| Malpaso Productions | |
| Type: | Private |
| Foundation: | 1967 |
| Founder: | Irving Leonard Clint Eastwood |
| Location City: | Burbank, California |
| Location Country: | United States |
| Key People: | Clint Eastwood Robert Lorenz David Valdes Fritz Manes Robert Daley Keith Dillin |
| Industry: | Film |
| Products: | Motion pictures |
| Services: | Film production |
Malpaso Productions is Clint Eastwood's production company.[1] It was established in 1967 as The Malpaso Company by Eastwood's financial adviser Irving Leonard for the film Hang 'Em High, using profits from the Dollars Trilogy. Leonard served as President of the Malpaso Company until his death on December 13, 1969.
The name is derived from Malpaso Creek (Spanish for "bad step", or "misstep"), located south of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. Eastwood had received U.S. Army basic training at nearby Fort Ord, where he remained as a lifeguard until discharged in 1953.[2] On December 24, 1967, Eastwood bought five parcels totaling 283acres of land along Malpaso Creek from Charles Sawyer.[3] He later added more land until he owned . The land bordered the south bank of Malpaso Creek from the eastern side of Highway 1 to the coastal ridge. He sold it to Monterey County in 1995 for $3.08 million.[4] [5] Near the coast, a trail and later a road ran from Carmel to Big Sur during the 1800s. The creek has very steep side slopes and there was only one crossing (a ford only above sea level) until the Malpaso Creek Bridge was built in 1935 as part of Highway 1.
When Eastwood agreed to take the role of The Man with No Name in A Fistful of Dollars in 1964, his agent told him that it would be a "bad step" for his career. The Dollars Trilogy was surprisingly successful. After filming Where Eagles Dare in 1968, Eastwood grew annoyed about the money he considered wasted during these big productions. He wanted more creative control over his films and decided to form his own production company. He thought the choice of "Malpaso" was appropriate.[6]
Irving Leonard, Eastwood's financial adviser, organized the company for Eastwood following the success of and using the earnings from the Dollars Trilogy.[7] The first feature they produced was the 1968 film Hang 'Em High. Leonard served as President of the Malpaso Company and associate producer of Eastwood's films from Hang 'Em High until his death in 1969.[8] [9] Eastwood is known for very tight shooting schedules, finishing his films on schedule and on budget, or earlier and under budget, typically in much less time than most production companies.[10]
Few film production companies such as Malpaso Productions have been involved with one studio for releasing its motion pictures. Warner Bros. Pictures has served as the distributor of many of Clint Eastwood's produced, directed and starred films, a relationship that has lasted for nearly half a century and resulted in more than 40 features.[11]
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | Hang 'Em High | Ted Post | United Artists | The Malpaso Company | co-production with Leonard Freeman Productions; first film |
| Coogan's Bluff | Don Siegel | Universal Pictures | |||
| 1969 | Paint Your Wagon | Joshua Logan | Paramount Pictures | top production billing went to Alan Jay Lerner Productions |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Two Mules for Sister Sara | Don Siegel | Universal Pictures | The Malpaso Company | co-production with Sanen Productions |
| 1971 | The Beguiled | co-production with Jennings Lang Productions | |||
| Play Misty for Me | Clint Eastwood | ||||
| Dirty Harry | Don Siegel | Warner Bros. Pictures | |||
| 1972 | Joe Kidd | John Sturges | Universal Pictures | ||
| 1973 | High Plains Drifter | Clint Eastwood | |||
| Breezy | |||||
| Magnum Force | Ted Post | Warner Bros. Pictures | |||
| 1974 | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot | Michael Cimino | United Artists | ||
| 1975 | The Eiger Sanction | Clint Eastwood | Universal Pictures | co-production with Zanuck/Brown Productions | |
| 1976 | The Outlaw Josey Wales | Warner Bros. Pictures | |||
| The Enforcer | James Fargo | ||||
| 1977 | The Gauntlet | Clint Eastwood | |||
| 1978 | Every Which Way But Loose | James Fargo | |||
| 1979 | Escape from Alcatraz | Don Siegel | Paramount Pictures |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Any Which Way You Can | Buddy Van Horn | Warner Bros. Pictures | The Malpaso Company | |
| 1982 | Firefox | Clint Eastwood | |||
| Honkytonk Man | |||||
| 1983 | Sudden Impact | ||||
| 1984 | Tightrope | Richard Tuggle | uncredited scenes directed by Clint Eastwood | ||
| City Heat | Richard Benjamin | ||||
| 1985 | Pale Rider | Clint Eastwood | |||
| 1986 | Heartbreak Ridge | ||||
| Ratboy | Sondra Locke | ||||
| 1988 | The Dead Pool | Buddy Van Horn | Malpaso Productions | ||
| Bird | Clint Eastwood | The Malpaso Company | |||
| Charlotte Zwerin | Malpaso Productions | ||||
| 1989 | Pink Cadillac | Buddy Van Horn |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | White Hunter, Black Heart | Clint Eastwood | Warner Bros. Pictures | Malpaso Productions | |
| The Rookie | |||||
| 1992 | Unforgiven | ||||
| 1993 | A Perfect World | co-production with Mark Johnson Productions | |||
| 1995 | The Bridges of Madison County | co-production with Amblin Entertainment | |||
| The Stars Fell on Henrietta | James Keach | ||||
| 1997 | Absolute Power | Clint Eastwood | Sony Pictures Releasing | co-production with Columbia Pictures and Castle Rock Entertainment | |
| Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil | Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with Silver Pictures | |||
| 1999 | True Crime | co-production with The Zanuck Company |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Space Cowboys | Clint Eastwood | Warner Bros. Pictures | Malpaso Productions | co-production with Mad Chance Productions, Village Roadshow Pictures and Clipsal Films |
| 2002 | Blood Work | ||||
| 2003 | Mystic River | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures and NPV Entertainment | |||
| 2004 | Million Dollar Baby | co-production with Lakeshore Entertainment | |||
| 2006 | Flags of Our Fathers | Paramount Pictures/Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with DreamWorks Pictures and Amblin Entertainment | ||
| Letters from Iwo Jima | Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with DreamWorks Pictures and Amblin Entertainment | |||
| 2007 | Rails & Ties | Alison Eastwood | |||
| 2008 | Changeling | Clint Eastwood | Universal Pictures | co-production with Relativity Media and Imagine Entertainment | |
| Gran Torino | Warner Bros. Pictures | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures | |||
| 2009 | Invictus | co-production with Spyglass Entertainment |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Hereafter | Clint Eastwood | Warner Bros. Pictures | Malpaso Productions | co-production with Amblin Entertainment and The Kennedy/Marshall Company |
| 2011 | J. Edgar | co-production with Imagine Entertainment and Wintergreen Productions | |||
| 2012 | Trouble with the Curve | Robert Lorenz | |||
| 2014 | Jersey Boys | Clint Eastwood | co-production with RatPac-Dune Entertainment and GK Films | ||
| American Sniper | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Mad Chance Productions and 22nd & Indiana Pictures | ||||
| 2016 | Sully | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures, RatPac-Dune Entertainment, Flashlight Films, The Kennedy/Marshall Company and Orange Corp | |||
| 2018 | co-production with Village Roadshow Pictures and Access Entertainment | ||||
| The Mule | co-production with Imperative Entertainment and Bron Creative | ||||
| 2019 | Richard Jewell | co-production with Appian Way Productions, Misher Films and 75 Year Plan Productions |
| Year | Title | Director | Distributor | Names | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Cry Macho | Clint Eastwood | Malpaso Productions | ||
| TBA | Juror #2 | co-production with Dichotomy and Gotham Group |