Clint Squint

Go ahead, make his day.

"Eyes closed by the sun, yet sharp as a hawk."

— Mr. Fabian about Wyatt Earp, Tombstone

Every once in a while actors think that they have to scrunch up their eyes while being on screen. Reasons for that are manifold, though it most commonly seems to be a way of increasing the badass level of the character they are playing. Squeezing your eyes together works like a focusing mechanism for the Death Glare. However, some actors seem to think of the Clint Squint as some sort of cheap way to add depth to a character (which is, of course, destined to fail).

In animation, where facial expressions are often either very broad or completely absent, a stoic character's choice of expressions can be basically limited to this (as everything else is either too emotionally open, or too subtle to convey).

Other reasons for squinting include:

• Filming a movie or tv-series in really bright surroundings, like deserts.^note Possibly another reason for Clint's original squint, because the Dollars Trilogy that made him badass was shot in South Spain, often in the deserts. In fact, Clint has mentioned in multiple interviews over the years that the squint started simply because he is very sensitive to direct light and tobacco smoke.
• Large Hams who like exaggerated facial expressions.
• For whatever reason, the actor is not wearing their glasses, and is Blind Without 'Em. Such is the case for Christopher Lambert.

The trope is named for Clint Eastwood, and is a common facial expression of any parody of his famous role, the Man with No Name. See also the Perpetual Frowner. For this trope's logical extreme, see Eyes Always Shut.

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Examples

Anime and Manga

• Subverted Trope in Case Closed: An elementary school teacher had such a squint, but he just happened to forget his glasses that day.
• If a character in a Masatoshi Kawahara work is a Big Guy with a Lantern Jaw of Justice, beard, and Clint Squint, you can be sure that person is a badass (and will very often be The Lancer to the main character, if he is not The Heavy for the antagonists).

Comic Books

• Alex Ross tends to draw and paint Superman with a Clint Squint. He also had one in the old 1940's Max and Dave Fleischer also tended to give him a Clint Squint in the 1940's Superman Theatrical Cartoons, and his DCAU appearance tends to be drawn like this in tribute to the Fleischer cartoons.
• A major part of Rob Liefeld's art. So major, in fact, that it's surprising to see characters who actually have eyes.
• Vasco, the main character in Javier de Isusi's comic book The Pipe of Marcos, does display different kinds of expressions, but a large majority are squints. Come to think of it, he's hardly the only one in that comic to do that.
• In issue #25 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Applejack does this when she resolves to get back at Cattle Rustlers that are threatening a family's western farm.
• In Usagi Yojimbo the main character occasionally is drawn with squinted dots for eyes rather than his usual half-circles, giving an impression of a Clint Squint.

Comic Strips

• In one Garfield comic strip, Garfield is taken aback when John seems to have gotten something in his eyes. "I'm squinting! All macho guys squint!" He then promptly walks into a doorframe in the next panel.
• Lampshaded in Doonesbury: Upon meeting Clint Eastwood back when he was running for mayor of Carmel, Ca., Lacey Davenport tells him "Don't squint so much, dear, you'll end up with goose feet."

Films — Animation

• Cinderella: Lady Tremaine does this when she watches Cinderella waltzing and humming to herself in response to the news that the Prince will marry the girl who fits the glass slipper, realizing that Cinderella was the mystery girl who danced with the Prince at the ball the previous night.
• Randall Boggs from Monsters, Inc. has this look by default, scrunching his eyes further when angry or for intimidation. Prequel Monsters University implies this is a side effect of Randall stopping wearing prescription glasses.

Films — Live Action

• Trope Namer is Clint Eastwood, who frequently squinted while playing his iconic western roles. Eastwood said he only did it because the cigars his character smoked bugged his eyes, and he was allergic to horses. He's also said his eyes are sensitive to bright light.
• Deconstructed in Unforgiven. The Schofield Kid tries this, but it just makes him look silly. It later turns out the kid's got astigmatism and can't see for shit, which is why he squints.
• Parodied in Back to the Future Part III where Marty McFly uses Clint Eastwood's name as well as his squint.
• Also referenced in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, when an angry diatribe by Ed Rooney impresses his secretary Grace, who claims he sounded like Dirty Harry. Ed follows up with the squint.
• Lee Van Cleef often wore a perpetual sneer when playing movie villains, which involved a steely-eyed squint.
• Charles Bronson, perhaps aided by his naturally narrow eyes due to Tatar ancestry.
• Italian actor Bud Spencer always did this. He had sight problems that made it hard for him to get things in focus even at short range when not squinting. Later he recovered some sight through surgery, and subsequently squinted a lot less.
• Burn After Reading: Brad Pitt's character Chad tries to give Osbourne Cox one when they first meet. He fails hilariously.
• In a non-biological sense, the "T-shape" made by the squinting eyes and nose of this trope (plus the other Spaghetti Western tropes embodied in it) supposedly inspired the T-shaped visor of bounty hunter Boba Fett in Star Wars, since his film debut in The Empire Strikes Back. Naturally, since the expansion of the lore behind Fett's background, this has come to characterize every Mandalorian that has come to life in the franchise since.

Literature

• Lampshaded at one point in The Restaurant at the End of the Universe, with the Lemony Narrator wondering why looking like you have trouble seeing is supposed to seem threatening.

Live-Action TV

• Captain Archer of Star Trek: Enterprise fame did this to an extent that made you want to write "insert coins here" on his (barely recognizable) eyelids.
• One episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 had Observer doing this while saying "Chilly Squint!" threateningly.
• The titular Walker, Texas Ranger would get one at least Once an Episode — usually complete with dramatic close up and Theme Music Power-Up.
• Parodied by George W. Bush in Late Night With Conan O'Brien with the "Live Via Satellite" skits.
  Squint, please (Bush squints). Bring it on! (theme from The Good, the Bad and the Ugly plays)
• British actor Kevin Stoney alternated between this and what appeared to be Eyes Always Shut but sometimes it appeared more as if he were simply looking down at his feet.
• Burn Notice: Michael Westen. Justified, as the series takes place and is filmed in sunny Miami.
• The Monster of the Week and the Winchester's public defender use this expression in the episode "Folsom Prison Blues" (S02, Ep19) of Supernatural.
• The titular protagonist of Decker seems to have this as his default expression. Totally Played for Laughs, as the show is lampooning action series and Decker's dopey expression is meant to come off as him reacting to something in dramatic shock.
• An episode of Last Man Standing ends with Mike giving Ryan one of these after the latter insults Westerns.

Video Games

• During Samara's loyalty mission in Mass Effect 2, Shepard can use the Clint Squint to intimidate a krogan. It works rather well.
  • Likewise, when we finally get to meet Admiral Hackett face-to-face, this seems to be the default state of his eyes.
• This is the only look Jimmy Hopkins of Bully ever wears on his face.
• Ecco the Dolphin tends to employ these as a non-verbal cue that he's saying "Let's Get Dangerous!" during CG cutscenes in the second game, Tides of Time.
• Max Payne in the first game of the series, but only when he is shooting (when he is not, his face is relaxed). This is, however, his most famous look because it's the most common in action screenshots.
• Cole Cassidy of Overwatch usually has this expression - which makes sense, as he's based on the Man with No Name.
• Wendy Oldbag in the Ace Attorney games has a very pronounced squint in her eyes where they would be a case of Eyes Always Shut if she squinted any further. The only time her eyes are wide open is if she is angry, shocked, or lovestruck when seeing Edgeworth.
• Colonel Campbell in Metal Gear Solid has a pronounced squint and it becomes more apparent in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots due to his older age.
• Being based on the Trope Namer, Dirty Brory from Broforce is depicted with his eyes basically shut.

Web Comics

• In This El Goonish Shive comic, George uses this sort of squint to both demonstrate his disdain for Elliot, and attempt to intimidate him. The author discusses this trope in the commentary. He claims that Clint Eastwood copyrighted it, and that when anyone else uses it, they have to pay him A Fistful of Dollars.

Western Animation

• In Batman: The Animated Series, Batman is extremely stoic and hard to surprise. When in costume, nearly his only way to react to anything is narrowing his eyes.
  • In an episode of Justice League Unlimited Amanda Waller calls him "Rich-boy", implying that she knows his identity, and the only response he makes is to widen his eyes.
  • The very first time you see him in the Animated series, his very first action, is to squint(0:36).
• Batman's protege Nightwing makes a similar squint in Young Justice (2010), when he's enraged at the Blue Beetle seemingly allying himself with the Reach.
• Samurai Jack does this. ALL the time.
• Vendetta in Making Fiends often squints her eyes to emphasize what she's saying.
• Doc of The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock is rarely seen without one, just like the actor he's a clear Expy of.
• Danger Mouse: In "Cor! What A Picture," Baron Greenback obtains a set of photos of Penfold from a photo booth with which he plans to manipulate. One of the photos has Penfold doing a Clint Squint, and Greenback asks "How did Clint Eastwood get in here?"
• In the American Dad! episode "Tears of a Clooney", Francine criticizes George Clooney for always tilting his head down, then raising it back up while doing a squint. Sure enough, we later see him doing it while shooting a movie.
• In Gravity Falls, the in-universe Western character, Grandpa the Kid, uses this.
  Grandpa: I'm tired during the day.

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