Well I saw Gran Torino last night. It was a studio sneak peak preview and I went with six other guys on a dad’s night out. We met at my house, had beers, burgers and brats, piled into Jim Qs minivan and rode over to see it at the Santa Monica Promenade. When we arrived the ushers were passing out review sheets. This is done so the studio can get immediate feedback and make any last minute adjustments on the film before a nationwide release.
The movie is just what you see in the trailers, however the character of Walt Kowalski is more than just an old menacing guy, he is also damn funny. His free use of racial slurs and nonconventional insults kept us in stitches. Eastwood made it enjoyable to watch Walt feel uncomfortable as he sees his “old school” world changing. In fact the only things in the whole movie that don’t change are his 1972 Gran Torino, his 1911 Colt pistol, and his M-1 Garand rifle. Walt himself changes as he pseudo-adopts the Hmong family next door. This is facilitated by the daughter who sees a tender and caring side to Walt and works on him. The young son and daughter become his surrogate son and daughter and through them Walt tries to engender some of the aspects of fatherhood he lost on his own kids. After getting to know his new neighbors Walt sees how much he has in common with them. And they make great food too.
Some of the funniest scenes are when the son has to pay off his debt to Walt for trying to steal his Gran Torino. For a week Walt has him doing all sorts of things around the neighborhood. Then there’s the scene where Walt tries to “Americanize” the boy by teaching him how “men talk to each other”. He takes him to his Italian barber to show him the finer points of male conversation. Here’s an old Polish guy and an old Italian guy slinging conversational slurs back and forth at each other and with each other. Then Walt gets the boy an interview with an old Irish friend of his who does construction. The boy pulls it off and the audience laughs.
It took me a while to accept the ending. After reading the audience reviews I do believe the studio will release it with an alternate ending. Eastwood does an excellent job of using both round and flat characters and building rising action into the storyline. The audience, knowing how most Eastwood characters respond to crises, struggles right along with Walt and the whole question of what to do. The ending we saw was pretty anticlimactic. In fact it left me flat. The falling action did a nice job of cleaning things up at the end, but it still left me wondering if Eastwood still had more film sitting in the can. I won’t spoil it for you, (unless you PM me), but I will say this. The ending is not what I expected. Without saying anymore I will add that it did not end like The Shootist, or The Unforgiven. I’m not sure I would pay to see it again but I will buy it when it comes out on DVD.
After the movie we walked to a nearby bar, and then hit two more on the way home. All in all it was a great dad’s night out.
Mark
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Topic: Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino (Read 915 times)