Clint Eastwood’s Biggest Regret? This Musical Western Rated 2.7 Stars!

Clint Eastwood is synonymous with the Western genre. However, there is one particular film within that category that he deeply regrets making, where he transitioned from cowboy to singing cowboy, which is the source of his remorse.

In a 2017 interview with Empire, 48 years after the film’s release, Clint Eastwood expressed his ongoing embarrassment about his role in “Paint Your Wagon” (1969) directed by Joshua Logan, a musical Western based on a successful Broadway play.

The film is set in California during the Gold Rush. Ben Rumson (Lee Marvin), an alcoholic and brawling pioneer, partners up with a young, sober, and romantic farmer named Pardner, played by Clint Eastwood. As they search for a gold vein, they use any means necessary to make money. The two men develop a friendship but struggle to find women in the area. They settle in the small town of No Name City where Ben falls for the beautiful Elizabeth (Jean Seberg), who is auctioned off by her Mormon husband, and buys her. Complications arise when Pardner also falls for Elizabeth and begins to woo her.

Thus, we have a love triangle involving cowboys and songs, along with a somewhat dubious plot involving buying a woman, etc. It’s safe to say it’s quite unique! The main issue was that none of the actors received vocal training before the film, and their ballads turned out to be more like “sad and lonely murmurs” than anything else, according to Collider.

“I was crazy enough to try anything. I’ve always been interested in music, my father was a singer and I had some knowledge. But what I was doing in this film, it wasn’t singing,” Clint Eastwood remarked. Initially, he was attracted because the film was supposed to feature an interracial romance. However, after numerous script revisions, the concept was completely changed.

“It was supposed to be much lighter, it just didn’t have the dynamics of the original script. And it was one of those long shoots…” Indeed, after the rewrites came production problems that slowed the filming, which lasted six months and went over budget. “It wasn’t as pleasant an experience as I was used to,” the actor concluded, even trying to quit midway through…

He Bolted to Another Set!

Realizing it wasn’t working out for him, Clint Eastwood indeed tried to leave discreetly, starting a new film project.

“I was in the middle of filming ‘Where Eagles Dare,’ and they flew in [the producer, screenwriter, and lyricist Alan Jay Lerner and the director Joshua Logan] and convinced me to come back,” he confessed.

Even today, opinions on Clint Eastwood’s sole musical comedy in his filmography remain divided: for some, it’s a cult classic (and a guilty pleasure), for others, it’s best forgotten.

Regardless, “Paint Your Wagon” is available on Paramount+.

We invite you to (re)discover a clip from the film where you can hear Clint Eastwood sing!