Western fans brace yourself because it turns out that one of Clint Eastwood’s most iconic looks has a juicy backstory, and “vile” cigars.
Let’s be honest: when you think about the Western genre, you think about Clint Eastwood. Nothing is more iconic to a cowboy fan than seeing the star wearing a dusty poncho and sporting a thin cigar with a sneer. But, despite Eastwood’s legendary getup in Sergio Leone’s hit Dollars trilogy going down in pop cultural history, it turns out that he isn’t the biggest fan of his character’s smoking habits.
During a career retrospective with the Independent, Clint Eastwood recalled his time working on A Fistful of Dollars (aka one of the best Westerns ever made) back in 1964. For those unfamiliar with the Dollars trilogy, this film was where fans first met Eastwood’s character Joe (the Man with No Name) before he reappeared in For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
As mentioned above, the Man with No Name’s style is iconic. Eastwood revealed that he was responsible for his own wardrobe, so the character’s flair is all thanks to him. But the star is also responsible for the one thing he absolutely hated about filming the iconic flick: the signature cigars the Man with No Name constantly smokes.
“I also went out and bought a bunch of cigars that I thought would look good in a Western,” the star explained. “I had no idea they’d taste so vile! But I brought those along with me, and I gave them to props, and we cut them all up.”
Although Eastwood hated the taste of his props, it sounds like he doesn’t regret the choice to suck it up and keep using them though. Instead of listing his regrets the actor explained how the cigars were carefully prepared for each day of filming.
“They were long cigars, called Virginia. I made a slew of them that I carried around in my pocket: different lengths to match up with different scenes,” Eastwood continued.
So yeah, before we all go and feel sorry for Eastwood’s tastebuds, it looks like the actor knew what he was getting into from the start. His choice to keep the cigars also resulted in one of the best Halloween costumes of all time. So, we aren’t complaining.
For more on Westerns, check out our list of the best Clint Eastwood movies of all time, and our The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly review. We also have some TV series covered for you with our articles on the entire Yellowstone timeline and everyone in the Yellowstone cast.
Finally, read our lists of the best movies ever made and all the new movies heading our way.