Gran Torino

If you ask me, this movie is worth watching just to see Clint Eastwood growl - at everything !!

No seriously, he actually growls whenever he is angry ! And he is always angry in Gran Torino ....

Clint Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a tough-as-nails Korean War veteran and a retired Ford worker. Living somewhere in a Midwestern suburb, Kowalski is the last remaining white man on his road. The rest of the neighbourhood is populated with the Hmong people - South Vietnamese who fought for the US in the Vietnam War and moved to the US after the war - Kowalski calls them 'gooks'. And being forced to live with gooks makes Kowalski mad.

There is something very enjoyable watching the cranky, hard-talking, racial old man cock a snook at the entire world. Especially if he is Clint Eastwood. He is the quintessential American - who swears by American products - and has lovingly maintained a 1972 Ford Gran Torino. Its a beautiful classic sportscar that everyone has his/her eye on - from his own family to the neighbourhood hoodlums.

Kowalski's relationship with his family is non-existent at best - his children and grandchildren are only interested in what stuff they will get when he dies. The only living thing he probably cares about, is his dog Daisy. And his ideal day is to sit on his porch and swig beer from his ice chest. However all this changes when he intervenes in a fight involving a neighbourhood gang and his neighbour Thao. Suddenly he is a hero to all the 'gooks' in his neighbourhood - and inspite of all his initial misgivings, he finds himself spending more time with them.

Clint Eastwood delivers a superb performance as Walt Kowalski - something that should have won him a few awards. Initially, a grumpy curmudgeon, as he interacts more with his neighbours, he shows that there is more to Kowalski than just the growling act. His interludes with Father Janovich, who is bent on getting him to confess, and his banter with his Italian-American barber are a treat to watch.

The only complaint - very small one - that I have with this movie is that while the ending was a very wise one, it somehow didnt live up to my expectations. Kowalski in may ways, it something like an older version of Die Hard's John McClane - and I expected him to go Yippie Kaye at the end with all guns blazing. But that isnt what happens ...

The unexpected ending does very little to distract from what is undoubtedly a very good movie. Clint Eastwood lives up to his great legacy in both acting and direction - by making a fantastic movie out of a simple story. I doubt if he is going to do many more movies since he is already 79 - but this should be one of the best he has done.



P.S. Gran Torino stands 81 on the IMDB list of all time great movies.