In cinemas this week: Clint Eastwood’s masterful The Mule

ONE of the best things about being a living legend is that you get that bit more control over your latest work.

For Clint Eastwood, a Hollywood giant still at the top of his game, that means being able to direct, produce and star in his new film.

Not that Clint takes all the best jobs often – it is 11 years since he last starred in a movie he was directing, 2008’s Gran Torino.

It is also seven years since he took on any acting role, but we can safely say he has lost none of his cinema power, either side of the camera.

The Mule is the story, based on a true one, of a war veteran who works for a drugs cartel, based in Mexico, and really, who could be better for such a job?

Now 88, the 6ft 4in Eastwood towers over this movie, despite having very able co-stars in Dianne Wiest, Bradley Cooper, Laurence Fishburne, Andy Garcia and Michael Pena.

It’s all based on a New York Times article about Leo Sharp, a 90-year-old Second World War veteran who in his 80s began working for a brutal drugs cartel.

For Clint, his film career really began 60 years ago, when he guested alongside James Garner on Maverick and studio bosses finally noticed him properly.

He’s never looked back since, and he will have enjoyed getting his teeth into the role of Earl Stone, 90-year-old horticulturalist and veteran of the Korean War, facing financial meltdown and losing his family.

“Ageing can be fun if you lay back and enjoy it,” says Eastwood, which might suggest he is too busy with film work to enjoy it himself.

“Every movie I make teaches me something. That’s why I keep making them.”

In the new movie, his character Earl ingratiates himself so thoroughly that he becomes friends with the cartel members, who call him Tata, or Grandfather. Things get tricky when a Drug Enforcement Agency task force gets too close for comfort.

Family life then gets in the way when he postpones a drug delivery to make up with his dying wife.

Those cartel guys might like the old man, but they really don’t take kindly to this.

Now, Earl has both the baddies and goodies after him. At his age!

Thankfully, being played by Clint Eastwood, he isn’t the sort to take all this pressure and not hit back.

Filmed primarily in Georgia, USA, it looks great and is full, obviously, of typically macho Eastwood touches.

One noted American critic reckons it is the best thing he has made in a quarter of a century, which is quite the compliment for a man like Clint.

“Soulful and deeply satisfying,” says another, and you’ll see why Eastwood himself is feeling rather pleased with it.

Just think, it is 55 years since A Fistful Of Dollars, half a century since Paint Your Wagon.

Whatever your thoughts on Clint Eastwood, he knows how to make a long and lasting career in the movies.

“What you put into life is what you get out of it,” he has famously said, adding, “If you want a guarantee, buy a toaster!”

If this is his swansong, as some believe, it’s a pretty worthy effort for a special star.

The Mule is out on Friday January 25.