Grandpa Simpson Goes Nuts

Rating: 6/10 (10 March 2009)

"Gran Torino" is the latest incarnation of Clint Eastwood's archetypal tough-as-nails yet soft-centred character. He plays Walt Kowalski, an elderly Korean War veteran who still harbours a grudge against Asian people. He doesn't give a damn what he says or who he says it to. He says what most people only dare to think and there's a refreshing freedom in the film because of it. He's just lost his wife and is facing up to life alone in a neighbourhood that has changed around him while he's remained the same.
The catalyst for change comes in the form of his Hmong neighbours. A local gang of thugs forces Thao, the Asian boy who lives next door to Clint, to try and steal his prized Gran Torino car as an initiation rite into their gang. This propels Clint into action as his confrontations with various local gangs escalate into a bloody climax.
It's his relationship with Thao that is the heart of the film. Clint sees the young boy as an opportunity to purge himself of some (but not all) of his hatred of Asians and to pass on some of his wisdom before he himself passes on. He becomes a father figure to the boy.
The film manages to list seemingly every slang word for every ethnic group that there is (it avoids the N-word, choosing "Spooks" instead). It's a bit like that scene in "Lenny" with Dustin Hoffman where he looks out into the crowd at his stand-up comedy show and uses every derogatory nickname for every ethnic group in his audience: "I see a Woptwo KikesOver there's a couple of lace-curtain Irish Micks" It has themes similar to Clint's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and John Wayne's "The Shootist" (directed by Clint's old friend and mentor Don Siegel and John Wayne's last movie). It's like "Josey Wales" in that both movies deal with an angry, lonely man gradually allowing people back into his life after bottling up his emotions for a long time following a trauma (both characters also spit beef jerky constantly and have to deal with a cantankerous old woman who doesn't like them very much). It's also a kind of urban Western update of "The Shootist" in that Clint's character, although it's never specifically stated that he's dying of cancer but heavily implied, picks a fight with the evil local gang in the hope he'll catch a bullet and go out in a blaze of glory rather than succumb to the slow agony of cancer (just like John Wayne did). (You could also argue that Clint's character is a bit like Peter Finch in "Network" in that he's "mad as hell" and "not going to take it anymore!")
Clint sings (or, better put, growls like Louis Armstrong) part of the song he composed with his son Kyle and Jamie Cullum over the end credits. We've been listening to Clint sing since "Paint You Wagon" and it's another reminder of his vast and varied career.
(Strangely, when I left the cinema, I saw an Asian boy who was the spitting image of the kid in this film. Directly behind him was a Golden Labrador that looked exactly like the dog in this film!)
The film is a tad overrated. It's a good film, but not a great one. Above average certainly, but not a classic. Perhaps the critics were raving about it out of respect to Eastwood the actor, the director, the icon and the man. (It's a testament to Clint that he's still pushing himself at his age, still curious and still making consistent, high-quality, challenging entertainment long after he could have given it all up to go fishing or play golf).
If this really is Clint Eastwood's last film as actor and star as he claims, I will miss him. (I can remember renting "Firefox" on VHS for my 13th birthday and "Sudden Impact" for my 14th, so I've been a fan for as long as I can remember.) Just like that other Western legend, John Wayne, Clint has found an appropriate film to bow out with. But I guess if anyone has earned his retirement at 79 years of age, it's him. Thank you, Sir, for a lifetime of entertainment. What will we do without you? You are truly one of the all-time greats. Now ride off into the sunset, cowboy. Adios, amigo.