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Written on February 24th, 2009 by Jon and filed in Jon
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Director: Clint Eastwood
Cast: Clint Eastwood, Christopher Carley, Bee Vang
Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski, played by Eastwood, is The Man With No Shame – an obstinate, unbending, recently widowed racist curmudgeon who doesn’t seem to care about anyone, or anything other than the pristine titular car he helped to build on the Ford production line. Dismayed by what he sees as the decline of his neighbourhood and America itself, he has to confront his own prejudices when a Hmong family move in next door.
There is a distinct feeling of the unlikely here –Walt stands up to the streetpunks and gangstas (admittedly armed with an occasional pistol and rifle) who are threatening the young man he takes under his wing with relative ease for an octogenarian. At times Gran Torino feels like a predictable ‘80’s feelgood flick, even a reversed Karate Kid, as the old stick-in-the-mud learns racial tolerance from his youthful counterpart and the boy learns how to stand on his own two feet against the world.
If this sounds schmaltzy you’d be right – but the schmaltz is also served up with a portrayal of racial intolerance as being acceptable. Does being consistently racist and rude to all – Hmong, Irish, Italians, the Church etc – make that person endearing? Yet the character does change for the better – by the time of confessional speeches to his eager new friend and an eager young priest in the run-up to a cowboy-like showdown it’s hard not to root for the man.
And ultimately it’s served up by Clint – it’s difficult to imagine anyone else being able to carry this film off. His presence makes the difference, allows you to suspend your disbelief, and once he stops growling (literally at the films opening) and starts acting, allows you to enjoy perhaps his final performance with a great deal of pleasure. The character grows, changes for the better, takes on the bad guys and leaves his neighbourhood a better place. Not a bad legacy after all.
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written on September 16th, 2009 4:11 pm
I’ve always thought of myself as a bit of a Clint Eastwood. I just don’t think I would have got myself shot. Hope all is well with you. The sheet looks good on you!