Solid Eastwood Work

Rating: 7/10 (10 July 2009)

This movie was a good solid piece of Eastwood Americana. But it is a stretch to call it a masterpiece, as well intentioned and original as it is. Retired old Walt Kowalski is just a senior citizen version of the same old Clint. He's rude, obnoxious, bigoted, tough but deep inside a real heart of gold, right down to the spitting. His racial cracks, as crude as they are, are meant to show that he is someone who thinks little of every group of people starting with his kids, the Church to the rest of his dissolving blue collar community. ANd he is the tough, brave guy, the blue collar knight, just like Harry. So that gives him the authority to insult and talk down to everyone. The named car, a classic 72 Gran Torino GT muscle car, is like him, loud, tough but out of date. It is also a bit of a second lead given the average American guy's (& gal's) obsession with cars. If you watch the two behind the scenes takes on the DVD you see the makers were well aware of this and weren't shy about exploiting it. Okay, I won't go too far into the plot. The Hmong family next door has a teenager who is being bullied into joining a Hmong gang, led by his cousin. You can see that the surrounding blacks and Mexicans make life hot for the Asians so they adopt the gang mentality right down to the hopped up Hondas, rap and UZIs. Walt's wife dies, and he brushes off his sons and grandkids, who are all greedy and shallow we see. Then later the Hmong kid is pressured into stealing his prize Torino, is sopped by a gun wielding Clint but this leads to him getting closer to the Hmongs next door and being a dad to the would be fatherless thief, Trou. He initiates him into all sorts of manly stuff like fixing household items and how to talk trashy to the local Italian American barber. Then there is the young well meaning priest, who following his dead wife's last wishes, keeps an eye on him, giving Clint one more willing target of his withering abuse. Okay, without revealing more he has to confront the gang who won't let up on Trou and his adopted family next door. But there is always Harry Callahan, except with his trusty Korean War vintage .45 Colt and M1 rather than the .44 S&W. He does a lot of Clint stuff like whipping out his gun and punching out some bad guys and being the roughneck hero. The racial cursing are not over the top but they wear on me after a while, sometimes you wish for not political correctness but a little class and politeness. But it is always Callahan not Kowalski and you know him well from almost 50 years on screen. What redeemed the movie was the not predictable ending and the amateurish but cool pick up cast of real Hmongs. It had a good plot but in the end, it was Harry once again saving the day for us all weaker, PC, good for nothing pussies.