Clint Eastwood and the Power of a Squint

Shape-shifters by design, actors have their methods but many also have distinguishing features — sunburst smiles, rolling walks — that become their signatures. Memorable performers, after all, don’t simply catch our gaze, they seize it, holding and keeping it tight. And few performers have held us as powerfully as Clint Eastwood, who has cemented himself into the collective consciousness with big guns, tough lines, a dazzling filmography and an indelible signature: the Clint Squint.

In movies, squinting tends to be a marker of masculinity, a means of conveying what certain male characters can’t or won’t say aloud. The squinting man is suspicious, sardonic and worldly wise. He’s tough, he’s cool. He contains multitudes; it’s up to you to figure out what they are. Eyes may be windows to the soul, but men like Eastwood like to keep the shades partly drawn.