The whole convention was a pretty depressing spectacle - white, middle-aged, complacent and completely uninterested in the complexities or nuances of either their own society or the wider world.

Eastwood's appearance was very sad. I can't help thinking he seems to have people around him now who don't seem to have his best interests at heart, whether it's persuading to do this or getting him to appear in a dreadful, unwatchable tv show about his ghastly wife and his appalling stepchildren.

Eastwood was always a filmmaker I admired. Politically he was always considered a Conservative but his films were often more layered and interesting than many of the more 'Liberal' films of the 70s, particularly. 'The Outlaw Josey Wales' is still one of the best films about America from the post-Vietnam period. 'Bronco Billy' was an engaging, affectionate satire about the very America that Romney seeks to address. 'Bird' was a noble attempt to make a new generation aware of Charlie Parker.

His Iwo Jima movies weren't entirely successful in my view but I can't think of any other American filmmaker who would even have attempted anything like them. Of all the directors of his generation, only Woody Allen has maintained the same continued work ethic and consistency - as well as both of their legendary efficiency in bringing films in on time and within budget.

He wasn't a great actor but he wasn't afraid of a challenge and he wasn't afraid of subverting his own image or the image people had of him in 'The Beguiled', 'Tightrope', 'White Hunter, Black Heart' and many other films. But someone really needs to tell actors and celebrities to stay away from doing novelty turns at political rallies.

I don't care about what Eastwood or Jane Fonda or Eva Longoria thinks about President Obama. And there's something very wrong with a country where political managers think people do.

But I grew up with Eastwood's work (although I didn't take my politics from any of it) and I'm pissed off with him for spoiling my memories of that work. Do Americans really think this sort of stupidity is funny?