Clint Eastwood in the 1970s would be widely screened in France later and is considered one of Eastwood's finest works by the French. According to Eastwood and Lang, the film, aside from being poorly publicized, flopped due to Clint being "emasculated in the film". Eastwood said about his role: 1971 was a professional turning point in Eastwood's career. Before his professional financial adviser and president of Malpaso Productions Irving Leonard died, the last film they discussed was "Play Misty for Me". The goal was to give Eastwood the artistic control that he desired and make it his directorial debut. The rights to the song "Misty"
Clint Eastwood a fee of $400,000 and 25 percent of its net box-office takings. Using money earned from the "Dollars" trilogy, accountant and Eastwood advisor Irving Leonard helped establish Eastwood's own production company, Malpaso Productions, named after Malpaso Creek on Eastwood's property in Monterey County, California. As recently as a month prior to the film's release, 38-year-old Eastwood was still a relative unknown; in July 1968, syndicated columnist Dorothy Manners noted "The proverbial man in the street is still asking, "Who's Clint Eastwood?" Leonard arranged for "Hang 'Em High" to be a joint production with United Artists; when it opened in August