Eastwood's grand vision

THE latter years of writer-director Clint Eastwood's career have seen a string of fine films, some surely destined for greatness.

Clint Eastwood in Gran Torino.

THE latter years of writer-director Clint Eastwood's career have seen a string of fine films, some surely destined for greatness.

Beginning with Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby, they include Gran Torino (Friday, 10pm, Nine), very much a film of its time, capturing the uncertainty and discontent of a certain class of old-fashioned American patriot. Eastwood is Walt Kowalski, a grumpy, tough-minded widower and Korean War veteran who clings to his prejudices despite changes in his Michigan neighbourhood and the world around him. A beautifully nuanced performance from Eastwood.

One Fine Day (Sunday, 12.30pm, Ten) is an early George Clooney film, the one that established his reputation as a romantic leading man. He and Michelle Pfeiffer play working parents -- Pfeiffer a divorced architect and mother of Sammy, Clooney a hot-shot New York journalist caring for daughter Maggie. When the kids arrive too late for a school field trip, the parents find themselves caring for the other's child while coping with the hectic pressures of the workplace.

A slick, contemporary comedy, full of sharp observation and much charm, and bound to strike a chord with single parents. One assumes Pfeiffer would qualify for Tony Abbott's paid parental leave scheme, but I'm not sure about George, for whom the demands of parenthood are no less fraught.

If One Fine Day marked the start of Clooney's career, Dead Calm (Tuesday, 1pm, Nine) was the beginning of Nicole Kidman's. It wasn't her first film -- she appeared as a teenager in a remake of the Aussie classic Bush Christmas in 1983 -- but it was the one that marked her out for Hollywood.

This is a crackerjack thriller in the best Hitchcock tradition in which Kidman takes a yachting trip with her husband, naval officer Sam Neill, after the death of their son in a car accident. After rescuing the sole survivor from a sunken schooner off the Great Barrier Reef, the couple find themselves trapped aboard their yacht and terrorised by a psycho (Billy Zane).

No Western film crew would dream of filming in Afghanistan today. The place was considered too dangerous even in 1975, when the filming of The Man Who Would Be King (Friday, 2pm, 7Two) relocated to Morocco. This classic adventure film, based on a Rudyard Kipling story, was directed by John Huston, who originally wanted Clark Gable and Humphrey Bogart for the lead roles, then considered Richard Burton and Peter O'Toole before settling (happily) on Sean Connery and Michael Caine, with Christopher Plummer completing the main cast.

The three play British army officers, down on their luck, who plan to take over a remote Afghan province and set themselves up as rulers. A cautionary tale about the dangers of imperialism, charged with thrills and excitement.

BEST ON SHOW

Gran Torino (M)
4 stars
Friday, 10pm, Nine

Dead Calm (MA15+)
4 stars
Tuesday, 1pm, Nine

The Man Who Would Be King (PG)
4 stars
Friday, 2pm, 7Two