One of Clint Eastwood's Best Films

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2011)

When the movie first starts Walt's wife had just died. His family shows up to the church where Father Janovich is conducting the funeral. Walt looks at his family who seems like they have better things to be doing than going to a funeral. Both of Walt's grandsons are on their phone and his granddaughter is wearing inappropriate clothing to be in a church or out in public for that matter. After the funeral everyone goes to Walt's house to have dinner with him. His family still wants nothing to do with him and the grandchildren are complaining that they are bored and want to go home. Walt is sick of hearing this so he goes out on the porch and his family leaves soon thereafter. Meanwhile next door, his neighbors are celebrating a birth of a young child and Walt mumbles under his breath that the old lady (grandma) hates his guts because every time Walt is out front she says something, that Walt cannot understand, and then just glares at him. A couple days later Thao was walking home from school when a non-Mung gang started harassing him. His cousin, who is in a Mung gang, drives up and makes sure that the other gang left his cousin alone. His cousin wanted him to go drive around with him, but Thao refuses and just goes home. A day later Thao was outside doing yard work when his cousin pulls up to the house. His cousin's gang told Thao that if he joined the gang he would no longer get picked on and that he could stop doing "women's work". Thao asked his cousin what he had to do to join the gang. They soon replied that Thao needed to steal Walt's car. Later that night Thao broke into Walt's garage and was trying to steal the Gran Torino when Walt hears the noises coming from his garage. Walt almost shoots Thao and Thao runs home and his cousin and the other gang member leave for the night. A couple of days later Susan, Thao's sister, was walking home with her so called date when a African American gang corners her and started harassing her when Walt drives by and see what is happening. Walt gets out of the truck and told Susan to get in his truck so he could take her home. The African Americans were not taking the hint until Walt pulls out his gun. Susan gets in the truck and Walt follows. When Walt was driving back he makes a gun out of his fingers and points to the African Americans and says, "Pow, Pow, Pow." Showing the men that he is not afraid of him and they should start leaving other people alone. The pretend gun that Walt makes with his hands adds a sound effect that shows the mood that Walt feels at the time. A couple days after Walt takes Susan home, Walt ends up saving Thao's life when he gets in a fight with his cousin in their front yard. The next day the Mung people started bringing flowers, food, and misc. items and leaving them on Walt's door step. Thao's mother made him apologize for trying to steal the car; she also made him work off the debt to redeem the family honor. During this time Thao and Walt become friends and with Susan's help of dealing with and explaining their culture made Walt realize that they are not such bad people. Towards the end of the movie Thao and Susans cousin starts causing more problems. First Thao's cousin shoots up the house that they are living in and during the shooting someone raps and beats up Susan. By this point in time Walt was really upset! The Father came by and tried to talk Walt out of what he was about to do, but it was not going to work. The next day Walt goes to the church and makes omens with what he has done in the past, he then goes home and locks Thao in the basement. He heads over to Thao's cousin's house to take care of business, but on the way he calls Susan to let Thao out of the basement. (He knew that he was far enough away from the house that Thao and Susan would not make it there in time to stop him). Walt confronts Thao's cousin and the rest of the gang members by once again showing the pretend gun and making the same noise. He asks then men if they had a light after he pulled out a smoke, none of the men answered so Walt goes into his jacket and was pulling out a lighter when the gang shoots him dead on the side walk. The most memorable item on this scene is when they showed a bird's eye view of Walt laying on the ground.
At the end Walt ends up dying and his family went to the funeral and then to the will reading. Because his family was so greedy on getting what Walt has, he left the house to the church and almost every other item to the church except for one item. He left the car to "his good friend Thao". The look on his family's face was priceless. With the end of the movie it reinforced that no matter how much money that one person has, it will never be the same as having your friend or your family member in your life. Money will not buy you happiness, but family and friends will be there for you no matter what happens in your life. Spend time with your family and quit worrying about how much of an inheritance you will receive when they are gone. Once they are gone, they will never come back!