Clint Eastwood. Has there been a more important American artist working over the last half century? To say that Eastwood is in a league of his own would be pointless. It is fact. Gran Torino, should it be Eastwood’s last acting role, sends his career out the way it should.
The movie, as a friend pointed out, is not at all what it appears to be in the trailer. Hollywood wants to lure Dirty Harry fans with promises of vigilante Clint and the hope of blood. There is blood, but Clint mainly coughs it up. Those who show up looking for action will be disappointed. It is a character study of an old man and changing times.
Walt Kowalski is a Korean war veteran and one mean son of a bitch. Widowed, angry and set in his ways, Walt likes to drink Schlitz and tend to his lawn. He is from the generation that fixed their own sinks and painted their own homes. They bought American cars and told (unapologetically) racist jokes. The world, however, has moved on without letting Walt know. His Michigan suburb has fallen victim to white flight and is now populated by Asian gangs and trouble. His two sons are from the “me generation”; they buy Japanese cars and see their old man as a burden in waiting.
Walt’s neighbors are Vietnamese hill people who have vastly different cultural traditions. Through a series of mishaps, Walt befriends two of his young neighbors and tries to mentor them in his own way. He calls them every racial epithet he can conjure up but, somehow, it seems like it is affectionate.
The arc of the story revolves around an Asian gang trying to recruit one of Walt’s neighbors into the street life. As hard as the boy resists, the harder they try to drag him in to the fire. In this drama, Walt may find (not forgiveness) but some ease for his sins.
Walt does not mince words. He gets things done. His means are sometimes straightforward and sometimes tragically obscure.
The movie is an Eastwood vehicle. From Spaghetti Western to Bad Ass cop to now, in the twilight of his life, elder statesman of Hollywood, Clint reminds us of why he is a treasure.
As the credits role, you hear the title track of the movie playing. The singers voice is raspy, worn and unmistakably that of Clint Eastwood. He has said that this is his last acting role. If that is true, pour a drink, maybe take out a cigarette (only a drag or two is necessary) and be happy you were around when he was.
DMC
