This month Clint Eastwood celebrates his 90th birthday. The Hollywood icons prestigious career spans nearly 8 decades, appearing in 72 films and directing 43.

The early 2000’s saw Eastwood hit a rich vein of form. After the success of the excellent ‘Mystic River’ (2003) he went straight into production on boxing drama ‘Million Dollar Baby’, this time in front as well as behind the camera, starring alongside Hilary Swank and Morgan Freeman.

The script had been repeatedly rejected by studios and struggled to find backing even with Eastwood onboard as director and actor.

Once the budget and distribution had been secured, Eastwood shot his film in less than 40 days between June and July 2004.

Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) is a waitress from a small town in the Ozarks who dreams of one day becoming a professional prizefighter. When she walks into run-down L.A. gym, the Hit Pit and tells owner Frankie Dunn (Clint Eastwood) she wants him to train her to be a champion, Frankie growls she’s “too old” and “I don’t train girls”.

Maggie continues to work out determinedly each day in the gym and with encouragement from his friend and employee, Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris (Morgan Freeman) Frankie reluctantly agrees to start coaching Maggie. Estranged from his daughter and with a local priest being the only person he feels he can confide in, Frankie develops a paternal bond with Maggie as her career goes from strength to strength until tragedy strikes in the ring and leaves her this time fighting for her life.

Swank has always been a fine actress but was a revelation here as the plucky underdog who won’t give up. Eastwood never doubted Swanks acting ability but had concerns over her small physique leading her to take on extensive training in the ring and weight room, gaining 19 pounds of muscle, assisted by professional trainer Grant L Roberts.

Training up to 5 hours every day she, at one point, contracted a life threatening Staphylococcus infection but never told Eastwood, thinking it would be out of character for Maggie.

Badly promoted by Warner Brothers as a “female Rocky”, which would have confounded some audiences when the film takes a darker, more sombre turn midway through, the picture nevertheless went on to become a huge global success and earned Eastwood the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director as well as Oscars for Swank and Freeman as Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor respectively.

This is a film about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances, about regret and loss and knowing when to hold on and when to let go. It’s also one of the best films this century.