Despite his legendary status, I have not seen many Clint Eastwood films. I’m more familiar with his current work as a director than his spaghetti-westerns back in the day. So, as an acting swan song, he’s left his iconic image with what my wife put so well as, “A made-for-TV movie that looks really good.”
Eastwood is Walt Kowalski, a Korean war veteran stuck in a Detroit neighborhood with every ethnicity but his (think of an elderly Dirty Harry). Facing loneliness for the first time and children who just don’t give a damn about him, he reluctantly meets his Chinese neighbors after an act of gang violence. He’s faced with overcoming his racial mindset as he learns to stop cursing at life and finally become connected to the community that has left him far behind.
I’ve heard Eastwood is one of the fastest directors when it comes to shooting and making a film. Part of that is taking a screenplay as is (this is unheard of) and shooting 1 to 2 takes for each scene. This method isn’t recognizable in his Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River, but he couldn’t get away with it with this one. It’s a good story that just needed a little more tweaking and maybe just a few more takes from an inexperienced supporting cast.
At times scenes seemed too clunky and cheesy, but also have times where it’s very dramatic and actually funny. It feels odd to laugh at this old crotchety man, especially with his racial slurs that never let up. Eastwood pulls it off though by giving heart and depth to a character that I unfortunately still was not pulling for at the end. You see the transformation in him, which is commendable, but it never apologizes for his racial thoughts that never sat too well with me.
I would put Gran Torino in that category of a good movie, but you aren’t missing anything if you don’t see it. I give it 3 out of 5 “Get off my lawn” growls.
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