Sweet Surprise: Gran Torino
Posted
January 18, 2009 at
2:15 am by
Cin
I have watched a lot of “man shows” and at the top of my list is Clint Eastwood’s GRAN TORINO. I had no interest in it whatsoever but we have seen a lot of chick flicks and Disney movies lately so it was only fair that we see something macho.
At first Clint Eastwood’s voice is a little off putting to me. But what seems to be an over the top growling voice at the beginning of the movie is endearing by the end. Come to think of it, that is exactly how I felt about the character, too.
Clint is a grouchy old codger who just lost his wife and seems to be disgusted by the whole world around him. After looking a little deeper you realize it is Clint’s family that disappoints and disgusts him. His children and grandchildren are spoiled, shallow, and disrespectful. On top of that, the neighborhood where he has lived his whole life has become a playground for gangs and violence.
There are a lot of racial slurs made by Clint that should be offensive but are not because you realize that he is the product of another time and that a lot of times the remarks are actually his own unique brand of affection.
I don’t really like gang movies and street violence. It is too realistic and upsetting. This is why I didn’t want to see it in the first place. But what this movie is really about is Clint Eastwood’s evolution from grumpy and antisocial to good neighbor and friend.
I enjoyed watching Clint’s transformation as you see him realize that he has so much in common with people he had not given the time of day to in the past, as well as his growing relationship with the priest who promised his wife he would keep an eye on for her once she was gone.
What starts as an isolated exchange with a neighbor to shoo off some riff raff, turns out to be a life changing event for Clint. It is followed by a chain of events that changes other people’s lives and inspires a community.
Set in Detroit, Michigan, Gran Torino is fun to watch while it also tugs at your heart strings. I think it might be a chick flick, but don’t tell your Man i said so.
Tags: clint eastwood, gran torino |
3 Responses to “Sweet Surprise: Gran Torino”
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Leave a comment
Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately in an effort to remove commercial messages, irrelevancies, excessive foul language, racist/sexist/hateful comments, spoofed/cloaked IPs and/or personal attacks and will be edited/deleted at our discretion. Thank you for your patience.
1. mully
January 18, 2009 @ 12:38 pm
Thanks for a well written critique of this movie, Cin.
I havent seen it yet, but because my husband is an avowed Eastwood fan, Im sure we will soon. I also happen to like Clint Eastwood. Im pretty sure Im a few fair years older than you, so I remember a Clint Eastwood who was considered a definite hottie back in the day.
But I also have always liked HIM, the man, because he pulls no punches, makes no apologies and pretty much lives his life on his terms. That said, I have never found him to be obnoxious, but rather a simple man who calls things the way they are and doesnt have alot of time for crap.
You made an excellent point when you mentioned that there were racial slurs in the movie but they were understood because of the age of the character. There is something to be said for understanding where alot of Americans come from when something slips out of their mouths that causes eyebrows to raise. Younger generations, who have been raised with more tolerance in this country, do not understand that for decades comments that nowadays are not acceptable, were once considered part of our culture. I am not saying it was right, but it WAS part of an America that many of us grew up in.
Eastwood, himself, recently was under attack by Spike Lee for not portraying blacks, specifically at Iwo Jima in his movie “Flag of Our Fathers”. Right or wrong, fair or not, the fact remains that racial slurs have been around for ages and are woven into our culture. We can try hard to become as politically correct as whomever wants us to be, but it is true, you cant teach an old dog, new tricks.
I am not saying that its right or even acceptable. But, I for one, wont throw a Clint Eastwood to the dogs or write him off as some old, stupid, unpolitically correct actor simply because, as Cin put it, he is a product of another time.
As far as Im concerned, Clint Eastwood is worth keeping around and I hope, even tho he is coming onto his 79th birthday, we keep him around for a long time.
2. Cin
January 19, 2009 @ 8:20 pm
Thanks Mully! I’m glad you liked it. I was a little kid when I watched “Hang ‘Em High” on television and I thought Clint Eastwood was so cool. He’s only gotten better, and his off screen persona seems to be the exact opposite of the gruffy dudes he plays. I hope he keeps cranking out great movies!
3. Kymberly
January 20, 2009 @ 2:30 pm
Great review! I wasn’t poised to want to see this movie (I rarely see anything that isn’t animated) but your review intrigues me!