The Legend of Clint Eastwood

Honkytonk Man, 1982
The low-key story of Red Stovall, a country singer with an invitation to audition for the Grand Ole Opry and a case of tuberculosis teetering on the brink of the terminal, Honkytonk Man gave the actor-director a chance to cast his son Kyle in the role of the hero's caretaker and potential savior. "Clint Eastwood has fashioned a marvelously unfashionable movie," wrote TIME's Richard Schickel, "as quietly insinuating as one of Red's honky-tonk melodies. It is a guileless tribute not only to plain values of plain people in Depression America, but also to the sweet spirit of country-and-western music before it got all duded up for the urban cowboys."

• The Essence of Clint Eastwood