I’d like to be a bigger and more knowledgeable person ten years from now than I am today. I think that for all of us as we grow older, we must discipline ourselves to continue expanding, broadening, learning, keeping our minds active and open.
Just trust your instincts. There’s an old saying in golf, you’ve studied the swing many times, and you practice and practice, but when you stand over the ball, you just have to trust your swing. And you trust it. And if you don’t trust it, you’ll ruin it; your brain will take over.
I never look back and think too much about my films. I’ve done some work I’ve been proud of over the years but which of them is my favourite I really don’t know. I could say the last one. I’ve had little jumps in my career like Unforgiven possibly.
Hollywood seems to succumb to fads. Well, action films do well. Give me violence. Give me a scene where there’s a couple of car chases or shooting and stuff like that. They’re forgetting the fact that there’s a basic structure to a story that is essential to making it really broad and appealing.
The interesting thing with child actors is that kids are natural actors. They’re wonderful actors, and most kids are acting all the time. They’re imagining they’re out in the yard playing. They’re imagining that things happened, and they can get very vivid.
My father had a couple of kids at the beginning of the Depression. There was not much employment. Not much welfare. People barely got by. People were tougher then.
Participating in a gun buy-back program because you think that criminals have too many guns is like having yourself castrated because you think your neighbors have too many kids.
You can’t stop everything from happening. But we’ve gotten to a point where we’re certainly trying. If a car doesn’t have four hundred air bags in it, then it’s no good.
People love westerns worldwide. There’s something fantasy-like about an individual fighting the elements. Or even bad guys and the elements. It’s a simpler time. There’s no organized laws and stuff.
I believe in my gut. Most people intellectualize their instincts away, but when you feel something, you have to go for it. A Fistful of Dollars was a great instinct for me, because here I was, a guy who’s doing Rawhide.
The most gentle people in the world are macho males, people who are confident in their masculinity and have a feeling of well-being in themselves. They don’t have to kick in doors, mistreat women, or make fun of gays.
My wife is my closest friend. Sure, I’m attracted to her in every way possible, but that’s not the answer. Because I’ve been attracted to other people, and I couldn’t stand ’em after a while.
