Grand Torino

[smwhorn]

Texanne (and anyone else who says Clint cannot act).

You need to go rent a movie called Honkytonk Man. He plays a country western singer trying to make his way across the country to sing on the Grand Ol Opry before he dies of a lung disease. He wrote most of the songs in the movie. He sings several times.

 

[Texas0407]

I saw the previews for this one during Milk. Is that Clint Eastwood's real voice? Why does he sound like Batman?

 

[Wulaw Horn]

I'm not a huge Clint Eastwood fan. I usually hate westerns (I know, blasphemy, but whatever).

That said, I loved this movie. It was racist in parts but also maybe funny at the same time as opposed to being mean spirited if that makes sense? I loved his characters growth/development through the new wave of immigrants, even though he was old as dirt and seemingly set in his ways.

I didn't see the ending coming at all but I thought it was a great ending for his full fledged transformation, but I wasn't expecting it until I saw it.

Of course most of the comments could only be gotten away with from a man of Eastwoods age, but it mirrored a lot of what I saw in my grandparents for example, in accepting a new social order that was different from their own and learning to live in it. Scary at first but after time they adjusted and saw others as people What happened to his neighborhood happened to my grandparents neighborhood as well, and they never moved the way he never did. It was funny, on the way to the theater I was talking with my cousin (21) about the treatment of the Jews during WWII and Hitler and some other stuff and we were commenting that it was hard to believe that the world used to think the way it did. Then, we see a movie that kind of typifies the transformation from people in my grandparents generation by putting a human face on it.

Obviously I am white, so I don't know if that stuff would have played as well if I was from a minority group or not, and obviously nobody from a younger generation could get away with that.

And I loved the final scene when having his will read- it was greatness and justice to his POS family, even though I saw that one coming from a mile away.


Spoiler Alert/Question









OK in the scene when he got his hospital test results back could anyone tell what they said? I'm assuming he was dying and that was the inference we were supposed to draw, but did any of the tests say that explicitly that you could tell?

 

[Namewithheld]

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[sportswriter]

yeah, i was trying like hell to read those medical reports, too, but didn't see anything that specifically said what was wrong with him. I'm assuming lung cancer also, but no, couldn't read the reports, b/c they flashed them on/off the screen so quickly.

 

[Wulaw Horn]

I was assuming lung cancer as well from the other stuff.

I thought they put them up there twice and the second time a little longer. If I was watching at home I would have hit pause on the tivo.

Not a really big deal and we all drew the same conclusion, but I was just wondering if you could tell for sure from the movie.

 

[bullseye-35]

I saw nothing substantial in the reports. I guess the diagnosis was left intentionally vague, although all hints pointed to lung cancer.

Great flick, even though it was sloppy at certain points.

 

[Joe Fan]

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[RockyBalboa]

I knew he was gonna die, but I didn't see him being a sacrificial lamb. I thought when he was going for his lighter that he had somehow rigged the home with explosives.

His plan ended up being brilliant.

 

[Orangesweat]

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[Horn-N-LA]

Despite the fact that those might have been the worst performances ever as gang bangers since the music video for "Beat It", this was a great movie. I almost got the feelling that Clint, not knowing how young gangsters act, just said, "go act like a gangster". Regardless, this was a great movie, and reminiscent of the idiocy of racists like Archie Bunker, which is what I think Clint was going for.

 

[RomaVicta]

I liked the movie, but didn't love it. Maybe the build up before seeing it got my expectations too high.

The best thing about the movie were some of the small elements.

Overall, it was somewhat fomulaic with a clever twist for the ending. It also seemed to have kind of a dated worldview. The gangbangers were, as said above, sort of a sterile imagining of what those guys are like. I thought the actress who played Sue did a great job at lifting what could have been a pretty corny role into something sort of fresh.

 

[FAST FRED]

I think Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise are both good actors, each with limitations as to range.

Eastwood embraces that, Cruise doesn't and has wider range of misses and hits as a result.

I'd give Clint an Oscar for portraying an older, more racist version of Philo Beddoe in "Gran Torino," before I'd give one to Tom Cruise for his merely competent acting in "Valkyrie."

I thought Tom was significantly better in "Collateral," "Magnolia" and even "Eyes Wide Shut."

And I thought the orangutan, who accompanied tough guy Clint in those "Every Loose Way You Can," flicks and the Oriental kid thespians, who befriended older tough guy Clint in "Gran Torino," were all believable and well cast in the roles they played.

I'd even give the edge to the two kids; they did what they were cast to do with more subtlety and restraint.

And I mean that as a compliment to whatever acting they did and not as a slur.

They played shy, foreign, newcomers OK, I thought.

 

[Wulaw Horn]

I thought he was preparring for war and acknowledging that he might come back with the suit deal, not preparing himself to be a sacrificial lamb.

I figured he didn't think he was coming back but was going to take out as many as he could with him.

 

[FAST FRED]

That's about what I thought, Wulaw Horn.

 

[crash_davis]

i always saw clint as a better acting sylvester stalone, and that' not saying much. he was the original actino hero. as such, i never considered the he or his work could have level of complexities beyond what you see.

unforgiven changed that. (yes, i know, it took me awhile to wise up to the genius that is clint.)

his works are considerably complex. gran torino is yet another fine example of this.

i've been reading a lot of articles about clint lately. as of the past few year, it seems like he is really saying what's on his mind. he's got some interesting things to say about society. i compare him to cormac mccarthy. very simple story tellers on the surface but if you look past the aesthetics, you will be rewarded with rich stories and heavy themes.

in any case, this story reminds me of mccarthy's no coutnry of old men. grumpy disconnected older white men representing their generation dealing w/ life's changes (and mostly not so good in their minds). except that this movie, the message is much more hopeful--it's never too late to start living, even if it means dying.

last though, clint stated in recent interviews that society and people take themselves way too seriously, especially in allowing words to carry more intent than they do. i think the language in this movie is his way of saying, we can be offensive in language and not be offensive in intent, but only if people are willing to not take it so seriously.

 

[EJC+1]

Solid movie...Eastwood = greatness.

However...terrible, terrible acting and dialogue delivery from everyone other than Eastwood.

 

[Montag]

I think Walt knew exactly how he was going out.


SPOILERS:

Go back to the Hmong shaman that called him on carrying some burden. Walt finally confesses this burden to Toad.

Walt has done his share of killing. He's capable of that and all kinds of evil. But the one thing he can't do, even with the life well lived, the great wife he honored, the 40 years on the line, he can't atone for the killing, the murder that wasn't right.

He can't possibly persuade himself to murder those gangbangers. But he can do them one better.

He's knows he's done. He knows Toad has his life in front of him. He knows those terribly acted gang kids have to pay.

So, Walt figures out a way to square his already terminal life, the bangers and Toad.

I think it was a pretty damned good movie and a nice ending. I was thinking as the ending drew obviously closer, there's no way Clint let's himself go Dirty Harry, it would've DESTROYED the movie. And bam, he ties it up nicely. Like I said, not a perfect movie, but a good story and nicely told.