Review: Grand Torino (2009)

[Jonathan Moya]

Gran Torino
 (2009)

A Movie Review
By
Jonathan Moya
Rating: 4 out of 5 or A-

The Plot: (from AllMovie.com)

A racist Korean War veteran living in a crime-ridden Detroit
neighborhood is forced to confront his own lingering prejudice when a
troubled Hmong teen from his neighborhood attempts to steal his prized
Gran Torino. Decades after the Korean War has ended, ageing veteran
Walt Kowalski (Clint Eastwood) is still haunted by the horrors he
witnessed on the battlefield. The two objects that matter most to
Kowalski in life are the classic Gran Torino that represents his
happier days working in a Ford assembly plant, and the M-1 rifle that
saved his life countless times during combat. When Kowalski's teenage
neighbor (Bee Vang) attempts to steal his Gran Torino as part of a
gang initiation rite, the old man manages to catch the aspiring thief
at the business end of his well-maintained semi-automatic rifle.
Later, due to the pride of the Asian group, the boy is forced to
return to Kowalski's house and perform an act of penance. Despite the
fact that Kowalski wants nothing to do with the young troublemaker, he
realizes that the quickest way out of the situation is to simply
cooperate. In an effort to set the teen on the right path in life and
toughen him up, the reluctant vet sets him up with an old crony who
now works in construction. In the process, Kowalski discovers that the
only way to lay his many painful memories to rest is to finally face
his own blinding prejudice head-on.

The Review:

Gran Torino hints at everything Clint Eastwood while cleverly
dismantling it.   There is the Dirty Harry snarl and racist litany;
the cigarette smoking antihero silence of the Sergio Leone Spaghetti
Westerns; the shotgun of Unforgiven existing in uneasy calm with the
Magnum-like semi-automatic and even the heavy memories of war wounds
past.    Those parts of the Eastwood legend exist in the manicured
lawn and well-maintained home belonging to the recently widowed Walt
Kowalski (Eastwood), the Korean War vet living in the slightly shabby
neighborhood taken over by the "gooks" that haunt his past, the Hmong--
a war removed (Vietnam) but still the same in his mind.

Walt wants to be left alone to mow his grass, wash his 1972 Gran
Torino, drink Pabst Blue Ribbon on his porch or to go out occasionally
to the local bar or barber shop for some man talk with his war
buddies.  "Keep off my damn grass," he snarls with shotgun in hand to
those who violate his well kempt legend.  His family only jostles for
their share of the inheritance.   The niece wants the Torino and the
son wants to put him out to pasture and sell the house.   The local
priest Father Jovanovich (Christopher Carley), just barely out of
seminary, wants Walt to quit handling things his own way with the
local Asian gang and let the church and police handle them.  The Hmong
community venerates him for what he has done.

Eastwood delights in giving his legend closure.   Gran Torino is both
the last Dirty Harry and Eastwood Western- even though it will not be
the last curtain call as Clint once teasingly suggested.  The
screenplay by Nick Schenk echoes the great Eastwood themes:
violence, vengeance, redemption and finding peace with the past.   It
chisels down the fascism and racism to Archie Bunker softness while
still keeping the will.   Walt's ploy is the two-finger shooter backed
up with the real weapon in his jacket.   Pay attention to those who
really do the shooting in Gran Torino.   The twist at the end is a two-
hanky surprise.  Walt gets all the Jesus, peace and redemption that
Hollywood allows.

Gran Torino gets to have it all.  Walt gets almost a real daughter and
son.   The legend gets closure.  In addition, the audience and this
critic get to see a master create a minor masterpiece on time and
under budget with the simplicity of his movie-making genes. The legend
gets an A and a place in The Hall of Fame.   The movie gets an A-.

The Credits:   (From AllMovie.com)

Clint Eastwood  - Director / Producer Bill Gerber  - Producer Robert
Lorenz  - Producer Dave Johannson  - Screen Story Nick Schenk  -
Screenwriter / Screen Story Tom Stern  - Cinematographer Kyle
Eastwood  - Composer (Music Score) Michael Stevens  - Composer (Music
Score) Joel Cox  - Editor Gary D. Roach  - Editor James Murakami  -
Production Designer John Warnke  - Art Director Bruce Berman  -
Executive Producer Jenette Kahn  - Executive Producer Tim Moore  -
Executive Producer Adam Richman  - Executive Producer Deborah Hopper
- Costume Designer Ellen Chenoweth  - Casting

With:  Clint Eastwood  - Walt Kowalski Bee Vang  - Thao Ahney Her  -
Sue Christopher Carley  - Father Janovich Brian Haley  - Mitch
Kowalski Geraldine Hughes  - Karen Kowalski Brian Howe  - Steve
Kowalski Dreama Walker  - Ashley Kowalski William Hill  - Tim Kennedy
John Carroll Lynch  - Barber Martin Brooke Chia Thao  - Vu Chee Thao
- Grandma



Copyright 2009 by Jonathan Moya