Gran Torino (2008) - Clint's Farewell?
Eastwood Finds Dirty Harry Retired and Grumpy, Somewhere in Michigan
May 4, 2009
Eastwood casts himself as Walt Kowalski, a retired Korean War veteran and recent widower living in an increasingly dilapidated Michigan suburb. Friendless and mostly shunned by his family, Walt is a tough guy to be around.
Surrounded by neighbours of mostly Korean descent, Walt spends his days sitting on his immaculate porch, grunting at passers-by, usually while keeping one eye on his beloved Gran Torino, a 70s muscle car best remembered as the main character in the old TV show Starsky and Hutch. When local boy Thao is caught by Walt attempting to steal the car, Walt stops just short of blowing his brains out. Then an unlikely alliance forms as Walt learns that Thao was following orders from a local gang - the theft of the Torino offering an initiation rite.
Reluctantly, Walt is drawn into the world of his neighbours. Members of Thao's family, shamed by his attempted crime on Walt, begin to leave offerings of thanks on his doorstep, much to his annoyance. Further altercations between Thao and sundry street-corner hoodlums force Walt to intervene, offering him a new perspective on life in his street. Walt sees the kid is far too wet behind the ears and decides to show him what a real man is. This mostly involves pep-talks and name-calling, most notably in Walt's favourite barbershop.
The Plot Toughens
But all is not well. Walt has a nasty cough he tries to keep from everyone, a portent writ large to the audience, even if everyone in the movie seems no more than mildly concerned. Inevitably, as tensions between the local gang and Walt's new ward mount, a showdown begins to loom.
Naturally, Eastwood is no stranger to the Western genre, so he shoots this serviceably as if it were one. Similarities emerge to John Wayne's The Shootist (1976), but in that picture, Wayne's character was more complex. Here, Eastwood channels his previous incarnations as a no-nonsense, right-wing borderline vigilante, but distilled down to something almost caricature. He gets a couple of Dirty Harry moments, but his opponents seem more confused and baffled than outright scared. Strange, guttural noises emanate from Walt throughout the movie, angry snarls as he spits one racist line after the other.
Variable Performances
Here is the most troublesome aspect of the film. We hear many variations on slurs toward his neighbours, rattled out like one-liners. When we see the aforementioned barbershop scene, Walt is equally disparaging toward his friend who runs the store, or an earlier moment with an Irish construction foreman. This apparently makes Walt at least even-handed with his trash-talking. This casual racism runs throughout the film but is never adequately addressed.
Performance-wise, Eastwood does well, which is less than can be said for the majority of the cast. Some of the acting on display would struggle at local theatre level. Perhaps some of the blame lies with the script, with some godawful dialogue - one scene (again, the barbershop) is a painful setup for a terrible joke that even Bill Murray would struggle to deliver.
In Summary
The plot should throw up no surprises to any ardent moviegoer, a familiar story arc present in several films, at times uncomfortably close to Billy Bob Thornton's Sling Blade (1996). Biggest surprise of all - Clint's gravelly voice singing about his car over the end credits ('grow heart locked/in a Gran Torino'), before vocally morphing into Jamie Cullum. The silly audacity of it will raise a few smiles, although that isn't the intent.
Eastwood has proved himself as an actor and director - contrasting this with, for example, the far superior Million Dollar Baby (2004), GranTurino is certainly a minor work. But if rumours are true - that this is the last time we will see Clint in front of the camera - then this was a missed opportunity.
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