Caffeinated Clint
By Clint Morris
When it was initially announced, there was an inexplicable pall of concealment when it came to the plot for Clint Eastwood’s new film – so much so that everyone just assumed it must be the long-awaited final instalment in the legendary actor’s ‘’Dirty Harry” series.
And though that didn’t turn out to be exactly true it ain’t exactly that far from the mark.
Though dipped further down into the sachet of meat sauce, and enriched in a bit of a meaningful seasoning than any of the ‘’Harry” movies were, ‘’Gran Torino” could easily be mistaken as the final stand of Lt. Callahan. It’s about a gruff, take-no-shit American whose served his country and doesn’t think he should be bothered with anything or anyone else. When gun-toting hooligans attack a friend the old fellow – and his trusty rifle – strike back!
But ‘’Torino” isn’t a ‘’Dirty Harry” movie, nor is it an action movie, and for the most part, seems to have been shot on a fifth of what the cop movies would’ve cost. It’s a small movie, but an evocative one – just because Clint’s holding a mighty big-gun in the publicity stills for it doesn’t mean it’s a film that’ll be capped off by a smarmy one-liner and a scattering of shells – though bullets will fly, and blood will spill. This is a message movie, not a popcorn movie.
Eastwood plays a recently widowed Korean War veteran who is forced to confront his own spun-out bigotry (“Oh, I’ve got one. A Mexican, a Jew, and a coloured guy go into a bar. The bartender looks up and says, “Get the fuck out of here.””) when a Hmong family move in next door. When the young male member (Bee Vang) of the family is pressured into trying to steal old Walt’s prized Gran Torino (that’s a car) by some unruly cousins, the tough-talking no-nonsense neighbour unintentionally finds himself drawn into the boy’s world.
Later, due to the pride of the Asian group, the boy is forced to return to Walt’s house and perform an act of reparation. Despite the fact that the old guy wants nothing to do with the young firebrand, he realizes that the quickest way out of the situation is to simply cooperate.
What begins as an undisruptive but helpful “Karate Kid”-esque friendship soon develops into somewhat of a ‘captain/soldier’ rapport – with the veteran realizing he’s got to protect his solider no matter what the cost.
If Walt Kowalski is Eastwood’s final on-screen performance (and I personally doubt it will be; the guy seems to be as fit and ferocious as ever. And didn’t he take his ancient mother to the Oscars a year or two back!? Somehow I think Clint will be with us for some time yet) then it’s a good one to end on. His performance here is absolute gold. What could’ve been, say, Mr Wilson from ‘’Dennis the Menace” in another actor’s hands, ends up being one of the most pragmatic, believable and touching portraits of a time-frozen old timer. There’s not a moment you don’t believe anything coming out of the man’s mouth, and there’s not a moment you don’t feel for the guy – even when he’s calling his foreign neighbours something rather offensive. This is your acid-tongued grandpa – and though he’s got some funny ways about him, you know he’s got a heart of gold.
‘’Gran Torino” is a sugary movie, sure, but it’s also a much smarter – it says a lot more than it might seem to on the surface – film than films like it. In many ways it’s of a similar ilk to John Singleton’s suburban tragedy ‘’Boyz N’ The Hood” (1991) – the characters and stories are very tragic, but as real as anything in modern-day movies. And like the latter, Eastwood’s film reminds us that there are a lot of different people in this world, some nice, some not so nice, but all influenced by some aspect of their social environment or rearing. A person can change, but their environment might not.
Eastwood only makes one (or in this case two – the other being ‘’Changeling”, the period mystery flick starring Angelina Jolie, that he directed) film a year generally, but they’re always good – if not great. ‘’Gran Torino” is a masterpiece. If you’re laying down your money to see say, ‘’Bedtime Stories” or ‘’The Spirit” instead of it – you need your bloody head read.
