"Get Off My Lawn!"

Rating: 7/10 (13 October 2013)

Clint Eastwood both directs and stars in this drama, playing Walt Kowalski, a Korean War veteran and recent widower who hates the cultural changes in the world, and his Michigan neighborhood in particular, which has an ever-growing group of Hmong refugees as citizens. One of them, a young man named Thao, under pressure from his gang friends, tries to steal Walt's prized 1972 Gran Torino automobile, but is stopped by Walt, who almost shoots him. Thao's family is deeply ashamed by this behavior, and after Walt busts up a gang threatening them near his lawn, will do anything to appease him, and won't take no for an answer. Walt finds to his surprise that, despite the ethnic differences, this family shares much of his values, so he decides to take Thao under his wing to reform him, although the dangerous gang is still out for revenge, prompting Walt(who learns that he is dying of cancer), to take drastic action...
Intelligent and moving film avoids clichés to tell a story of redemption and understanding. Sure, this is similar to John Wayne in "The Shootist" but this film works well; it is a bit long, and almost goes wrong once or twice, but pulls it together with a clever and fitting final act of redemption and heroism from Walt.