Eastwood’s appeal

Manohla DARGIS once again plays the revisionist poorly (“Blood Truths,” Oct. 12). She speaks of “self-serving nonsense” when describing a quote by David Thomson via Richard Schickel. It is Dargis herself who engages in a slick bit of revisionist nonsense with what consists of her argument that supports, however flimsily, that characterization. The total number of “thinking people,” as described by Thomson, who went to the movies during the first 15 years of Eastwood’s stardom, and who were not involved in the L.A. Free Press rap session, and were not the paid film critics Manny Farber, Andrew Sarris or Dave Kehr, adds up to an astoundingly high percentage of the film-going public for that duration. And, as I recall, the vast majority of those same “thinking people” of that time period did have very little interest in seeing any movie that starred Clint Eastwood.

Rick Rodriguez

Newport Beach