Clint Eastwood says audiences understood exactly what his Chrysler advertisement broadcast during Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast meant – “let’s work our way out of [the recession].”

Those who say otherwise are missing the point, Eastwood tells CNBC in a new interview to air tomorrow during the 6 a.m. EST edition of “Squawk Box.” The following is from a rush transcript of the interview:

I’m surprised at the people who are supposed to be intelligent have interpreted it otherwise because it’s very disappointing to see that because the average person seems to get it … there are some people who make it a political element about everything you talk about from everything to where you’re dining or what on.

Eastwood also talked about out of control government spending, throwing his weight behind the bipartisan commission created by the Obama administration to the address the issue:

I was kind of amazed that they took Simpson-Bowles and assigned them this research and they come back with a recommendation which was exactly stop spending. And that everyone said, ‘that’s enough from you guys. Go home….’”

“I don’t know why the current administration assigned them to it if they weren’t going to pay any attention to it.

Rush Limbaugh isn’t making Clint Eastwood’s day.

The conservative talker spent a second straight broadcast mocking Eastwood’s now infamous “Halftime in America” Chrysler ad that aired on Super Bowl Sunday. Today, Limbaugh played a parody on his popular radio show to keep the story alive despite Eastwood’s protest that the commercial wasn’t meant to support President Obama’s auto bailout policies.

When somebody tells me Clint Eastwood did a halftime commercial for Chrysler, I expect it to be something like this,” Limbaugh told his 20 million listeners before audio of an Eastwood impersonator began:

Limbaugh’s is audio only, but video parodies from other sources were created for the Internet, including one from the Second City Network that appears to be a subtle attack on GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

El Rushbo didn’t mince words on EastwoodGate today.

Rush Limbaugh, back behind the golden EIB microphone following a one-day vacation, addressed the Chrysler Super Bowl ad featuring Clint Eastwood. And the talk show titan didn’t like what he heard.

I think he got scammed. I think he got roped into doing something he thought was patriotic and ended up being played. I do,” the conservative radio host said on his show on Tuesday. “I’m just going to give him the benefit of the doubt and suggest he got suckered into this.”

Limbaugh … said “all of this talk of ‘working together’” is something people say when Democrats are “about to get shellacked.”

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Small wonder the White House has tweeted approval of Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl Chrysler commercial. From its calls for America to “be as one,” one wouldn’t know that Eastwood doesn’t approve of the Obama administration.

One also wouldn’t know that Eastwood calls himself a libertarian. For Eastwood’s speech, with its calls for unity and marching together from halftime to what I take to be a touchdown, is precisely the kind of collectivism libertarians shy away from.

This is at odds with Eastwood’s maverick persona. As a consistent Republican voter, he stands apart from the Hollywood liberal herd. When the country was cheerleading for an Iraq invasion, Eastwood opposed it on “practical considerations.” While Hollywood emptied their wallets for Obama, Eastwood criticized him.

Eastwood’s libertarianism has always slipped through via his film canon. With the sheriff bashing unarmed citizens in “Unforgiven,” Eastwood sounded a warning against gun control, then and now. In last year’s “J.Edgar,” Eastwood revealed that there was a decided terrorist threat from leftists in the post-World War I period, while at the same time showing the civil liberty abuses of Hoover.

But now, the actor’s message has moved from the honor of being one against the herd to urging us all to join one.

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Acting legend Clint Eastwood has already tried clearing the air regarding any political fallout from his two-minute Chrysler Super Bowl ad.

Now, it’s Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne’s turn.

Marchionne told WJR radio in Detroit this morning “politics had nothing to do” with the instantly controversial clip.

Democrats and the White House embraced the ad narrated by actor Clint Eastwood that said the United States could learn from the Motor City’s economic woes, while a former adviser to President George W. Bush criticized it….

“It has zero political content,” Marchionne said. “It was not intended to be any type of political overture on our part. We are as apolitical as you can make us… I wasn’t expressing a view and certainly nobody inside Chrysler was attempting to influence decisions.

Actor Clint Eastwood’s Super Bowl ad for Chrysler got a quick and hearty welcome from Obama administration officials who saw it as an unofficial endorsement for the president’s auto bailout.

But the 81-year-old screen icon worked nearly as fast to shut down the notion his ad was meant to be taken that way.

Here’s the erstwhile Dirty Harry setting the record straight to a producer from Fox News’ “The O’Reilly Factor”:

I just want to say that the spin stops with you guys, and there is no spin in that ad. On this I am certain.

l am certainly not politically affiliated with Mr. Obama. It was meant to be a message about just about job growth and the spirit of America. I think all politicians will agree with it. I thought the spirit was OK.

I am not supporting any politician at this time.

Chrysler to their credit didn’t even have cars in the ad.

Anything they gave me for it went for charity.

If any Obama or any other politician wants to run with the spirit of that ad, go for it.

Judge for yourself:

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***ADDED: Would Dirty Harry ask for a handout?

“The Obama reelection campaign couldn’t buy a better endorsement.”

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THR:

The Super Bowl is televised advertising’s equivalent of the Cannes Film Festival, so White House political strategists must have been smiling when what’s generally being hailed as this year’s best spot — the Chrysler “Halftime in America” commercial — subtly echoed the themes of President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign.

Just to ice the cake, the gritty two-minute spot featured actor/director Clint Eastwood, whose politics usually put him on the Republican side of the aisle. In the spot, Eastwood’s voice narrates an account of Detroit’s comeback and, then, when his unmistakably craggy face appears on screen, talks of how America has arrived at half-time in its struggle back from the financial precipice with good things to follow in the coming second half.

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The ads are always a major draw when the Super Bowl plays. Some of those advertisements rely entirely on a major celebrity appearance and the advertisement usually succeeds epically or fails disastrously based on that appearance. Let’s take a look at three advertisements from last night’s Super Bowl and which ones were winners and which ones were losers:

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The clear winner is easy. When I heard Clint Eastwood would appear in a car commercial and have a pep talk with America, I expected something a little more light. Maybe they’d use his “Dirty Harry” image in some satirical way. Who knows. But, when the advertisement started playing, the entire room (which was previously filled with talk and laughter and some yelling) went silent. Everyone was glued and listened to every word that slipped from Eastwood’s mouth. It was a pep talk alright. And I say we band together and start a petition to nominate Eastwood for an Oscar for his little pep talk. The second he starts walking towards the screen, he consumes you in his shadow. He speaks from experience and he speaks almost as a godfather to us all. By the end of it I wanted to stand up and salute the flag. It makes one more and more excited to see Eastwood return to the front of the cameras for his next flick.

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John Wayne is not only the only actor to place posthumously on this annual Harris Poll that asks Americans who their favorite actor is, the Duke is also the only actor — living or dead — to find a slot on this poll every year since the survey began in 1994:

In 2011 he was the voice of Rango, he was Captain Jack Sparrow (again) and he was also a journalist. And, again this year, Johnny Depp has the distinction of being America’s Favorite Actor. Next on the list are two actors who haven’t actually acted in a movie this past year. Tied for number two are Denzel Washington, who was in the second spot last year, and Clint Eastwood who was number 9 on the list last year.These are some of the results of The Harris Poll® of 2,237 adults surveyed online between December 5 and 12, 2011 by Harris Interactive®.

Rounding out the top five favorite actors is Larry Crowne or rather Tom Hanks in the number 4 spot, up from a tie for number 6 last year, and at number 5 the only actor to have been on this list since it began in 1994, the Duke himself, John Wayne down from the number 3 spot last year.

After being part of a three-way tie for number 6 last year, George Clooney now holds that position by himself. Up from number 10 to number 7 is Sandra Bullock who is the only woman in the top ten and dropping from number 4 to number 8 is Harrison Ford. There are two new additions to the list this year. At number 9, returning to the top ten after a two year absence is Will Smith and debuting at number 10 is funny man Adam Sandler.

Here’s this year’s breakdown:

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Thou shalt not work with children, animals – or an unleashed Ruth Gordon.

Clint Eastwood disobeyed two of those three movie commandments with 1978’s “Every Which Way But Loose,” arguably the most eccentric film in the movie star’s canon.

The action comedy, Eastwood’s first, should have been the equivalent of Sylvester Stallone’s “Oscar” … or “Rhinestone” or “Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot.” An unmitigated disaster.

Instead, “Loose” became a surprise hit and one of Eastwood’s most popular films. Credit Gordon, blistering the screen as Eastwood’s scrappy Ma, or Clyde, the scene-stealing orangutan. Either way, Eastwood looked right at home letting his cast snare the laughs.

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Fans of Herge’s scrappy comic hero Tintin have had to imagine what the young journalist sounded like while saving the day over and again.

Jamie Bell not only supplies the main character’s voice in “The Adventures of Tintin,” Steven Spielberg’s animated adaptation of the Belgian comics hero, he also provides the movement via motion-capture technology.

Who better than the erstwhile Billy Elliot to make Tintin spring to life?

The young British actor confesses his first virtual acting assignment caught him flat footed.

“I thought that it would be genuinely challenging and difficult, and I’d have to change my approach … even how I would work within that medium,” the classically trained dancer tells Big Hollywood. “It turns out that it’s exactly the same.”

It helped that he had the premier motion capture actor by his side during the shoot.

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There are small but key roles in great movies that make a crucial difference in the way a film turns out. Think of Marlon Brando getting the top billing in “Superman” for less than 15 minutes of time as Jor-El, the Man of Steel’s father.

In the new Oscar-buzzed film “The Descendants” by Alexander Payne (“Election,” “Sideways,” “About Schmidt”) George Clooney may be getting all the glory for his terrific lead performance as Matt King, a real estate mogul who has to deal with his comatose wife’s wishes to die at the same time he is forced to become a better father to his two daughters.

But it’s when he learns that his wife had been cheating on him with a smarmy-looking real estate agent named Brian Speer that the film really takes off, as he sets out to find Speer in order to gain closure.

It would be easy to play Speer as a heartless cad, and a lout who callously disrupted the family life and betrayed the marriage of another man. But as Speer, actor Matthew Lillard delivers a powerfully nuanced performance that actually makes viewers feel his pain as he begs for forgiveness from King and also begs King not to tell his own wife what he had done.

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CHRISTOPHER NOLAN UNVEILS ‘DARK KNIGHT RISES’ PROLOGUE

Things I miss about living in Los Angeles:

Nolan was on hand himself to introduce the nearly seven-minute clip, which he described as, basically, the opening sequence, with a few out-of-order bonus shots thrown in at the end. The director also emphasized his love for IMAX technology, explaining that even though it was probably developed before he was born, it is “far and away the best imaging format created,” and it’s one that allows fans to experience the grandeur of old Hollywood films, which Nolan said is “slowly being chipped away.” At the special screening, he encouraged fans to seek out official IMAX screens for a fully immersive experience when “Rises” opens next summer, but not to inquire about the plot of the film.

Truth be told, though, I don’t want to see this stuff beforehand. Until the film comes out, I don’t want to know. No doubt, the prologue will be released online before “Dark Knight Rises” hits theaters next summer, and hopefully, work or my own lack of discipline won’t force me to view it.

STREISAND: ‘IT’S TIME FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN TREATMENT OF HEART DISEASE‘

Just once I’d like to see some insufferable leftist celeb write about “gender inequality” in defense of men over something… anything.

Just writing the words “gender inequality” makes me feel dirty and stupid.

BLU-RAY DISC SALES UP 35% IN 2011

A break in the clouds?

Sales of Blu-ray Disc movies in the last four months of the year have skyrocketed, eclipsing what had been a sluggish year for the high-definition packaged media format, an analyst said.

BD disc sales in the United States will reach about 115 million units in 2011, compared with 85 million units in 2010 — spearheaded by the Star Wars: The Complete Saga boxed set release, Jim Bottoms, analyst with Futuresource in London, told Home Media Magazine.

In Europe, BD disc sales will balloon 42% to 63 million units, compared with 44 million units last year — driven by strong adoption in Germany.

Global BD disc sales will increase to 234 million units, up 45% from 161 million units in 2010.

In other news: Analysts Cut Fourth-Quarter Box Office Estimates

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Director Clint Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” was supposed to be a key Oscar contender this awards season.

Instead, withering reviews and audience indifference have all but killed its chances at significant honors. That hasn’t stopped critics from soft-pedaling their critiques to support the film’s gay agenda, according to Andrew Klavan.

The film more than suggests J. Edgar Hoover (played by Leonardo DiCaprio) had a gay relationship with a fellow agent via clumsy dialogue and cliched confrontations. It’s precisely the kind of ham-fisted storytelling critics are supposed to call out. Klavan says critics like Manohla Dargis of the leftist New York Times instead chose to ignore such obvious flaws in their reviews:

“The tenderness of the love story in “J. Edgar” comes as a shock.” “Mr. Eastwood, working from a smart script by Dustin Lance Black… takes a dynamic approach to history (even as it speaks to contemporary times…)” “[Eastwood's] handling of Hoover and Tolson’s relationship… lifts the film from the usual biopic blahs.”

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The Library of America’s new selection of film critic Pauline Kael’s writings showcases her liberalism; in it, we have her castigation of Clint Eastwood’s “Magnum Force” (“the liberalized ideology is just window dressing”), while praising “Julia,” a film based on Stalinist Lillian Hellman’s memoirs and starring fist-clencher Jane Fonda.

This, coupled with Kael’s oft-quoted confusion about President Nixon winning re-election in 1972 because “everyone I know voted for McGovern” gives us the impression of a limousine radical.

But what was omitted from “The Age of Movies: Selected Writings of Pauline Kael” would have balanced this portrait; it might even have showed some conservative sentiments on Kael’s part. The omission of her celebrated essay on “Citizen Kane” – done so because of suspicions it was plagiarized – would have revealed her to be in the Ninotchka (a 1939 film that hit Stalinism where it was weakest: in the funny bone) school of anti-communism.

In the essay, she argues that it was the joyless jargon merchants of American Stalinism that destroyed the screwball genre (“the Algonquin group’s own style was lost as their voice blended into the preachy, self-righteous chorus”).

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Will Reiser beat the odds to triumph over a rare but potentially fatal form of cancer.

Now, can the movie inspired by his brush with death pull off an Oscar upset?

“50/50,” the serio-comedy starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the role inspired by Reiser, didn’t obliterate the box office competition following its Sept. 2011 debut. To date, it’s rake in a modest $34 million, not too shabby for a film revolving around cancer but hardly blockbuster material. And the film’s 93 percent “fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes.com also bodes well for its awards season chances.

But the movie doesn’t have that Oscar feel, and while that’s no critique on the film itself it could matter when it comes time to tally up votes.

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Every year, a new Clint Eastwood film hits theaters along with a wave of insta-Oscar buzz. It doesn’t matter if a single soul has yet to see the film in question. Its Oscar chances are stated as fact.

Will “J. Edgar” finally put a stop to that?

Eastwood’s latest film got hammered by film critics, shredding any chance it had for a Best Picture nomination. But “J. Edgar” comes on the heels of “Hereafter,” “Changeling” and “Invictus,” three similarly hyped productions which were met with critical ambivalence.

Of Eastwood’s recent films, only “Gran Torino” delivered on its storytelling promises, but that movie’s politically incorrect tone kept the critical huzzahs to a minimum.

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As befits a libertarian, Clint Eastwood is admirably suited to look at both sides of a controversial question.

Dirty Harry could be both a hearty conservative slap to the Warren Court and also the only thing between democracy and a group of vigilante fascist cops.

“J. Edgar,” released today, is no different.

But to gauge Eastwood’s achievement in examining a controversial figure, virtues as well as warts and all, one should look at previous cinematic portrayals of the FBI director. In “Chaplin,” Hoover is depicted as a prissy anti-communist who does not forget the silent film star slighting him back in the twenties. His decades-long vengeance is complete when Chaplin gives him the sword to fell the actor with, courtesy of Charlie’s peccadilloes.

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There’s something great about sitting down to a see an oh, so serious film and laughing at its ineptness. Sure, you lost a good $10 on the ticket, but it’s cathartic to laugh through the pain.

Consider M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Happening” as a perfect example.

This critic heard similarly unplanned guffaws during a recent screening of “J. Edgar,” director Clint Eastwood’s biopic of the blustery FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The crowd wasn’t reacting to a clumsily delivered phrase or illogical event. They smirked over sequences in which Hoover (Leonardo DiCaprio) and a fellow agent (played by Armie Hammer) stopped talking business.

Turns out I wasn’t the only one to hear that kind of laughter.

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Had Oliver Stone directed the life and times of J. Edgar Hoover, there’s no telling how many conspiracies would have marched across the screen.

Clint Eastwood is a different brand of director. He’s more nuanced, more reasonable, and he won’t let his knee jerk while telling a complicated story.

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Eastwood’s “J. Edgar” is all richer for the director’s cautious instincts. We re-learn why Hoover is both celebrated and mocked thanks to a powerhouse turn by Leonardo DiCaprio as the nation’s longest-serving FBI director.

“J. Edgar” ultimately seems disinterested in Hoover as a law man or rule breaker. The film trots out a series of arguments for and against his hard-line tactics, not bothering to weigh in on either side of the ledger. Instead, it frames a love story between two men who cannot act on their urges – or even admit them out loud.

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