During a casual conversation with Aberdeen resident Bobbi McCracken some 40 years ago, I suggested that Aberdeen organize a Clint Eastwood Film Festival patterned after the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland.

Bobbi quickly deduced that it was a joking reference to the box-office success Eastwood films enjoyed at Grays Harbor theaters. Like many film buffs at the time, I regarded Eastwood as a one-note actor whose career probably wouldn’t survive his stoic portrayals of “Dirty Harry” and the “Man With No Name.”

That wasn’t, to put it mildly, my most astute observation. Little did I realize at the time that Eastwood’s peak as an actor and director was yet to come and that he would still be making films at the age of 91. His latest effort, “Cry Macho,” was released in September.

My lack of foresight possibly cost the Harbor untold riches in tourism dollars. Particularly since Bobbi, who has organized many successful community events in collaboration with her friend Bette Worth, probably could have put together an Eastwood festival.

Some nitpickers might suggest that such a festival belongs in Carmel, California, Eastwood’s longtime home. But William Shakespeare wasn’t exactly a native of Southern Oregon, either.

Although commanding in the right roles, he remains an actor of limited range. He’s been more impressive as a director, with two Academy Awards to his credit in that capacity. Even there, however, he has sometimes spoiled some promising projects by miscasting himself as the leading man.

Nevertheless, he is a good story-teller who has enjoyed far more hits than misses, leaving ample candidates for an Eastwood Film Festival. If allowed to program the opening day, I would select three quality films from the 1990s and a curio from earlier in his career.

“Paint Your Wagon” (1969). The bad news is that Eastwood sings “I Talk to the Trees” in this heavily altered, sporadically entertaining adaptation of the Lerner and Loewe stage musical. The worse news is that it is one of the musical highlights in a movie populated with such non-singers as Lee Marvin and Jean Seberg.

Eastwood and Marvin play gold-rush prospectors who opt to share a wife (Seberg) whom they purchased at an auction.

Filming near Baker in Eastern Oregon was notoriously tumultuous and potentially life-changing for Eastwood in more ways than one. His dissatisfaction with director Joshua Logan helped trigger his desire to direct.

Eastwood and Seberg, meanwhile, reportedly began rehearsing their love scenes off-camera well into the night. That attracted the attention of Seberg’s French husband, who arrived on location and supposedly challenged Clint to a duel. Dirty Harry backed off on that one.

In the “Line of Fire” (1993). Ironically, Eastwood may have done his best acting in a film made by another director (Wolfgang Petersen).

He’s entirely believable as a veteran Secret Service agent haunted by his inability to prevent the Kennedy assassination. That makes him a vulnerable target for another would-be assassin (played with appropriate creepiness by John Malkovich), who plays mind games with Eastwood’s character in an attempt to take down the current president.

This was one of the best thrillers of the era, enhanced by a first-rate supporting cast that includes Rene Russo, Dylan McDermott and John Mahoney.

“A Perfect World” (1993). Director Eastwood also plays the minor role of a Texas Ranger in pursuit of an escaped convict (Kevin Costner), who has taken an 8-year-old boy as a hostage.

More of a character study than a thriller, this episodic film sharply divided audiences and critics. Some observers considered it a masterpiece, with Eastwood getting a surprisingly strong performance from a seemingly miscast Costner.

But to call the movie leisurely paced is like saying “Raiders of the Lost Ark” had a few decent action scenes. Even the climactic confrontation takes forever to unfold.

“Unforgiven” (1992). Eastwood won his first Academy Awards for producing and directing this adult Western, regarding by many as the greatest film of that genre.

He also stars an aging, impoverished former gunfighter who is recruited to avenge the brutal beating of a prostitute in an Old Western town.

Gene Hackman won a supporting actor Oscar for playing the hypocritical sheriff and Morgan Freeman is also excellent as the partner of Eastwood’s character. But Eastwood matches their performances by convincingly playing a family man who is revolted by his violent past, but can’t help returning to it for the right price.

Eastwood’s second Oscar winner, the boxing drama “Million Dollar Baby, “ is also a very good (if downbeat) film. We might use it to kick off the second day of the Eastwood Film Festival.