Clint Eastwood Passed on This Western Blockbuster for His First Lead Role: Here’s Why

Clint Eastwood had his first break-out Hollywood role in Hang ‘Em High, but he first turned down another famous Western. By the late 1950s, Eastwood was close to giving up his dream of working in film. Though he had small parts like in 1955’s Revenge of the Creature, lead roles alluded him. However, after being cast as Rowdy Yates on Rawhide, he made a decision to continue pursuing his passions in Hollywood and never looked back.

When he was working on the show, unexpectedly a low-budget Italian Western A Fistful Of Dollars landed in Eastwood’s lap. This film’s astonishing success breathed new life into the dismal genre.

Sergio Leone’s Dollars trilogy propelled Eastwood to the heights of screen fame, yet he had to be strategic when transitioning into lead roles in American films. He co-starred with Richard Burton in World War 2 action flick Where Eagle’s Dare and starred as a protagonist in several other projects – but it was Dirty Harry that skyrocketed him toward Hollywood stardom. As Screenrant points out, this period was his very first Hollywood gig as a leading man: Hang ‘Em High. This movie found Eastwood playing a survivor of an attempted lynching who later becomes a Marshal bent on hunting down those guilty for their crime against him.

Why ‘Hang ‘Em High’ was a better fit for Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood’s Hang ‘Em High is a timeless, intense Western film. It served as a bridge between Hollywood and Spaghetti Westerns. The movie was able to become a box-office hit in 1968 due to Eastwood’s star power. In fact, he had rejected Mackenna’s Gold – an extravagant Western project – for this film. The story follows Marshal Gregory Peck accompanied by some outlaws on their mission to find buried gold. With suspenseful scenes and thrilling adventures around every corner. Hang ‘Em High

Clint Eastwood made the decision to forgo Mackenna’s Gold, as he felt that Hang ‘Em High’s script had more meaningful elements worth exploring. Ultimately, reviewers gave  Mackenna’s Gold an average rating. Its financial success did not reach expectations in North America, yet it still brought satisfactory returns from international markets. Despite the allure of this movie, Gregory Peck expressed his disdain for it and referred to it as “wretched.” Even George Lucas, a visiting USU student, was so disappointed by its production that he created a 5-minute short which mostly consisted of footage taken in the desert, according to Slate.

Although Mackenna’s Gold seemed like the ideal choice for Clint Eastwood’s first lead in an American Western, it did not touch his soul in the same way Hang ‘Em High did. As Marshal Cooper, he was seeking to right a wrong – or so it seems at first glance – but this film had much more nuanced morality than initially meets the eye. Years later, Eastwood would go on to star in Kelly’s Heroes with Telly Savalas from Mackenna’s Gold as part of an ensemble cast. However, that only highlighted how better off he is when creating characters without anyone else around him contributing their own ideas and opinions.