The Museum of Tolerance kicked off its first International Film Festival with a nostalgic tribute to legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood on Nov. 14. The event honoring one of Hollywood’s most prolific stars — his film resumé includes about 65 features — drew some of his staunchest admirers, including Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, actor Eli Wallach and actress Bryce Dallas Howard.
The event was held in the museum’s lush Peltz Theatre and emceed by comedian George Lopez; it was largely a secular affair, highlighting the festival’s focus on universal human rights issues. There, Eastwood was regarded not only as movie star, but also as a consciousness-raising artist.
“If we were to play clips of his movies tonight, we’d be here until next Sukkos,” Dallas Howard, the star of Eastwood’s latest film, “Hereafter,” said, adding, “I don’t really know what that means; Rabbi Hier told me if I said that, there would be guaranteed laughs.”
The 80-year-old Eastwood sat in the front row with his wife, Dina Ruiz-Eastwood, as clips of his work as both actor and director played wistfully across the screen. Eastwood’s passion for music prompted a line of jazz performances by various artists, including the Mike Melvoin Trio, saxophonist Tom Scott, “America’s Got Talent” winner Michael Grimm and “American Idol” winner Taylor Hicks, who performed his rendition of “Gran Torino” in honor of Eastwood’s critically acclaimed 2008 film.
Wallach, who co-starred with Eastwood in the 1966 film “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” recalled their youthful escapades of more than four decades earlier.
“I spent a night in bed with Clint Eastwood once,” Wallach said. “We were in Spain. There were no hotels available. Clint asked me, ‘Which side do you want to sleep on?’ I, being an old radical, said, ‘I’ll take the left side.’ ”
Wallach, who had received an honorary Oscar the night before, will turn 95 on Dec. 7.
Schwarzenegger presented the award to Eastwood and said the film legend had been an inspiration to him when he was younger.
“I don’t think I ever would have done ‘Terminator’ if he hadn’t done all these great action movies,” Schwarzenegger said. “His line ‘make my day’ made me go out and get my own line, ‘I’ll be back.’”
Rabbi Marvin Hier, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and Museum of Tolerance dean and founder, shared the verse from Pirkei Avot that is inscribed on Eastwood’s Tolerance Award: “It is not our responsibility to complete the task, but neither are we free to desist from it.”
Eastwood was the last to take to the stage, and in that deep, calculated tone that made him famous, accepted his honor with honesty and humor.
“On my way down here tonight, somebody cut us off,” Eastwood said. “So I roll down the window and start to curse, and my wife says, ‘Clint, this is a tolerance award. Maybe his cat died this morning.’ ”
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