Tag Archives: clint eastwood

Oct 2 2023

Clint Eastwood Legacy Collection (Pale Rider): The Preacher Sixth-Scale Figure by Sideshow

Sideshow hammering out an action figure deal with Clint Eastwood has been like a dream come true for me. I’ve been a fan ever since I was a teenager and whether he’s fighting bikers with an Orangutan in tow, drifting on the high plains, running down criminal scum, or sitting in the Director’s Chair, I’ve been there for all of it. He’s been responsible for some of my favorite movies of all time and I’m glad we’re getting these figures to honor him while he’s still around to see it. Indeed, Sideshow published a video of Eastwood touring the studio and inspecting the figures and the sense of joy and wonderment on his face just melted my heart. The first release, Dirty Harry, is indeed a masterpiece, and while I haven’t given the second release, The Man With No Name, a writeup yet, I’m going to jump straight to this third release just because he’s on my desk and ready to go.

The figure comes in a shoebox style package with some excellent artwork from the film. Released in 1985, nearly a decade after the masterful Outlaw Josey Wales, Pale Rider was Eastwood’s only genuine Western released in the 80s and it’s a fantastic film full of strong performances and excellent cinematography. The mysterious Preacher arrives at the mining town, Lahood, and helps to defend a community of miners against a corrupt land grabber, only to reveal that he has a dark past with the mercenaries hired to drive them out. It’s a simple tale told with style and heart and some truly satisfying gunplay and dynamite chucking. It’s probably not one of Eastwood’s most noteworthy westerns, but I think the look of The Preacher himself has surpassed the notoriety of the film to be quite iconic. Needless to say I’m quite excited to see what Sideshow did with him!

The Preacher comes out of the box all ready for display. I was happy to find that I didn’t even have to attach his gun belt, which can be a deceptively daunting task with these figures. Starting with the outfit, there’s nothing too crazy or complex here, but the tailors at Sideshow really knocked this one out of the park. The Preacher has black trousers, a light blue collared shirt under a darker blue button-down vest, rounded out by a reddish-brown duster with some rather prominent lapels. He has a charcoal neckerchief tied around his neck, a gun belt with holster on the right, and a pair of boots with spurs. All of the clothing is beautifully tailored with just a touch of rustic 19th century flavor to it. I’m particularly in love with the coat, which has a really high quality feel to it and it’s stiff enough to get a little poseability without actually having wires in the edges.

The gun belt features a row of of cartridges between the buckle and the holster, each individually painted and on the other side you get two replacement cylinders to act as speed loaders. The belt hangs loose enough to tuck his spare gun behind the buckle, just the way he wore it in the film. I really dig the detail on the golden spurs fixed to the backs of his boots and even the buckle and snaps on the boots are immaculately painted.

If you read my review of Harry Callahan, then you know I was thrilled with how that portrait came out, and I’m equally pleased with this one as well. The hat is plastic and part of the head sculpt, which is really the only way to go here. I’m not sure a soft goods hat could have looked as good as this one turned out. As for the likeness, it’s another absolute banger. More than a decade separates Eastwood as The Preacher and Callahan and the age is well reflected in the portrait. The squint in the eyes is pitch perfect as is the sneer on his lips. If I’m going to toss out any criticism here, I think Hot Toys could have done a better job with the realism on the sculpt and paint on the beard and hair, but that’s not to say what we got here is in any way bad. I think everything here just turned out fantastic from pretty much any angle.

The articulation feels identical to the Callahan figure, and this one shares the same tightness in the shoulders, which I presume is being caused by padding to the figure. It’s not overly restrictive, but it can work against some poses. In the past, Sideshow’s figures have been plagued with loose joints, but that hasn’t been a problem with this series. Preacher comes with four sets of hands, which include a set of fists, gesturing hands, relaxed hands, and trigger finger hands. Each of these have their own posts which makes swapping them out a breeze.

As for accessories, well… here’s where things take a hit because The Preacher doesn’t come with anything besides his two pistols. Dirty Harry was also very light on the accessories, but that was excusable to me because I couldn’t think of anything really missing, but that’s not the case here. How do you release a Preacher figure without giving him a hickory axe handle? It’s the subject of one of the best scenes and best lines in the whole movie and it’s not like sculpting a piece of wood is going to break the bank. Also, how about a couple of sticks of dynamite? Again, that would hardly be a complex and costly accessory to add. If a figure is light on accessories and nothing is missing, that’s fine, but when it’s light on accessories and there are obvious omissions, that’s a problem.

At least what we do get is great. Preacher comes with his two Remington revolvers: A New Army converted for .45 Long Colt which he used as his main weapon, and a M1858 Pocket, which he kept tucked in his belt as a back up. Both are beautiful reproductions of the respective pistols with excellent finishes and even tiny screws sculpted in. The cylinders on both do spin, but the hammers do not cock.

And what’s our last stop on any Sixth-Scale figure review? You got it… the stand! And we get the standard plain black hexagonal base with a crotch-cradle post, which is identical to the one that came with Dirty Harry. It’s serviceable but part of me would have liked something with some art on the base or at least a name plate. If you flip the base over it does have the Eastwood Legacy Collection logo sculpted into it.

Sideshow is absolutely killing it with this line. From the tailoring to the portraits to the accuracy to the films, and The Preacher follows through on that in every way. Indeed, the only complaint I can have is what wasn’t included. At $275, this is very high end price tag for what could be considered to be a simple figure by many Sixth-Scale standards, but I have no doubt that a lot of the money went to Eastwood signing off on his likeness. It’s just something that he has never been willing to do. But with the price being what it is, it’s just a shame to find that there are what I would consider essential accessories omitted. Sure, it just took me a quick hop on Ebay to get a 1:6 scale crate full of dynamite and an ax on the way, but I shouldn’t have had to buy them separately. Nonetheless, I’m thrilled to have this figure in my collection and when I revisit this line in the near future, we’ll be checking out Blondie from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly!

Dec 21 2022

Clint Eastwood Legacy Collection (Dirty Harry): Harry Callahan Sixth-Scale Figure by Sideshow

My backlog of pre-orders at Sideshow has been slowly whittling down this year. Some actually shipped, a couple I cancelled, and a handful have been bumped back to 2023. But the Dirty Harry figure had to be one of the fastest turnarounds in all my experience with Sideshow. He was revealed and put up for pre-order in March and here he is squeaking in at the end of the year and landing in my hands by December. That’s crazy fast in the world of Sixth-Scale figure pre-orders where delays can often roll wait times into years instead of months. It’s almost enough to make me forget how absolutely insane it is that we got an officially licensed release of a Harry Callahan figure in the first place!

I could write volumes on what Clint Eastwood’s film career has meant to me over the years, but let’s stick with the one particular film related to today’s review. Released the year before I was born, Dirty Harry is an absolute classic of police drama cinema and like many of Clint Eastwood’s films, it’s become a go-to watch of mine for lazy, rainy Saturday afternoons. Hell, even though it was released only one year into the decade, it would go on to characterize the gritty 70’s cop film genre, thanks partly to a successful string of sequels, but mostly because it’s such a wonderfully watchable flick with an absolutely batshit crazy villain. It practically introduced the tough-as-nails, doesn’t-play-by-the-rulebook cop trope that was, and largely still is, appealing to a nation sick of rampant crime. Nowadays, it’s also a movie out of time. There’s throwaway dialogue here that would never fly in a world with today’s ultra-fragile sensibilities, and that’s what makes this seemingly impossible release so unbelievably welcome. I’m curious as to whether Sideshow got any flack for choosing to pursue this decidedly un-politically correct license, but it seems to have done well for them, because while the figure did not sell out in pre-order, it is already listed as Low Stock Remaining. Anyway… the shoebox-style package features some beautiful art from the film, which conveys the gritty subject matter. It’s the first release in Sideshow’s Eastwood Legacy Collection, and you do get a stylish band around the inner tray with a facsimile of his signature. Otherwise, the presentation here is everything you might expect from a Sideshow figure.

Callahan comes out of the box all ready for action, and ready to patrol the filthy streets of 1971 San Francisco. Wearing his trademark herringbone jacket, gray slacks, a white button down shirt under a burgundy sweater vest, striped tie, and black shoes, he’s the epitome of 1970’s fashion. I find that it’s a lot easier for these companies to successfully reproduce flashy superhero costumes in this scale, than it is to make convincing everyday clothes, and with that in mind, I’m extremely pleased with how the tailoring on this outfit came out. The jacket is a work of art, complete with elbow pads, buttons, a sharp interior lining, and some immaculate stitching. The trademark herringbone v-pattern in the jacket’s stitching is absolutely gorgeous. The same can be said about the impeccable tailoring found in the “twenty-nine-fifty” pants and the vest. The tie is a little stiff, but still looks great. The only thing I can nitpick is the collar takes a lot of futzing to make it sit right, and even then I think it looks just a tad too puffy. The costume also includes a dress belt, a shoulder holster for Harry’s trusty wheel gun, and a really spiffy watch on his left wrist. The jacket is removable, but I’m not messing with taking it off. A finely tailored suit may not be the most exciting thing to see on an action figure, but it sure looks great here!

The portrait is an absolute homerun. When the figure was first revealed, I remember wishing that it was Hot Toys doing it, mainly because I think they were better equipped at doing portraits, and I was a little skeptical about the figure looking as good as the solicitation shots. I’m happy to say the final product is an absolutely fabulous likeness. I think a Hot Toys portrait could have awarded a little more nuance to the paint, maybe made the eyes pop with a little more life, but I am still one hundred percent satisfied with what we got here. It would have been easy to lean into a caricature, but I feel like the sculptors swung for the stars and it paid off big time. The bulging brow, the squinted eyes, and the prominent chin all look superb. I also really dig the way Sideshow recreated Eastwood’s majestic bouffant. It’s a fabulous sculpt, which compliments the portrait perfectly. It would have been great to have had an Exclusive with an extra head with more of a sneer to it, but this one will still do just fine.

The accessories are a bit on the light side here, as Harry only comes with his gun and badge, along with a hefty selection of hands. I think the most obvious omissions here are the yellow money bag and the switchblade that he sticks into Scorpio’s leg, as both seem like they should have been included. I suppose you could argue that the outfit isn’t right for those scenes, but still. The hands are pretty standard stuff, with a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of fists, a right hand designed to hold his badge, another designed to hold his gun, and a left hand designed to cup around his right wrist to stabilize his aim when firing. To make the last hand work, you really need to take the jacket off, which is a shame because it would have been great for recreating one of his more iconic poses. There’s some padding in the figure, which can curtail the range of motion a little, and you get more of that in the shoulders of the jacket, but all in all, the joints feel good, and not at all floppy, as has sometimes been the case with Sideshow’s figures. I’ll also note how nice it is that each hand comes with its own hinged peg, so swapping out the hands is extremely quick and easy, and there’s never a worry about snapping a peg like there sometimes is with Hot Toys figures.

The badge is very nicely done, with a beautiful recreation of his ID. The wallet is meant to stay open, so he’ll be perpetually flashing the badge. I would have really liked to see a left hand for holding it, so I could pose him with his gun drawn and his badge out, but then that might have been a little out of character for Dirty Harry.

As for the gun? “My, that’s a big one!” Naturally, “this is a.44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world” and it’s an excellent sixth-scale representation of Harry’s favorite sidekick. The detail includes the checkered grip, safety lever, and the chamber even spins and can flip out. You even get a little rubbing to the blueing around the edges and where the chamber spins, showing that it’s seen its share of action. The weapon is a tad fragile, and once I got it into his hand, I doubt I’ll take it out again, since it’s the only reason that hand would ever be used. With all that having been said, I would not mind picking up a diecast version of this gun and giving Callahan an upgrade.

The last thing in the box is the thing I have the least to say about and that’s the stand. It’s perfectly serviceable with a plain black hexagonal base and an adjustable crotch-cradle in the post, but it represents the absolute bare minimum in effort on Sideshow’s part. This is an expensive figure, and the base gave Sideshow an opportunity to flex a bit and do something cool, and they just passed. I would have loved to see a shield on the front with Dirty Harry and the facsimile Eastwood signature under it, but really just any kind of personalization would have been nice.

Even with this figure in hand, it’s still hard to believe I own an officially licensed Dirty Harry figure, let alone one of this quality and released in 2022! At $275, the price on this one seems high for a figure without a lot of accessories, but I probably would have mashed the pre-order button even if that price tag topped $300. Just don’t tell Sideshow that! What makes me even more ecstatic is that this is only the first of three figures in this line so far. Blondie from The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly and The Preacher from High Plains Drifter are both up for Pre-Order now. Naturally, I’ve committed to each of those figures, and oh boy, am I hoping for a Josey Wales! Indeed, I’d much rather Josey Wales was released before The Preacher, as I just think he’s a far more iconic character and an overall better movie. But the real question is will the universe bless us with Philo Bedoe and Clyde from Any Which Way But Loose? That could be too much to hope for, but at this point, I won’t rule out anything!