Like Million Dollar Baby, I think this will come out of nowhere to grab a ton of Oscar nominations. Eastwood is fntastic in it and the supporting cast, especially the Asian actors, are extremely convincing. I like the sad ending with Wally sacrificing himself for Tao and his family because it was more believable than Wally blasting everyone away at the gang house. My wife and I kept laughing and giving each other “Oh no he didn’t!” looks every time he used racial slurs when talking to the Mung family even after they were friends. I can’t believe Clint Eastwood is 79 and still making such great movies.
My wife and I both loved this movie and thought very highly of Eastwood’s acting. I thought the sister was excellent, but the kid who played the brother was…not so great. Not enough to detract from a fantastic film, though.
I will say that I don’t know that I’ve ever heard that many racial slurs slung together in such a short period of time in my life, though. Yow!
Yeah, had the same reactions to the racial slurs. The kid who played Thao wasn’t great, but I did love the scene where Clint and barber are trying to teach him to be a man and he comes in calling the barber a dago and they yell at him.
Hope it garners an Oscar nod. Really great. I thought the song over the credits was kind of cheesey, though…just me?
Kind of cheesy? If it hadn’t been for the odd serenity of the closing credits, I probably would have walked out because of that song. And I always stay through the credits. That song was pure evil. Good thing the rest of the movie was fantastic. 
And yes, I did particularly enjoy the scene you referenced, despite it making me cringe at the same time. The payoff during the scene in the construction office made it even better!
Well…okay, yeah, it was cheesedom. I felt bad calling it cheesy since I loved the rest of the film.
I also enjoyed the fact that he didn’t just go in with guns blazing. I was actually was wondering how he’d pull that off. It was believable to see Clint kick ass during the “GET OFF OF MY LAWN” scene and to see him rescue Sue from the black kids, since those were only a few people and he was packing fairly big heat. This felt real. And devastating.
It was pretty awesome to see Thao at the end getting the Gran Turino. Best feel good scene in a while.
I don’t know; that scene actually bothered me a bit. I guess the movie and Eastwood’s character wouldn’t have made quite as much sense if the family hadn’t been as clueless as they were, but it seems a bit ridiculous to me – particularly after the scene with Eastwood and his granddaughter at the funeral – that both the granddaughter AND her father seemed to expect to get the car. Even if Thao hadn’t been in the picture, it seems likely to me that Eastwood’s character (I’ve forgotten his name now) would have given the car to charity or to the barber just to spite his family, and you’d think they’d have known that. That scene struck me as wholly unnecessary to the movie.
[Closed circuit to Rainbowthief: It’s spelled “Hmong,” not “Mung.”]
I think Clint Eastwood must be the only 80 year old actor who can still look and sound convincingly badass when he tells a bunch of gangbangers to get off his lawn.
There also aren’t too many people in Hollwood history who can be both iconic actors and all time, multiple Oscar winning directors. In fact, I think Clint might be the only one. I hope he hangs in there for a few more. He’s become one of my favorite filmmakers.
He was probably the only actor who could have pulled that role off. Since when is an 80 year old man scary?
The movie ended well. Who wasn’t expecting Walt to start blasting gangsters? I half expected him to drop his lighter to ignite a trail of gasoline that leads into the house and blows everything up.
I hope Eastwood doesn’t die anytime soon. He’s been at the top of his game since Mystic River.
It should be noted that all the Hmong characters were played by non-actors. I read an interview with Eastwood where he said that there just aren’t any Hmong actors, it’s not a profession among them (well, now it is, I guess), so not a one of them had ever acted before. With that in mind, I thought the brother and sister characters were fantastically acted.
Just just making great movies, but he’s now making TWO of them a year! This year Gran Torino and Changeling, last year Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima! He puts younger auteurs who take ages to make movies to shame.
You’d think. They strike me as being kinda oblivious, though. Well, the granddaughter, anyway–“So what are you going to do with it when…you know, you’re dead?” You would think that the son would realize what an old curmudgeon his dad was, though. It was so obvious what was coming to all of us that it should have been to them. Even though they were unaware of Walt’s new friendship with the people next door/his mentoring of Thao, they should’ve known they weren’t getting it. But I was still happy about it. Seeing them get shot down and seeing Thao ride off.
My impression? Meh. Predictable, though sometimes pretty funny. Personally, I didn’t think it was worth the price of the ticket, and it was only the fact that I did pay for it that kept me from leaving about half-way through.
I want to see this only for the small known fact that Eastwood or whomever made this film shot it in Michigan and the house they used for Eastwood’s house they completely fixed up for the younger couple that lived there.
Maybe I missed something, but I thought this movie was pathetic to the point I stopped watching maybe half to three quarters of the way through.
There were so many cliches, which coupled with some high school level acting (the priest in particular) made it painful to watch.
I found this review online which sums it up much better than I’ve been able to here.
This bit in particular for those not interested in reading the whole review is fairly succint in my opinion…
I thought this was a very good film. Yes, it was a little bit cheesy, but I think considering the premise of the film it would have had to be either very cheesy or very disappointing. I suspected that the Hmong characters were played by non-actors and I think it worked out very well–it gave the film a “slice of life” feel rather than appearing to be a high drama played out by dramatists.
Eastwood’s performance was generally top-notch but he did have his moments of self-indulgence. Him lying in a “crucifix” pose was absolutely unnecessary and over-the-top. I thought the girl who played Sue gave the best performance. There was a definite naivety to the way she was trying to talk the feminist talk to the boys who assaulted her and her loser boyfriend, and it was heartbreaking to see her lose her innocence.
great film.
The reviewer quoted above totally didn’t get it, so it’s no wonder he hated it.
sure…a bit cheesy in places but overall a great film.
So is the story supposed to be set in Michigan or was the movie just shot there?
He talks at one point about the MidWest and the cold, so Michigan might be the actual location.
I just finished it today, and I loved it. It’s nice to see the Hmong portrayed as Hmong, and not "generic Asian group #2341).
And while the Jesus Christ pose at the end was a bit much, it makes sense, since he was sacrificing himself.
I loved it, and will be forcing my wife to give it a shot when it comes out on DVD.
Both. The cars had Michigan plates.
It is known within the industry that Clint Eastwood shoots his films under budget and under schedule. *** He is extremely careful with the money of others- and Warner Bros has always gotten a good return on their investment. Fact is, he shoots his rehearsals. All. The. Time. His crew knows it, the actors are on top of their game for each rehearsal where camera and lighting are roughed in, because that may be the keeper and that’s it folks, moving on.
A lot of the best moments of his work result from this technique. Doesn’t hurt that his style is economical- without short-changing his actors one smidgen. Apparently ( and this comes from the camera op who has shot all of his films for many years, Stephen Campanelli ) he’s equally good with actors and the technical side of things.
An artist.
*** ETA: Firefox was the one exception. The special EFX were so costly and ran over time and budget. That film did NOT come in under budget at all.
Cartooniverse, who met Clint once in…well, around 1982-84. When Honkytonk Man came out. Lovely man.
He worked all his life at the ford plant, so that would be Michigan I would think.