Gran Torino: Hey Clint – Give Me the Car!

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Honest, this is my fourth time writing this movie review, and the flick is almost out of the theaters.  It would behoove me to quit wasting time and get this out there.

Here’s the problem.  The trailers for this movie would have you think it’s a rendition of Dirty Harry in retirement.  Actually, once you get past the frequent racial slurs that Clint tosses around like he’s said these things before, you settle in to some of Clint Eastwood’s typical patterns in movies.

I’m really not trying to be a conspiracy theorist about this, but I’ve had this discussion before with my wife.  Some actors enjoy being stereotyped with a particular movie genre.  Keanu Reeves is a perfect example of this.  “Johnny Mnemonic,” “The Matrix Trilogy,” “Constantine,” “The Lake House,” and that excuse for a movie he did where Al Pacino plays the devil – they all had a futuristic unexplained twist to them.  It almost seems Reeves wants us thinking he’s intelligent because he acts in films that have a mystery attached. 

I feel your pain.  I know it’s tough to read a sentence with the words “Reeves wants us thinking he’s intelligent.”  I too had to stop and laugh at that one for a bit.  OK – back to the show!

Eastwood has no less than six main genres he introduces in his movies.

seemed to be the first instance of this.  “Million Dollar Baby,” is the most recent example. 

1.      The Estranged Daughter Genre – Clint has several daughters from multiple mothers, but he consistently introduces the theme of the lost adult daughter and the eternally searching father.  “Tightrope,” (1984) seemed to be the first instance of this.  “Million Dollar Baby,” is the most recent example. 

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2.      The Misunderstood Mouthy Woman Genre – If Clint isn’t trying to connect with a lost daughter, he’s trying to understand women (“Heartbreak Ridge,” “Bronco Billy,” “In the Line of Fire,” “Pale Rider,” “Unforgiven,” “Million Dollar Baby.”)  The redeeming feature with all these women is that they mouth off to Clint at the drop of a hat.  It’s almost like they want to get their digs in first because Clint will have a better come back line for them.  It started with Sondra Locke, and when she got too mouthy in real life, Clint traded her in for women like Rene Russo, Marsha Mason, Laura Linney, and Hillary Swank. 

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3.      The Absent Catholic Genre – Clint has explored (recently) the idea that Catholicism ain’t everything.  “Million Dollar Baby” showed him getting the constant barrage of the same question from the priest, “Have you talked to your daughter recently?”  It’s like salt in a wound.  It’s not without precedence though.  Clint played a fake preacher in “Pale Rider.”

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4.      The Music Maker Genre – Clint has composed several pieces of music for some top rated movies including “Mystic River,” “Flags of Our Father,” “Million Dollar Baby,” and “Changling.”  He has some haunting melodies, and none of them sound anything like “Paint Your Wagon.”

5.      The Director Genre – Clint appears to say, “I’m not gonna be in another crappy movie!”  “Any Which Way You Can,” “Bronco Billy,” “Every Which Way But Loose,” “Thunderbolt and Lightfoot,” “City Heat.”  It almost seems that if Clint wasn’t screwing around with an orangutan back then, he was screwing around doing movies with Sondra Locke.

6.      The Assisted Suicide Genre – This is a recent addition to Clint’s movies.  Clint’s role as a Secret Service Agent in “In the Line of Fire” shows him taking a bullet for the President. An occupational hazard, yes.  “Space Cowboys” has Clint supporting Tommy Lee Jones’ decision to die in space.  Clint then directed Sean Penn to kill Tim Robbins in the movie, “Mystic River.”  The wrong guy got killed, but Penn and Robbins both won Oscars.  After that, Clint kills Hillary Swank in “Million Dollar Baby.”  “Letters from Iwo Jima,” shows Japanese soldiers killing themselves with grenades.

Now we have “Gran Torino.”  Clint combines most of the things he likes dealing with in movies.  He’s traded in the genre of the estranged daughter that can’t be found for two sons he wants to quit bothering him.  The Misunderstood Mouthy Woman is in the form of Ahney Her, and she’s as feisty as any of Clint’s previous women.  The Absent Catholic genre is well in tow as he says the things to a young priest that every recovering Catholic from the Midwest wants to say to their priest, nun, brother, _______ (fill in the Catholic blank).  The composer side of Clint was quite good except I can’t remember how the tune goes.  The Director in Clint is alive and well, and yes, he didn’t make a crappy movie.  A great ape or Miss Locke were nowhere to be found in the movie.  Of course Clint tells his Asian neighbors that he doesn’t want them touching his dog.

The purpose of the Assisted Suicide genre recently hit me.  Clint sets the movie in Detroit Michigan.  Jack Kevorkian, Dr Death himself, is from Michigan and recently got paroled in 2007.  Coincidence?  I think not!  Oregon, the state north of California for those of you geographically challenged, has an assisted suicide law.  Clint lives in California.  It’s spooky, huh?

Here’s the true gist.  Clint likes sending messages in movies.  And he’s been sending us these messages for years.

1.      Dirty Harry was all about turning old time Western vigilante justice into modern San Francisco style vigilante justice.  Haight-Ashbury is in San Francisco, and the film was released in 1971.  Hmm!  

2.      Clint sends us the message that you should always keep in touch with your daughters no matter how many there are or who their mothers are.  Clint has five daughters from 5 different women.  No wonder he’s looking for them.

3.      Clint wants us to know his public interests about saving endangered animals by being the sidekick to an orangutan in two movies.  The thought process must have been that the great apes can’t raise enough money for themselves, so Clint would put them to work.  Good logic!

4.      Clint wants us to believe that it’s OK to talk back to your priest unless of course you happen to be the priest.  Being a priest with a gun decreases the verbal insubordination that Clint promotes in later movies.

5.      Clint wants us to believe that it’s OK to drink, and in Gran Torino he gives a whole new meaning to binge drinking.  Every wanna-be college drunkard needs to take a lesson from Clint.  Drink on the porch, get drunk on the porch, sleep on the porch, puke on the porch.  You can hose off the porch easier than hosing off the bathroom walls.  The smell doesn’t linger either.  Lesson over!

6.      Clint wants us to believe that it’s OK to use racial slurs.  He’s moved up from his “Magnum Force” line of, “If the rest of you could shoot like them, I wouldn’t care if the whole damn department was queer.”  He now uses words like “I’m no hero. I was just trying to get that babbling gook off my lawn!”  He even tells his barber when he hears the price of a haircut, “What are you, half Jew?”  Just let it all out, Clint!

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7.      Clint wants us to believe it’s OK to smoke.  Somehow, while every other actor is scared to light up on screen, Clint has been doing it for years.  More importantly, it’s believable.  From his Spaghetti Western days (rolled tobacco) to “Heartbreak Ridge” (Cuban Cigar) to Gran Torino (dip and cigarettes), Clint likes a good smoke.  Nothing to be ashamed of there.  The 10 years cigarettes take off your life are crappy years anyway.  Light up!

8.      Here’s the kicker.  Clint has been messing with this Assisted Suicide genre for years.  The movie audience may not be able to connect with that theme.  So Clint spells it out for the aged.  He gives old folks everywhere a purpose in life – get yourself killed in a bad neighborhood in order to rid our streets of criminals.  Seriously, that’s my take away on Gran Torino.  The police, churches, schools, neighborhood watch programs – none of them are as effective as a terminally ill elderly guy who walks up to some gang bangers house and starts shouting racial slurs at them.  Bravo!

Clint – I read you loud and clear.