Get Off My Lawn!

// posted January 10, 2009 by Lou Schuler

When the final credits roll, my reaction to a movie is ultimately adrenal. I felt it, or I didn’t. I laughed, or I didn’t. I was moved by the characters and the story, or I wasn’t.

Kimberly and I went to see Gran Torino last night, and I felt it. To my amazement, Kimberly liked it at least as much as I did. 

This is an odd thing to say about a Clint Eastwood production — or any movie, come to think of it — but it’s the most spiritual film I’ve ever seen about an atheist. Clint’s character, Walt Kowalski, comes to embody the Catholicism of my Swedish and Norwegian ancestors, even if he doesn’t actually believe in any of it.

The reviews I read touched on the hot-button aspects of the movie: racial bigotry, the difficulty of assimilation for immigrants, violence and the urge for revenge. This dismissal by the New York Times‘ David Carr seems typical:

Some critics have said that it’s not just small, it’s a little sloppy, with non-actors doing a lot of non-acting and a performance from its star director that is less “Dirty Harry” than “Grumpy Old Men.” …

Of his last four films, “Letters from Iwo Jima” was the one that deserved every inch of the acclaim it received and more. The other three – “Changeling,” “Flags of Our Fathers” and “Gran Torino” — were solid films, the kind of work any director would be grateful to put his name on at any age, but get hung up on convention. For the Bagger’s money, only “Million Dollar Baby” managed to embrace movie-making clichés and then surpass them, while “Mystic River” was its own dang thing, a gorgeous, smart procedural.

I haven’t seen Changeling, and I agree with Carr about the others on his list … until he gets to Gran Torino. I think it’s a little more than an “average” Eastwood film. If I had to be more specific I’d say it’s because, somehow, he and the screenwriter, Tom Schenk, manage to express some big ideas about community, family, faith, ritual, and morality without having any of the characters deliver a speech.

Not that Clint Eastwood movies are big on speeches. Usually, what you remember is one great line, like this one from Unforgiven:

It’s a hell of a thing, killin’ a man. Take away all he’s got, and all he’s ever gonna have.

I’m sure Gran Torino has a few of those lines. One of them is memorable enough:

Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn’t have messed with? That’s me.

But the one that everyone who sees the movie will remember, whether they want to or not, is at once comedic, ironic, menacing, political, and banal, and it’s the least original line in the entire movie: 

Get off my lawn!

Like David Carr said, it’s a synthesis of Grumpy Old Men and Dirty Harry, but believe me, it works. I felt it.

 


View Comments (6)

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  • George Haberberger

    Lou,

    Going by the last two entries, your blog is becoming a movie review site.

    I’ve been a fan of Eastwood since “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.” I remember how reviled he was by movie reviewers, especially Pauline Kael (Sp?) who wrote for the NY Times. She hated his movies and it seemed, him, personally. The line was that he went to the Mount Rushmore School of Acting. He seemed to stand for a political ideology that was an anathema to the reviewers. The fact that his movies were critic-proof made things all the more irritating to the film elite.

    After he became a director and especially with “Unforgiven” , things seem to turn around. Now he is even getting good notices for his acting. Of course as he said in “Magnum Force”, “A man’s got to know his limitations.” Eastwood is not the kind of actor that can completely alter his persona to become someone else. I think his own personality is just to large. He could not play Hamlet or either of the two leads in The Birdcage. (Maybe Nathan Lane could play Walt Kowalski, but I don’t think he could play Harry Callahan.)

    Anyway it’s nice to see him getting the credit he deserves.

    George Haberberger

  • http://www.simplestrength.com Rannoch

    Can’t wait to see the movie. It’s not out here yet. I have to say a Loved Perfect World and I thought Mystic River was fantastic.

    Lasrt year when wetravelled through Northern Califronia we stopped off in Carmel. I couldn’t quite imagine Frank Callahan strolling down the perfectly manicured streets.

    I’m off to see “The Wrestler” this weekend. I’d love to see Mikey Rourke back on form.

    As for 2008, “Madagascar 2″ does take alot of beating. I have to say (and I know he’s an aquired taste) Jim Carey’s “Yes Man” was one of my favourites.

    All the best

    Rannoch

  • http://www.louschuler.com Lou Schuler

    George, I’m not planning to turn this into a movie-review site. I’m just writing about whatever’s on my mind, whenever I have some spare time to write about it.

    Two big excuses:

    1. I’ve been really, really busy over at T Muscle, which keeps me from writing more here. When I do sit down to write a post, I don’t have a lot of time to devote to it, which is why I don’t try to write the type of posts I put up on the original louschuler.com. Some of those would take half a day to pull together.

    Most of the time, I felt the result was commensurate with the amount of work I’d put in. But I no longer have the luxury of an open-ended writing schedule.

    2. I’m still learning how to use the new blogging platform here, which is different from what I used at my original site and at malepatternfitness.com. Technology and I have never been on particularly friendly terms, and it’s difficult for me to write and focus on the mechanics of my writing tools at the same time. Writing about pop culture makes that process a little easier.

    I’m sure there’ll be a point in the near future where I’m comfortable enough with the platform to use it efficiently, and I’ve figured out how to write about my usual subjects without taking half a day for a single post.

    I just need a little more time to get there.

  • Lee

    Didn’t you know Kowalski is Polish for Catholic? You can call yourself an atheist, don’t mean nothing. You’re still a Catholic. Does this give you anymore insight into the Crusades?

  • http://malepatternfitness.com Andrew Heffernan

    Kowalski is also the name of Blanche Dubois’ infamous tormentor from STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, brought to life by me at a little theatre in the Pacific Northwest circa 1998 and some guy named Brando circa 1950-something. I keep wondering if the name similarity is by design.

    Haven’t seen GRAN TORINO yet; when all is said and done, I think Eastwood is overpraised, particularly lately. His movies always have at least one element that doesn’t belong. All props to him for his longevity, and his ability with actors, who tend to do great work with him, but give me ‘Bronco Billy’ over ‘Million Dollar Baby’ any day. Heretical I know, but go dig that movie up…it’s surprisingly good.

    The scene you reference in ‘Unforgiven’ is unmatched though: “Well, he had it comin’,” says the kid, trying to pull himself together after executing a man point-blank in an outhouse. “We all have it comin’, kid,” says Munny.

    The iconic, creased face; the classic, understated delivery…he shoulda won the Oscar for that one. Jesus, what a scene, and what a great movie.

  • http://www.louschuler.com Lou Schuler

    Great insights — you guys are way ahead of me on this.

    Andrew, I haven’t seen Bronco Billy since it first came out, but I remember telling friends at the time that it was an underrated gem.

    I kinda see what you mean about Clint’s movies having that square-peg element that keeps them from achieving greatness. Then again, given Eastwood’s directing style — fewer takes per scene than just about anyone else in the business — he may have decided to go for good instead of great and get more movies made with less stress.

    I can think of a couple of those moments in Gran Torino. The confrontation with the black street thugs, despite the cool line about coming across somebody they shouldn’t have messed with, is kind of odd, in that we have no idea why two of the three main characters are suddenly, by pure coincidence, in this part of town at exactly the same time. We don’t see any black people before or after that scene, so it seems to come from nowhere, serve its purpose, and then disappear just as suddenly.

    Lee, I confess I don’t get the reference to the Crusades. Explain?

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