GRAN TORINO

There are many talented actors out there today - but few elicit the expectations of names like Robert DeNiro. Al Pacino. Clint Eastwood.

Watching Clint Eastwood in GRAN TORINO did not disappointment.

Mr. Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, a Korean War vet who is a crotchety, bigoted, cranky old guy. The movie opens at the funeral of his wife, where the young priest eulogizes her by saying "Death is bittersweet. Bitter in the loss, and sweet in the salvation". Walt is visibly irritated by this young man trying to sound like he knows anything about life and death.

We are soon introduced to Walt's sons and their families, who share the opinion that Walt is a grumpy old guy who is always is disappointed in everyone.

And so begins his life without his wife in the same house where they lived for years, in a neighborhood that is quickly being overrun with gangs of every ethnicity you can imagine. Walt is alone, except for his dog, and his prized Gran Torino, which he keeps in mint condition.

Through a turn of events, his Asian neighbors - "Hmong" people - become indebted to him for his act that protected the young son, Thao, from the gangster cousin who wants to initiate him into a gang. (In reality, the thugs were beating on Thao, and when the fight inched over to Walt's lawn, he pulled out his shotgun to scare them off his property)What Walt didn't know then, was that a few days earlier, Thao was the kid he had caught trying to steal his Gran Torino. The young man tries to make amends by working around the house for Walt, who soon befriends him and tries to make a man out of him. Eventually, Thao and his sassy sister Sue, find their way into Walt's hardened heart. Though he tries not to get to close to them, their persistence pays off as his exterior begins to soften. We start to think that he is good at heart, as Sue keeps telling him. As the conflict with the cousin's gang continues, Walt begins to protect Thao and Sue, but soon he becomes a target of the gang himself. Walt realizes that the conflict can never end unless the gang is removed for good.

In the end, he does what he has to do, but its only partly predictable.

The movie is rated R - there is a generous amount of profanity, although it's relevant to the type of person that Walt was. There's a lot of of racial comments, and a good amount of violence.


Clint Eastwood was 42 years old when he played Dirty Harry, and at 78 years old, he is everything we expect him to be as Walt Kowalski. You could say that GRAN TORINO was bitter and sweet.