Gran Torino

Thanks for that, Mike, I was considering buying this yesterday and now I will!!

Jon

A must watch indeed, a superb movie.

agree that this is a good movie BUT i found it difficult to follow Clints voice - seems to be getting harder to understand him the older he gets....good director though.

I really enjoyed this film - Clint plays the curmudgeonly old scroat to a "T".

yeah Clint is a major talent no matter his voice. but I dare not see another Dirty Harry. Or those comedies....

I don't buy, I rent on Netflicks.

simply the best film in a long time. I have it on blu ray and it's simply outstanding. great acting great story well directed.

Definately agree with Neill here, a great film and one of the best for a long time.

Not seen it in Blu-Ray as of yet, but once I get sorted out I will definately be buying it to watch in that format.

Roy.

Despite the fact that technically Grand Torino is a well made film I did not enjoy it at all because the main character was not believable and the plot did not make any sense.
I would have thought that the last thing such a person (who is suffering from a deep trauma for killing someone) would want is to be around guns. And yet here we have a guy who is constantly looking for an opportunity to draw his weapon. It just does not make sense, or he did not have any trauma or he should not have had all those guns.
Seems like Eastwood is using this plot as a platform to show us a boring version of an aging Harry Callahan and nothing more.

quote:

Originally posted by Haim Ronen:
Despite the fact that technically Grand Torino is a well made film I did not enjoy it at all because the main character was not believable and the plot did not make any sense.
I would have thought that the last thing such a person (who is suffering from a deep trauma for killing someone) would want is to be around guns. And yet here we have a guy who is constantly looking for an opportunity to draw his weapon. It just does not make sense, or he did not have any trauma or he should not have had all those guns.
Seems like Eastwood is using this plot as a platform to show us a boring version of an aging Harry Callahan and nothing more.

I remember Korean war vets from my childhood in my family, and teachers, who were just like the character Clint Eastwood plays.

You just don't get it.

It's a classic story of human redemption, told in the best tradition of Thomas Hardy and his like.

First rate movie making.

Haim, I think this film has gone a bit over your head mate.

A superb film.

I had the same argument with my friends here who all liked the film. They agreed though that the character's past experience (trauma) and current behavior did not make a lot of sense. That did not prevent them from enjoying the film but it ruined it for me.

I served three years in the infantry myself and from what I saw I would say that the soldiers who were deeply affected and disturbed by the violence and deaths they wintnessed were much more likely to turn into someone like the padre character rather than the walking arsenal guy.

I am an Eastwood fan and I think that Mystic River was a much better film, at least by five levels, than Gran Torino. I did not like at all the Million Dollars Baby.

My joke to my friends is that the sequel to Gran Torino which undoubtly is going to be called Grand Marquis (another car model) might turn to be a little better.

quote:

Originally posted by Haim Ronen:

I served three years in the infantry myself and from what I saw I would say that the soldiers who were deeply affected and disturbed by the violence and deaths they wintnessed were much more likely to turn into someone like the padre character rather than the walking arsenal guy.

I have at least a dozen combat war veterans in the family, and spent some time in the army myself, but I was never in combat.

I wouldn't want to generalize how their experiences affected them. Each of them seems to have responded in a different way.

A fundamental part of enjoying any book or movie is the willing suspension of disbelief.
For whatever reason, something about Gran Torino does not allow you to do this.

So this movie is simply not for you.

It has happened to others on a variety of movies, including myself.

The thing I love about Gran Torino is how tightly the main plot element is resolved.
A conflicted veteran resolves the central dilemma of his life, in his final days, in an act of love towards a symbol of his unresolved conflicts.

It is very Thomas Hardy in this regard, and Hardy is, in my opinion, the greatest novelist in the English tradition.

Different strokes for different folks.

I think it's time to watch Godzilla 1985 :-)

mikeeschman,

You are perfectly right. Gran Torino is not my cup of tea and I tried to explain why it did not work for me. I was not trying to rob you guys of the pleasure you are finding in watching the film.

Now, if the topic of the influence of war on soldiers interest you I can highly recommend Waltz with Bashir which was nominated for an Oscar in 2008:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/W...1f73e8ff2cdd13_0_srl

I can very easily relate to it since on top of being real (it is a documentary/animation) it is about a place and a miitary where I served.

Haim

quote:

Originally posted by Haim Ronen:
mikeeschman,

You are perfectly right. Gran Torino is not my cup of tea and I tried to explain why it did not work for me. I was not trying to rob you guys of the pleasure you are finding in watching the film.

Now, if the topic of the influence of war on soldiers interest you I can highly recommend Waltz with Bashir which was nominated for an Oscar in 2008:

http://www.netflix.com/Movie/W...1f73e8ff2cdd13_0_srl

I can very easily relate to it since on top of being real (it is a documentary/animation) it is about a place and a military where I served.

Haim

How did you come to be in Illinois?

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
How did you come to be in Illinois?

I went to college here, got married and stayed.

quote:

Originally posted by Haim Ronen:
I went to college here, got married and stayed.

Welcome to the USA :-)

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
Welcome to the USA :-)

Thanks, though that happened 23 years ago.

quote:

Originally posted by Haim Ronen:

quote:

Originally posted by mikeeschman:
Welcome to the USA :-)

Thanks, though that happened 23 years ago.

How was I to know?

Actually, in my old age, I am not able to watch any movie about war. "Grand Torino" is close enough. But thanks for the recommendation.

I am watching the movie as I write this.

It is a little heavy handed, and I see the "Dirty Harry" in it.

But it still affects me, as it is a caricature of some of my uncles.

I think the whole thing about the Korean war in the film and how it effected him as a person are being taken out of context here. The point and one of the main points of the film is that your made believe that the war had that effect on him hence why even his dead wife was so desperate for him to give confession. Now watch the confession scene and how braced the priest is for a heavy confession based around the war, when in reality what he gets is nothing other than what really had been bothering Clint.

The point of clint's character is he's a man who gets things done regardless of the task a mans man who has man talk with his mates has a beer and smokes. He is the last of a dying breed who regardless of the task at hand just gets on with it.

The fact is when he tells the young lad he's the man for the job it sums up the film perfectly he knows what he has to do and simply gets on with it in his own typical style.

I thought this film was film making story telling and character building at its best.

quote:

Originally posted by Neill Ferguson:

I thought this film was film making story telling and character building at its best.

Ditto.

I watched this film last night and I must say that I liked it!!

I thought the storyline was well constructed and there were some nice subtle twists I didn't expect...

The only criticism I do have is the realism of it. I thought the Hmong family were extremely tolerant of Walter's racist talk, which just wouldn't happen in the real world. When someone is consistently insulting to your heritage you wouldn't stand for it, no matter how peaceful you are as a person.

That's my humble view!

Jon

I remember seeing Dirty Harry in a tawdry 2nd run theater in San Clemente as a teen. I swore I'd never watch another Clint film, very traumatizing, but I have watched others on TV. He's just too serious for me, give me Steve McQueen any day.

Racist issue films are very difficult to pull off.