Clint Eastwood speaks on stage during a presentation during the 70th annual Cannes Film Festival

Hollywood legend Clint Eastwood has hit out at political correctness, claiming one of his greatest films could not have been produced in today's climate.

The 86-year-old regaled the Cannes Film Festival also predicted a possible return to acting and decried what he perceives to be the world's collective loss of sense of humour.

Eastwood was honored with several screenings of his films, including one marking the 25th anniversary of 'Unforgiven.' In a conversation on Sunday, the 86-year-old director said he would revisit acting 'someday.'

The last time Eastwood appeared on screen was 2012's 'Trouble With the Curve.' Before that, he starred in his own 2008 film, 'Gran Torino.'

Eastwood didn't talk about current political events, but while discussing his then-controversial 1971 film 'Dirty Harry,' he waded into a topic he's touched on before: political correctness.

'A lot of people thought it was politically incorrect,' Eastwood said of 'Dirty Harry.' 'That was at the beginning of the era that we're in now, where everybody thinks everyone's politically correct. We're killing ourselves by doing that. We've lost our sense of humour.'

Sofia Coppola's remake of Don Siegel's 1971 film 'The Beguiled,' which starred Eastwood, is to premiere this week in Cannes, but Eastwood sounded unfamiliar with Coppola's movie.

He's currently preparing to direct 'The 15:17 to Paris,' about the foiling of a 2015 Islamic State group attack on a train heading to the French capital from Brussels.

Three Americans, two of them off-duty members of the military, contributed to the subduing of the gunman. Eastwood said the film suited today's 'strange times.'

Festival-goers mobbed Eastwood's talk. Warner Bros. executives, including studio head Kevin Tsujihara, sat in the front row.

Eastwood as Harry Callaghan in controversial 1971 film 'Dirty Harry'

'A lot of people thought it was politically incorrect,' Eastwood said of 'Dirty Harry'

Much of the conversation, moderated by Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan, touched on Eastwood's attitudes about moviemaking.

'If you have good luck with your instincts, you might as well trust them,' Eastwood said. 'It's an emotional art form. It's not an intellectual art form at all.'

Eastwood has waxed lyrical on the theme of political corectness before.

Last year, he hailed Mr Trump as a foe of political correctness and 'the kiss-ass generation'.

'We're really in a pussy generation. Everybody's walking on eggshells,' he said. 'We see people accusing people of being racist and all kinds of stuff.

'When I grew up, those things weren't called racist. Secretly everybody's getting tired of political correctness, kissing up.'

Eastwood has previously spoken at the Republican party convention, where he baffled audiences in 2012 by addressing an empty chair that was supposed to represent President Barack Obama.