"Gran Torino" Is Fucking Amazeballs Good!! *Slight Spoilers*

It's certainly a classic from Clint as a director and an actor both. It's been many years since I've rewatched it. Thanks for the reminder.

I always find it slightly uncomfortable in these films where a white savior swoops in and saves the minority population from themselves. Also it kind of bothers me when these films focus in on the racist converts humanity over the rest of the cast, like the only character that audiences will empathize and relate to is the white racist character and all stories about race positive or negative need to be told through that lens to be successful. Kind of like what happened with Three Billboards although I'd argue that Three Billboards is a worse offender. I should probably rewatch this film as it's been awhile.

I never understood the massive acclaim this film got.

Million Dollar Baby I get. Gran Torino was some trash.

I loved it, great movie.

is it the movie version of gran turismo

Clint Eastwood singing at the end was possibly the stupidest non-Trump thing I've ever heard.

Dude sounds like he gargles lemon juice with salt then rubs sandpaper on his throat everyday of his life

The main boy actor was really bad, some folks tried to say 'that's just how hmong are, emotionally muted', but the actor playing his sister was amazing. The movie was decent, but I only really re-watch those bits where the neighbors learn to get along.

lordlad said:

is it the movie version of gran turismo

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No, I think it's that My Hero Academia prequel fans keep talking about.

Robin said:

I always find it slightly uncomfortable in these films where a white savior swoops in and saves the minority population from themselves. Also it kind of bothers me when these films focus in on the racist converts humanity over the rest of the cast, like the only character that audiences will empathize and relate to is the white racist character and all stories about race positive or negative need to be told through that lens to be successful. Kind of like what happened with Three Billboards although I'd argue that Three Billboards is a worse offender. I should probably rewatch this film as it's been awhile.

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I thought it worked here because it actually did the work to earn it. Three Billboards barely does anything to get us to that turning point, it just kind of happens. Not really the case in Gran Torino at all. I also don't see this as a "white savior" thing or whatever, its a character drama that wanted to tell a story about an old white racist who sees the error of his ways. If you reject the premise, fine, but judged for what it is it's one of Eastwood's better movies IMO.

SupremeWu said:

The main boy actor was really bad, some folks tried to say 'that's just how hmong are, emotionally muted', but the actor playing his sister was amazing. The movie was decent, but I only really re-watch those bits where the neighbors learn to get along.

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Yeah, his acting was terribad. Did he ever get another acting gig after that? lol

Robin said:

I always find it slightly uncomfortable in these films where a white savior swoops in and saves the minority population from themselves.

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That's not a fair or accurate characterization, Clint literally just wanted everyone off his lawn, it was hardly a 'Last of the Mohicans' or 'The Last Samurai' type of cultural appropriation.

I get the sentiment of casting actual Hmong actors in these parts but holy shit their acting was fucking BAD. The scene when the kid is locked up and screams "WAAAAAAALT" had me damn near pissing myself laughing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-TS_85-Kwo

Oh fucking please. God awful acting from anyone not named Clint Eastwood and a white savior complex from an old racist white guy?

Clint Eastwood's most overrated film.

I fucking cheered when he got shot by those awful stereotypes of gangbangers.

Chumley said:

I thought it worked here because it actually did the work to earn it. Three Billboards barely does anything to get us to that turning point, it just kind of happens. Not really the case in Gran Torino at all. I also don't see this as a "white savior" thing or whatever, its a character drama that wanted to tell a story about an old white racist who sees the error of his ways. If you reject the premise, fine, but judged for what it is it's one of Eastwood's better movies IMO.

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SupremeWu said:

That's not a fair or accurate characterization, Clint literally just wanted everyone off his lawn, it was hardly a 'Last of the Mohicans' or 'The Last Samurai' type of cultural appropriation.

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It's been like seven or eight years since I've seen the film so my take might be unfair, I'd have to watch it again. I liked it when it came out but I've also learned and evolved a lot on film and politics since I saw it last. The outline of how I remember it was that it was a typical white savior thing though, maybe I'm off.

Clint was awesome, agree with others that the main kid, was atrocious, he kept reminding me it's acting and nothing serious is actually happening. I watched this at a time when I couldn't identify what bad acting was, lol.

ObbyDent said:

Oh fucking please. God awful acting from anyone not named Clint Eastwood and a white savior complex from an old racist white guy?

Clint Eastwood's most overrated film.

I fucking cheered when he got shot by those awful stereotypes of gangbangers.

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Damn, lol

I actually liked it, but to be fair it is many years since I saw it

Amazing movie

I don't really remember the acting being that shitty but it's been a while

Robin said:

It's been like seven or eight years since I've seen the film so my take might be unfair, I'd have to watch it again. I liked it when it came out but I've also learned and evolved a lot on film and politics since I saw it last. The outline of how I remember it was that it was a typical white savior thing though, maybe I'm off.

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It's been a while for me too but the way I remember, the actual story and friendship was between Clint and the girl next door, not her simple brother. When she then Clint decides to go Clint, but it didn't seem like a white guy trying to save a culture, just an old dude trying to pay back for a friend.

Honestly though, it's not one I recommend a lot, even as a Clint fan.

no gif of eastwood sneering? Damn...

The last Eastwood film that I liked. Including the ending song, hah.
I don't remember having any issues with the acting but it's been a while.

Maybe the white savior thing would bother me in the context of 2018 but it's not like I'm planning on rewatching it any time soon.
Clint's last true masterpiece was Mystic River as far as I'm concerned, but I still haven't seen Letters From Iwo Jima.

Innidaros said:

Damn, lol

I actually liked it, but to be fair it is many years since I saw it

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my hatred of this movie comes from a Clint Eatwood film class I took in college. We basically watched his directorial filmography in chronological order. He went from Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby to Gran Torino, American Sniper, Sully, and the stupid french train movie.

What a joke.

The man made Unforgiven.

~ Unforgiven ~

he can talk to as many empty chairs as he wants, forever, as far as I'm concerned.

Million Dollar baby is his best film due to Swank's performance alone. Gran Torino fucking sucked.

ParanoidRED said:

Amazing movie

I don't really remember the acting being that shitty but it's been a while

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It's really fucking bad

ObbyDent said:

my hatred of this movie comes from a Clint Eatwood film class I took in college. We basically watched his directorial filmography in chronological order. He went from Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby to Gran Torino, American Sniper, Sully, and the stupid french train movie.

What a joke.

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Unforgiven is a near-masterpiece and pivotal movie for the Western genre. Mystic River is considered one of if not the best movie of its year. Million Dollar Baby last I checked was also still considered amazing.

His recent output has been middling or straight up bad, but he's also put out some really great movies.

Scullibundo said:

I never understood the massive acclaim this film got.

Million Dollar Baby I get. Gran Torino was some trash.

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100%. the only good thing about GT is the gif it produced.

Its a fine film. Solid B tier Eastwood.

rude said:

Million Dollar baby is his best film

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As a director only, surely?

As an actor He's been in

Man with No Name trilogy: The Good, Bad & Ugly, Fist full of Dollars, For a few Dollars More

Dirty Harry series: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, The Dead Pool

UNFORGIVEN,

and maybe some others.

Hang em High, High Plains Drifter, The Outlaw Josey Wales, Escape from Alcatraz (An actually really good movie), Pale Rider,

the man is a god.

His politics suck.

Chumley said:

Unforgiven is a near-masterpiece and pivotal movie for the Western genre. Mystic River is considered one of if not the best movie of its year. Million Dollar Baby last I checked was also still considered amazing.

His recent output has been middling or straight up bad, but he's also put out some really great movies.

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thats what im saying. i dont know how he can go to those masterpieces to the "amazeballs" gran torino

Great fiIm!!! That was a highly entertaining flick. Clint Eastwood is the grumpiest of old men and made for some interesting scenes.

Black Chamber said:

Wow!!

This movie is literally what the world needs right now - fucking shit it's good!!

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yeah the world is in desperate need of racist old white guys

SupremeWu said:

Man with No Name trilogy: The Good, Bad & Ugly, Fist full of Dollars, For a few Dollars More

Dirty Harry series: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, The Dead Pool

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Recently found out that Eastwood had a role waiting for him in "Once Upon a Time in the West". Leone flew to LA to personally give him the script and Eastwood rejected it becuase he absolutely hated working with Leone during the dollars trilogy. If it weren't for Sergio Leone, Eastwood wouldn't have had a career. Pretty eye-opening. Still, I recall enjoying Gran Torino when I watched it in the cinema back in the day. Then watched Unforgiven and thought it was ok at best. Since then, his politics has left me feeling a bit uneasy and "American Sniper" was the biggest horse-shit right-wing propaganda garbage I've ever witnessed so I was done with Eastwood after that. Which is actually a damn shame given I thoroughly enjoyed Letters From Iwo Jima so I went into "American Sniper" expecting something great...you fooled me good Eastwood...you got me good.

I saw it as "white savior," the movie. The ending was telegraphed from a mile away. The barbershop scene is about telling minorities to shut the fuck up and accept slurs. The ending seals the deal that the protagonist's racist verbage is far better than the violence that the minorities perpetuate.

It was seriously fucking garbage and I was not surprised in the slightest when my parents (who recommended it a few years ago) turned out to be Trump supporters.

Black Chamber said:

it's the kind of thing [plot oriented as well] that you'd expect from his character based on what he's experienced in life.

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every veteran is a racist?

SuperNintendoChalmers said:

If it weren't for Sergio Leone, Eastwood wouldn't have had a career.

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It wasn't like he was Hollywood biggest star after the dollar trilogy.
And he directed a lot of good movies himself.

I went into it after the whole Clint Eastwood talking to a chair fiasco, expecting a hyper conservative film that depicts white, old fashioned men as supermen.

One of the things that irked me but helped with the story was how someone as gritty as Walt ended up with a greedy, snobby vulture for a son and grandkids (although given we never seeWalts wife, it may be on her). It made him withdraw and angry at everything, despite his racism he found family in another community, another people.

Yeah in the end he was the "white saviour", who saved the day. But that's ultimately the point, Walt is white, its his character arc, you'd never see a white person walk to a crime ridden neighborhood to a house of thugs unarmed ready to die that night. It was Walt's story, and how his neighbors became the family he just resented, and was willing to die from them.

It's better than the grey sludge draped in stars-and-stripes that is American Sniper or Sully.

Randam said:

It wasn't like he was Hollywood biggest star after the dollar trilogy.
And he directed a lot of good movies himself.

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The dollars trilogy did open doors for him given how tremendously popular they were. So Eastwood the actor did benefit from Leone. Eastwood the director however is a completely different matter. Mystic River, Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby were all down to himself and his accomplishments. He also composed the soundtrack in some of his movies too (Can't remember which ones) so he's definitely invested heavily in his movies.

I'd rather rewatch Gran Torino than Million Dollar Baby, any day. I don't like the movies he made after those.

Mystic River is still my favorite.

Love Gran Torino. Haven't watched it in years, really should rewatch it.

The martial band soundtrack made the whole thing a parody for me.

Did you say "amazeballs?"

Mystic River was pretty good. The rest, eh.

Yeah count me in with the group that thought this movie was terrible as well.

I thought the film was terrible.

The acting was incredibly bad, like he hired some people off the street who have no idea how to deliver lines. Almost every scene was cringey.

The whole film feels like an after school special with a slight budget increase.

Mystic River, which I just watched...I believe is definitely overrated. It seems there is a pattern with the really hammy dialogue in his films. Also, the ending was so silly. I just couldn't believe how their arcs ended.

I just want the car. Thats a sexy car.

rude said:

Million Dollar baby is his best film due to Swank's performance alone. Gran Torino fucking sucked.

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Million Dollar Baby is wack melodramatic depression porn, especially if you compare it to fucking Unforgiven which is pretty close to a perfect movie.

Gran Torino was a totally rushed film, even by Eastwood's standards, which led it to feel more like an experiment than a fully fledged film but it was still pretty solid. Last one of his movies I've enjoyed tbh.

The two scenes that clued me in that this movie is written for morons are:

1) when Clint goes upstairs at the neighbors house and says to himself, out loud, in the mirror, "these <expletive> treat me better than my own flesh and blood!" and then continues to call them shit like "egg roll" to their faces and they're totally cool with it.

2) the Ultra-Cringe Barber Shop scene where he teaches the kid that Real Men converse solely by being annoying racist old-tymey dickwads. The kid leaves the shop and comes back in and does exactly what they told him to do and they level a loaded shotgun at his head as a joke.

It's a white savior movie dressed up as a begrudgingly anti-racism movie where we're made to feel bad for a murderous racist with PTSD who has literally nothing to lose and wants to die anyway.