Gran Torino

Herald rating:

* * *

Verdict:

Eastwood's acting swansong is a homage to the history of a genre.

It's patchy at best, but this film was always going to be notable principally as the farewell of an iconic screen presence: the man who became a TV star in

Rawhide

50 years ago and a film star in For a Fistful of Dollars only five years later is 79 in April and has said this will be his final screen performance.

Channelling the Westerns of Howard Hawks and John Ford, Eastwood, who also directed, pays homage to his great artistic progenitors while tipping his hat to fans of Dirty Harry. His character here is Walt Kowalski, a retired auto worker and Korean war vet none too happy about the changing face of his Detroit neighbourhood.

In particular he hates the family of Southeast Asians next door, whom he addresses with the abundant racist vocabulary at his disposal. Newly widowed, he is alienated from his self-absorbed children and grandchildren and spends all day chugging Pabst and staring at the 1972 Ford of the title which he bought new and never seems to drive.

When Thao Lor (Vang), a teenage boy next door, gets mixed up with a local gang, his life intersects with Walt's in ways that are both unexpected and, when they begin to happen, almost entirely predictable.

This isn't meant as a criticism, really: the story - the gruff hero gruffly defending the defenceless - is cinematic boilerplate, but Eastwood is having fun with it whether growling like a dog when he sees something he doesn't like or delivering Harry Callaghan lines like "Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while you shouldn't have f***ed with? That's me."

The screenplay, by debutant Nick Schenk, is as clunky as hell, especially an opening sequence dense with expository dialogue. He has Walt talk to himself, so when he says things like "I have more in common with these gooks than with my own family" we can be sure we know what he's thinking.

But none of this is the point really. This is Clint saying goodbye and he does it in style, saving the best surprise till last. You may not like everything about

Gran Torino

, but it's part of history.

Peter Calder

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Bee Vang, Ahney Her, Christopher Carley

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Running time:

116 mins

Rating:

R16 - violence & offensive language

Screening:

Bridgeway, Hoyts, Rialto, SkyCity