are, as well as two of my favorite directors, the two most prolific American filmmakers and even those older and represent the two faces of America (the world ?). One is the American incarnation of the epic (and the capitalist), hard to conquer the West. The other is the face of the East Coast, the intellectual class full of paranoia and insecurity.
Both have disappointed many followers with their last two works, but who is holding up better than the weight of time passing?
Undoubtedly Eastwood, who has signed three of his four best-selling titles in the years 2000 ( Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River and Gran Torino). Woody Allen has had to settle for just a single title, Match Point, but some say it is already a very successful film. Not to mention that Clint has surpassed the mark of 80, while Allen looks back on "only" 75 springs.
Allen in his defense has many more films and many more genres (screwball comedy to darker drama, from yellow to musical ..), but comparing the two is only possible reference to the last decade, as Eastwood is set to direct a regular basis only since the '2000, while Allen has been doing it 45 years.
For the record 46 films in 45 years for Allen, 34 in 40 years for Eastwood. By directors.
41 films as an actor for the first and 65 for the second. Both
often composers for their films (although Clint much more often), Clint has always been also a producer of his directorial work, Allen ever. In return, the old Woody wrote all his films, and another twenty titles.
And therein lies the crux of the matter. Allen's work is double, because a relentless pace, wrote and directed a film after another over the past 45 years. Eastwood has always been rather limited to direct. Often to the Committee in any way ( Hereafte r at the invitation of Spielberg's insistence Invictus Freeman).
There is no doubt therefore as to which among them is the true author, in today's sense of the term, coined in the '50s by the politique des auteurs of Cahiers du cinéma . But if we think of the greats of Hollywood, screenwriter and director have rarely coincided. So in a more classic Hollywood and the end, Eastwood can be considered an author. Or a director who gives a personal touch in telling stories (which always runs pretty damn good).
In their last two films, Eastwood and Allen have sold out in the name of the god of trade: the first did, however, with class, the second with a decent film that has very little.
Fortunately, both have future projects that are encouraging: in the 2011/2012 season will return Allen's romantic comedy with a Parisian ambience inviting the cast (actually it was also the last), while Eastwood will be compared with the ambitious project of a biofiction Edgar J. Hoover with the now ubiquitous and all-powerful Di (o) Caprio.
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