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Gran Torino is a 2008 American drama film directed, produced and starring Clint Eastwood. The film marks Eastwood's return to a lead acting role after four years, his previous leading role having been in Million Dollar Baby, and Eastwood has stated that this is his final film as an actor. The film features a large Hmong American cast, as well as Eastwood's younger son,Scott Eastwood, playing Trey. Eastwood's oldest son, Kyle Eastwood, provided the score. The film opened to theaters in a limited release in North America on December 12, 2008, and later to a worldwide release on January 9, 2009.[3]
The story follows Walt Kowalski, a recently widowed Korean War veteran who is alienated from his family and angry at the world. Walt's young Hmong neighbor, Thao, is pressured into trying to steal Walt's prized 1972 Ford Gran Torino by his cousin for his initiation into a gang. Walt develops a relationship with the boy and his family.
Gran Torino was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $260 million worldwide
Plot
Walt Kowalski, a retired Polish American Ford factory worker and Korean War veteran, has recently been widowed. He is a difficult man, unloved by his two sons and their families. His neighborhood in Highland Park, Michigan, formerly populated by working-class white families, is now dominated by poor Asian immigrants, and gang violence is commonplace. He vehemently turns down a suggestion to move to a retirement community, and lives alone with his Labrador Retriever, Daisy. Father Janovich, the young Catholic priest in whom his wife had confided, tries to comfort him with empty platitudes, but Walt is openly disdainful of the much younger, inexperienced man.
The Hmong Vang Lor family moves in next door. Initially, Walt wants nothing to do with his new neighbors, but slowly he does get involved in Sue and her shy brother Thao's lives. Thao's cousin coerces him into trying to steal Walt's beloved 1972 Gran Torino as an initiation into his Hmong gang, though Thao does not want to join. To atone for his crime, Thao's mother makes him work for Walt (against both Thao's and Walt's wishes). Walt has him do odd jobs around the neighborhood. When Thao has finished, Walt gets him a construction job. Walt observes that a popular Hmong girl, Youa, appears to be attracted to Thao. Thao likes her as well, but is too shy to do anything. Walt pressures him into asking her out.
Walt is troubled by occasional coughing fits, and soon begins spitting up blood. He goes for a medical checkup and receives the results.
One day, Thao is beaten up by the gang on the way home from work for his failure to steal the Gran Torino. Angered, Walt confronts one of the gang members with a gun, bashing and threatening to kill him if the gang does not leave Thao alone. The gang retaliates with a drive-by shooting on the Vang Lor home, and by beating and raping Sue. Distraught, Walt talks to Father Janovich and observes that the Vang Lor family will never be safe while the gang is around.
The next day, Thao seeks Walt's help to get revenge. Walt tells him to calm down and return later in the afternoon. In the meantime, Walt makes preparations. When Thao returns, Walt tricks him into going into the basement and locks him in, telling him that he is too young to kill and that killing a man is the worst thing that ever happened to him.
Walt drives to the house of the gang members. When they spot him, they draw their weapons. Walt talks loudly, drawing the attention of the neighbors. He puts a cigarette in his mouth and asks for a light. He then slowly puts his hand in his jacket, as if reaching for a gun, and jerks it out quickly. The gang members all begin firing and kill him.
Sue frees Thao, and they drive to the crime scene in Walt's Gran Torino. It turns out that Walt was not armed, and was actually reaching for his old military lighter. The Hmong police officer tells them the gang will be imprisoned for a long time due to the number of willing witnesses.
Walt's funeral is attended not only by his family, but also by Thao and Sue and many of the Hmong community, with Father Janovich officiating. Afterward, Walt's last will and testament is read. He leaves his Gran Torino to Thao. As the film ends, Thao drives the car alongJefferson Avenue with Walt's dog Daisy.
[edit]Cast
- Clint Eastwood as Walt Kowalski
- Bee Vang as Thao Vang Lor, a young Hmong teenager
- Ahney Her as Sue Lor, Thao's older sister
- Christopher Carley as Father Janovich
- Doua Moua as Fong "Spider", Thao's cousin, shot caller of a Hmong street gang and the main antagonist
- Sonny Vue as Smokie, Fong's right-hand man
- Brian Haley as Mitch Kowalski, Walt's older son
- Brian Howe as Steve Kowalski, Walt's younger son
- Geraldine Hughes as Karen Kowalski, Mitch's wife
- Dreama Walker as Ashley Kowalski, Mitch's daughter
- Michael E. Kurowski as Josh Kowalski, Mitch's son
- John Carroll Lynch as Martin, an Italian-American barber friend of Walt's
- Chee Thao as Grandma Vang Lor, the matriarch of Thao's family
- Choua Kue as Youa; a running gag involves Walt mispronouncing her name as "Yum-Yum"
[edit]Production
Gran Torino was directed by Clint Eastwood and written by Nick Schenk.[4] It was produced by Village Roadshow Pictures, Media Magik Entertainment and Malpaso Productions for film distributor Warner Bros. Eastwood also produced alongside Malpaso partner Robert Lorenzand Bill Gerber.[5] The original script was inspired by inner-ring suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota, but filmmakers chose to produce Gran Torino in the state of Michigan, becoming one of the first films to take advantage of the state's new law that provided lucrative incentive packages to film productions.[6] Filming began in July 2008;[7] locations included Highland Park, Detroit, Center Line,[8] Warren, Royal Oak, and Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan.[9] Hmong crew, production assistants, consultants and extras were used.[4][10]
In the early 1990s, Schenk became acquainted with the history and culture of the Hmong while working in a factory in Minnesota.[11] He also learned how they had sided with the South Vietnamese forces and its U.S. allies during the Vietnam War, only to wind up in refugee camps, at the mercy of northern Communist forces, when American troops pulled out and the government forces were defeated.[11] Years later, he was deciding how to develop a story involving a widowed Korean War veteran trying to handle the changes in his neighborhood when he decided to place a Hmong family next door and create a culture clash.[11] He and Dave Johannson, Schenk's brother's roommate, created an outline for the story.[11] Some industry insiders told Schenk that he could not produce a film starring elderly characters as it could not be sold.[11] Through a friend Schenk sent the screenplay to Warner Bros. producer Bill Gerber.[11] Eastwood was able to direct and star on the project as filming for The Human Factor, eventually to be retitled Invictus, was delayed to early 2009, leaving sufficient time for filming during the previous summer.[11] Eastwood said that he had a "fun and challenging role, and it's an oddball story."[11]
Warner Bros. suggested that the movie should be shot in Michigan due to tax rebates intended to lure television and film productions to the state, and as a result of this incentive, most of the movie was filmed in Highland Park, Michigan. Producer Robert Lorenz said that while the script was originally set in Minnesota, he chose Michigan as the actual setting as Kowalski is a retired car plant worker. Eastwood wanted Hmong as cast members, so casting director Ellen Chenoweth enlisted Hmong organizations and set up calls in Detroit, Fresno, and St. Paul; Fresno and St. Paul have the two largest Hmong communities in the United States, while Detroit also has an appreciable population of Hmong.[12] Chenoweth recruited Bee Vang in St. Paul and Ahney Her in Detroit.[11]
[edit]Release
[edit]Theatrical run
In the film's opening weekend of wide release in the U.S., it grossed $29.5 million; as of August 21, 2009, has taken in $269,541,625 worldwide.[2][13]
[edit]Home media release
The film was released on June 9, 2009 in the United States in both standard DVD format and Blu-ray.[14] The disc includes bonus materials and extra features.[14] A featurette is included and a documentary about the correlation of manhood and the automobile.[15] The Blu-ray version presents the film in 2.40:1 ratio format, a digital copy, and the audio in multiple languages.[15][16]
About 3,751,729 DVD units have been sold as of November 1, 2009 generating $56,684,999 in revenue. This does not include Blu-ray sales.[17]
[edit]Reception
[edit]Reviews
After seeing the film, The New York Times noted the requiem tone captured by the film, describing it as "a sleek, muscle car of a movie made in the U.S.A., in that industrial graveyard called Detroit". Manohla Dargis compared Eastwood's presence on film to Dirty Harry and theMan with No Name, stating, "Dirty Harry is back, in a way, in Gran Torino, not as a character but as a ghostly presence. He hovers in the film, in its themes and high-caliber imagery, and of course most obviously in Mr. Eastwood’s face. It is a monumental face now, so puckered and pleated that it no longer looks merely weathered, as it has for decades, but seems closer to petrified wood."[18] The Los Angeles Timesalso praised Eastwood's performance and credibility as an action hero at the age of 78. Kenneth Turan said of Eastwood's performance, "It is a film that is impossible to imagine without the actor in the title role. The notion of a 78-year-old action hero may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Eastwood brings it off, even if his toughness is as much verbal as physical. Even at 78, Eastwood can make 'Get off my lawn' sound as menacing as 'Make my day,' and when he says 'I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby,' he sounds as if he means it."[19]Roger Ebert wrote that the film is "about the belated flowering of a man's better nature. And it's about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century."[20]
However, not everyone enjoyed the film. Mark Harris, columnist for Entertainment Weekly, described it as "fantasy pretending to be social commentary," and accused it of peddling "the delusion that even the bigot next door has something to teach us all about heroism and self-sacrifice," adding "no, he doesn't."[21] Conversely, Nicole Sperling, also of Entertainment Weekly, perceived it in the exact opposite manner. She called it a drama with "the commercial hook of a genre film" and described it further as "a meditation on tolerance wrapped in the disguise of a movie with a gun-toting Clint Eastwood and a cool car."[22]
Rotten Tomatoes reported that 80% of critics gave the film positive write-ups, based upon a sample of 211, with an average score of 7.1/10.[23] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average score out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the film has received an average score of 72, based on 33 reviews.[24]
[edit]Awards and nominations
Gran Torino was recognized by the American Film Institute as one of the Ten Best Films of 2008.[25] Clint Eastwood's performance has also garnered recognition. He won an award for Best Actor from the National Board of Review,[26] he was nominated for the Broadcast Film Critics Association (Critics' Choice Awards) and by the Chicago Film Critics Association Awards for Best Actor.[27][28] An original song from the film, "Gran Torino", was nominated for the Golden Globe Awards for Best Original Song. The music is by Clint Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood, and Michael Stevens, with Cullum penning the lyrics.[29] The Art Directors Guild nominated Gran Torino in the contemporary film category.[30]
The film, however, was almost ignored by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences at the 81st Academy Awards when it was not nominated for a single Oscar, which led to heated criticism from critics, who felt that the Academy had also deliberately snubbed The Dark Knight, Revolutionary Road and Changeling from the five major categories.[31][32]
In 2010, the film was named Best Foreign Film at the César Awards in France
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