David Frangioni's Clint Eastwood: Icon is the depiction of Clint Eastwood's celebrated career as a Hollywood icon illustrated through a dazzling display of the movie posters which have defined his memorable characters. These posters have been vital in etching the synonymic image of Eastwood's stardom and of American masculinity into the minds of moviegoers for the past five decades.

This book is the product of Frangioni's obsession to collect all things Eastwood over the course of his lifetime as an avid movie lover. The artwork of movie posters spanning the length of Eastwood's  illustrious career as actor and filmmaker are compiled into this single volume. This provides the reader the opportunity to digest the entire works of the legendary star with a series of a few broad brush strokes. Supplementing the imagery are essays and commentary by Schatz which provide the background story chronicling the Eastwood mystique.

Here the reader is invited to witness Eastwood's emergence as an evolving image. In his early roles in Spaghetti Westerns his portraits are abstract, but as his stardom grew his image became clearer and more distinctive. Dirty Harry marked Eastwood as the man with a gun which proved to be a successful marketing mechanism throughout his career. This was further reinforced in the artwork for The Outlaw Josey Wales and his films of the like from the era. Eastwood's portrayals of gun-totting antiheroes caused some critical concern, however this formula resonated success with audiences across the globe. As Eastwood aged the gun became less prolific and a lighter side emerged. Into the new millennium Eastwood has become better known for his talents as director with works such as Mystic River and Million Dollar Baby garnering Oscar recognition.  Yet with his maturity Eastwood has still not lost his flare for badass-ery as depicted in his role for the much acclaimed Gran Turino.   

The entire collection gives the reader a roller-coaster approach to  experiencing the Clint Eastwood persona. Ultimately this proves to be very a successful rendition of capturing the longevity and accomplishments of the Hollywood superstar's career. However, a lack of biographical depth and the presence of many outlandishly natured movie posters fail to ascertain the aim of the book which tries to portray Clint Eastwood as a true artistic hero.

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