Happy Birthday to The Man, Clint Eastwood, one of my favorites. As an actor, the very definition of uber cool, and as a director, some of the finest movies ever made. At 80+, still keeps making great movies, going on and on, truly a legend .

If I had to define courage myself, I wouldn’t say it’s about shooting people. I’d say it’s the quality that stimulates people, that enables them to move ahead and look beyond themselves.-Clint Eastwood.

In his life, Clint Eastwood has been many things- an actor, a director, a Mayor, dabbling in Jazz and a fitness evangelist. But the impact Eastwood had on me personally, as a movie fan, was beyond what he did.

You can’t exactly describe the feeling, but these actors, can pull you into a movie, just on the basis of their name, and make you sit through it all. You are willing to sit through some real crappy stuff, just because of the man on the screen.

My adoration or fan boy love or whatever term you choose to give it, for Clint Eastwood, started off right as a kid. For most of us kids, he was “The Man”, but more than anything else, he was the one who defined “cool” or rather Uber Cool.

It was the 60′s WWII pulp adventure movie, Where Eagles Dare, to date one of my favorites. Richard Burton had the more dramatic parts, but it was Clint Eastwood who took all the seetis and taalis from the audience, yours truly included.

Clint Eastwood became a byword, a synonym for “Cool”, and then later on caught The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He actually does not have much dialogues in the movie, matter of fact Eli Wallach(Ugly) is the more popular one, but still makes an impact.

Much before Good, Bad and Ugly , there was For a Few Dollars More, where Clint Eastwood played the bounty hunter, who helps out Lee Van Cleef in his quest for revenge. Another classic, with a superb score by Ennio Morricone.

The lone ranger person was carried over into his next couple of Westerns, notably Hang Em High, where he is Jed Cooper, a cattle rancher, who swears revenge on the 12 men who had lynched him earlier, on a false charge of theft.

However to me the best of the post-Dollars trilogy for me was The Outlaw Josey Wales, a highly under rated Western, IMO, and one of Clint’s best directorial efforts. Again reprising his loner on a revenge mission persona.

Outlaw Josey Wales has Clint Eastwood as a Southern farmer, who takes on a bunch of Jayhawkers, who burnt down his farm, raped and killed his wife. And one of the early Westerns that showed native Indians in a positive light.

Another great Western directed by Clint was High Plains Drifter, where Clint again reprises the Stranger with No Name character, this time protecting a town against rogue gunfighters. Worth watching, with a twist ending that is a knockout

This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?- After his Westerns, Clint Eastwood's most iconic role as Dirty Harry

The man who cares a damn for his seniors, is a law unto himself, does not bother about legal niceties and rules, and who believes criminals are the scum to be dealt with. Dirty Harry sparked off a series of vigilante cop movies.

Unforgiven to me though would be a revelation, as a director Clint Eastwood mocks his own gun slinger image that made him a star. Will Munny is not the quick draw, he is an ageing gunfighter, can't shoot straight, has to mentor some one else.

But more than an actor, Clint Eastwood's record as a director is something else, one guy who has covered just about every genre, and still keeps making some great movies. They do not contain eye popping visuals but solid story lines more often

From Westerns( Unforgiven, Outlaw Josey Wales) to crime dramas( Mystic River) to war epics( Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers) to sporting dramas( Million Dollar Baby, Invictus) to romance( Bridges of Madison County) he has covered it all.

Clint Easwood's back to back movies on Iwo Jima-Letters from Iwo Jima, Flags of our Fathers is one of the best WWII movies. Especially Letters from Iwo Jima, one of the rare Hollywood war movies, that gives the perspective from a Japanese side.

Or Mystic River,.Eastwood’s grim, dark and brooding crime drama, revolves around 3 childhood friends, Jimmy, Sean and Dave, whose worlds come into conflict with each other. One of his best works ever.

A Perfect World was one of Clint Eastwood's more underrated directorial ventures. As a cop on the trail of a convict( Kevin Costner), who has kidnapped a young boy, a crime thriller, plus a human drama.

Another great movie by Clint Eastwood is Gran Torino, where he plays a Veteran, who bonds with a group of Hmong kids, excellent movie.

Two of my favorite sports dramas directed by Clint Eastwood, one is Million Dollar Baby, about an ex boxer training a young female boxer, and Invictus, on the real life story of South Africa beating NZ in Rugby.

As a director Clint Eastwood, has a rather old fashioned approach. No eye popping visual effects, no big explosions, but relying on solid drama, scipt, plot. And this man has been directing since the 70s, Legend in many ways.