But as he closes in on his latest adversary – a psychopath dubbed “The Code Killer” by the media – McCaleb is felled by a massive heart attack and forced into early retirement.

Two years later, a beautiful stranger (WANDA De JESÚS) reveals a secret that compels McCaleb to re-examine his recovery: his life was saved by someone else’s death – the victim of a murder that remains unsolved.

Against the advice of his cardiologist (ANJELICA HUSTON) and with the help of an eager neighbor (JEFF DANIELS), McCaleb literally puts his life on the line to track down a murderer who has forced him to take this case personally.

He’s a heartbeat away from catching the killer.

EASTWOOD AS REVOLUTIONARY
He was a revolutionary filmmaker within the revolutionary times of the late '60s making such films as, A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

These films were revolutionary for many reasons. One being Eastwood's insistence on brevity. He would tear pages of dialog out of the scripts. He reduced parts down to one or two short sentences. Who can forget such lines as "Go ahead, make my day" or "Do you feel lucky punk? Well, do you?" Another reason is how these films deal not so much with the issues of absolute good and evil, as with the ground in between the two. His Dirty Harry character, for example, was ambiguously good, and yet strongly opposed to evil. His stories played on our struggles with moral ambiguities and yet at the same time on our sense of absolute good and evil.

I want to return to this theme of Eastwood's creativity in a bit.

EASTWOOD AS MAINSTREAM
What is interesting is that those revolutionary films are now considered mainstream. His then unique method has become normative. His life's journey is symbolic of this same transition, from being a maverick spaghetti western filmmaker in Italy to being partial owner of the Pebbles Beach Golf Country Club in Monterey, California.

Similarly, in his film Blood Work Eastwood retires from a high action FBI agent to a small houseboat peacefully floating peacefully in the dock. His retirement is due to a heart transplant. Eastwood is one Hollywood actor that is not afraid to play his age. Unbelievably, he was over 70 years old when this film was released.

BLOOD ISSUES
The film explores the various meanings of blood. Just before Clint Eastwood's transplant in the film, we see a large neon cross of Jesus, twice. This gives significance to his new heart as a symbol of new life --being born-again.

In Jewish Scriptures, we read that the "life is in the blood." This film underscores the necessity of blood transfusions so that certain individuals can continue to live.

In an interesting way we are presented with the idea that blood sacrifice is sometimes necessary for human survival. In Christian doctrine Jesus sacrifices his life's blood on the cross so that others might live. In Blood Works a woman permits the harvesting of her heart upon her death so that another person may continue to live.

EASTWOOD AS ANTI-WOMAN -NOT.
Eastwood has been criticized for being overly macho. He's been unfairly criticized as being anti-woman. However, portraying a macho character does not equate to being anti-woman. Eastwood films are very pro-woman. All of Eastwood's films from the 1980's forward present women on equal footing with their male counterparts. And in this film women hold high occupational positions. There is a woman heart surgeon, for example, brilliantly played by Angelica Huston. There is a woman storeowner, and the best police investigator is a woman. Eastwood is very much at home in a liberated world where women have, or at least should have, equal rights. In the Scriptures, the apostle Paul speaks of the ideal situation where "there is neither Jew or Gentile, male nor female, bond or free" and all are at one with each other through Jesus Christ.

EASTWOOD AS A CREATIVE GENIUS AND ROLE MODEL
It has been said that creativity is an act of rebellion. It certainly is. And that definition certainly fits Clint Eastwood. In her book The Creative Mind researcher Margaret Boden writes that creativity,

And this is Eastwood.

Eastwood was a deconstructionist in the postmodern era. And now he gives us a model of creativity for the creative era. He not only helped transition us from the modern to the postmodern era, but he now helps transition us from postmodern to the creative age.

He gives us a model of being for the new age of creativity into which we enter.

And on a personal level he models how to age with grace. His performance in Blood Work is stunning.