Clint Eastwood Collection

Though seemingly chosen at random, the six titles in the Clint Eastwood Collection boxed set add up to a film buff's bonanza of then-and-now double features. To view them in the right pairings is to chart the evolution of Eastwood's screen persona over a diverse two decades. Compare Dirty Harry's deadeye vigilante cop to In the Line of Fire's aging, faltering Secret Service man. Better yet, savor Eastwood's philosophical maturation from The Outlaw Josey Wales' wrathful farmer, avenging his family's slaughter, to Unforgiven's older, wiser ex-gunslinger, reluctantly killing one last time. Even the set's two sleepers offer an interesting contrast — between Eastwood's carelessly sensual Union soldier in the erotically charged The Beguiled and his comical modern-day cowboy in the folksily screwball Bronco Billy. Where are Play Misty for Me and The Bridges of Madison County? The Gauntlet and Tightrope? Such omissions merely point up the challenge of compiling a comprehensive Clint collection. The guy has simply done too many kinds of movies too well to fit them into a single set. B+