Go ahead, make his day.
"You know, if you did have a squint, it might actually improve your appearance."
— Spike, Press Gang
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:
The trope is named for
Clint Eastwood.
Examples
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Anime and Manga
Comics
- A major part of Rob Liefeld's art. So major, in fact, that it's surprising to see characters who actually have eyes.
- 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 — 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.
- Parodied in Back to the Future Part III where Marty Mc Fly uses Clint Eastwoods name as well as his 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 Lithuanian ancestry.
- Italian actor Bud Spencer always did this. He had sight problems that made him hard to focus things even at short range when not squinting. These day he recovered some sight through chirurgy, and squints a lot less.
- Burn After Reading: Brad Pitt's character Chad trys to give Osbourne Cox one when they first meet. He fails hilariously.
Live Action TV
Video Games
Web Comics
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.
- Notably, 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.
- And of course, the very first time you see him in the Animated series, his very first action, is to squint
(0:36).
- Samurai Jack does this. ALL the time.
