Clint Eastwood turned 80 on May 31. (I’m just finding this out, because I’m a couple months behind in reading my AARP magazines.)
Clint Eastwood. He’s the guy responsible for me getting grounded the summer before I left for college. It truly wasn’t my fault, but has Clint called to apologize? Nope, not so far, and it’s been 38 years!
Three girlfriends and I had gone to the drive-in movies (remember those?) one Saturday night in mid-July to see “An Eastwood Marathon.” As I piled into Laurie’s 1955 fire-engine red Buick, I eagerly looked forward to our “Girls’ Night Out.” I didn’t know it would be the last time I left the driveway without my parents until I left for college two months later!
We drove to the Sno-King Drive-In, so named because it catered to movie lovers from both Snohomish and King counties. We got our tickets and Laurie positioned the car in next to a speaker on a post not too far from the concessions stand (and bathrooms).
The first movie couldn’t begin until it was dark enough to see the action on the screen. “A Fistful of Dollars” started right around 10 p.m. Then we saw “For a Few Dollars More,” and concluded the evening, which was now early morning, with “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.”
Do the math here… The running time on these flicks is 1:40, 2:12 and 2:31, respectively. That’s right, I spent six hours and 33 minutes drooling over “the man with no name.”
Consequently, I arrived home at approximately 5 a.m. My father was waiting for me in the living room, sitting in the recliner, his arms folded across his chest. He wasn’t smiling. And the rest, as they say, is history.
Clint Eastwood made history in 2008 with the release of Gran Torino, when he became the oldest man to reach #1 at the box office, and the longest running movie star ever. You’d think by now he’d have had the time to call and apologize for getting me grounded.
Happy Belated Birthday, Clint!