The Legend of Clint Eastwood
Million Dollar Baby, 2004
At 74, Eastwood fashioned one of his richest and sneakiest fables: a boxing tale that screenwriter Paul Haggis based on the stories of F.X. Toole, a former ringside "cut man." That was the trade of Frankie Dunn (Eastwood), who with his pal Eddie (Morgan Freeman) now runs a gym for boxing hopefuls, most without a hope. The longest shot is Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank). She hasn't a prayer, or a clue, but she's determined to be the champ and ... can you guess what happens? Maybe not. The story has a sucker punch, which reveals both the importance of family and the ways loyalty can trump official morality. The Motion Picture Academy loved Million Dollar Baby too, gracing it with Oscars for Picture, Director (Eastwood), Actress (Swank) and Supporting Actor (Freeman), plus nominations for Actor (Eastwood), Adapted Screenplay (Paul Haggis) and Editing (Joel Cox). It marked the second of three times in the decade — Mystic River the year before, the Japanese-language Letters to Iwo Jima three years later — that Eastwood would be short-listed for both Picture and Director.