still pretty great.

5 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot' (1974)

The Main Heist

Image via United Artists

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a noteworthy early Jeff Bridges movie that saw him paired with Clint Eastwood, and their buddy dynamic proves surprisingly strong here. Also, Thunderbolt and Lightfoot is a sometimes goofy action/comedy film, a heist movie, and something of a drama at points as well. It’s a lot of things. Oh, and a road movie, of course.

There’s lots of driving, as a result, but if you're looking for a set piece, it’s probably the main heist sequence that’s built up to for a good chunk of the film, and which changes the direction of the rest of the story once it happens. It’s tense, and also has Eastwood’s character using an Oerlikon 20 mm cannon to break into the safe during the robbery, which is novel (and just a thing Thunderbolt does, setting him apart from most movie robbers).

4 'Magnum Force' (1973)

The Shootout with the Mob

Image via Warner Bros.

The second Dirty Harry movie was Magnum Force, which might’ve had a little more action than the first movie, but it didn’t push things too far (depending on who you ask, the same potentially can’t be said of the lighter and sometimes more over-the-top The Enforcer). The plot here sees Harry Callahan taking on rogue cops, and the whole thing also relates to mob activity, so he’s got a whole lot more people to deal with here than in the first film.

Said conflict involves a shootout that’s capped off with a pretty good stunt involving a car, followed by one of the antagonists crashing the car in question and getting a pretty grisly death. There’s more action in Magnum Force, of course, but the shootout here (and that stunt) is probably the film at its most exciting.

3 'Flags of Our Fathers' (2006) & 'Letters from Iwo Jima' (2006)

The Battle of Iwo Jima

This is one that Clint Eastwood directed, rather than starred in, and also, it’s technically two movies that Eastwood directed: Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Both came out in 2006, and the two movies mirror each other by showing the Battle of Iwo Jima from two perspectives, with the U.S. one focusing quite a lot on the aftermath, and the Japanese perspective being more about the lead-up and eventual loss of said battle.

So, since the Battle of Iwo Jima is shown in both, the two movies are being included here. Both movies make the sequence harrowing for different reasons, so it’s never really an action scene in the fun sort of way, but it does depict combat in a visceral way and with an overall sense of authenticity, so for being an impressive recreation of a real-life battle, both Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima deserve shout-outs here.

2 'Kelly's Heroes' (1970)

The Battle of Clermont

Image via Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

And then on the other end of things war movie-wise to Eastwood’s later (and aforementioned) duology is Kelly’s Heroes, which was directed by Brian G. Hutton, who also did Where Eagles Dare. Like that film, there’s a good deal of spectacle here, but Kelly’s Heroes is also more of a comedy, not to mention something of a heist movie that just so happens to be set during World War II.

There are lots of sequences with tanks here, resulting in explosions and plenty of destruction, with the climactic battle in the town of Clermont probably being the highlight of the film.

There’s a dangerous mission to steal gold behind enemy lines, and Eastwood’s paired well with Donald Sutherland, who was also in M*A*S*H the same year this came out (another war comedy). There are lots of sequences with tanks here, resulting in explosions and plenty of destruction, with the climactic battle in the town of Clermont probably being the highlight of the film, as far as action is concerned.

1 'Dirty Harry' (1971)

Stopping the Bus Hijacking

Image via Warner Bros.

If not for the Man with No Name, Harry Callahan would likely be Clint Eastwood’s most iconic character, though even with the Man with No Name existing, maybe Callahan still deserves that crown. Dirty Harry was the movie that kicked the whole series off, and it still holds up today as the best of the five movies quite comfortably, as well as a significant title within Eastwood’s overall body of work, as an early non-war/non-Western film he starred in.

It's mostly a crime/thriller movie about taking down someone known only as Scorpio, but there’s a bit of action here as well, with the most exciting parts of the movie basically being Clint Eastwood vs. the Zodiac Killer, in effect (if you wanted to give the movie a Godzilla-esque title). Near the end, Callahan thwarts a school bus hijacking by jumping onto the bus, holding off while Scorpio shoots at him, and it’s simple, yeah, but it’s also great. There’s a bit more to the sequence after that, and an immense catharsis with the overall ending, since Callahan is such a great anti-hero and Scorpio stands as a very memorable villain.

Like Follow Followed Dirty Harry R Action Crime Thriller Release Date December 23, 1971 Runtime 102 minutes Director Don Siegel Writers Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner, John Milius, Jo Heims

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