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Eastwood's Gran Torino
In their 11.18 Variety story about Gran Torino, a just-revealed Clint Eastwood that film will not only begin shooting soon but will also open in mid to late December (a month or so after The Changeling comes out on 11.7). Diane Garrett and Pamela McLintock report that "details" -- like the basic plot -- "are being kept under tantalizingly tight wraps."
Well, it's the second Eastwood movie named after a car (the last being Pink Cadillac), so the odds seem to suggest -- do we dare go out on a limb? -- it'll be some kind of jocular blue-collar comedy. You know...one of Clint's easy-going films like Bronco Billy or Every Which Way But Loose. A good-natured good-old-boy thing, something folksy and easy-going. Right?
Eastwood will also costar in Gran Torino. Cool. He's obviously got more behind-the-camera energy than your average 45 year-old and he looked at least 10 years younger than his calendar age of 76 when I last saw him in person a year ago.
The other possibility is that Gran Torino will be a family drama on the surface, but will actually be a Robert Bresson-ian political parable about how American middle-class and lower-middle-class voters consistently take the donkey bait tossed to them by the flag-waving, fear-bating right-wing political machine and vote against their own economic interests, over and over and over and over.
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on March 19, 2008 at 03:52 PM
comment #1
nemo ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://hollywood-elsewhere.com/nav-commenters.gif)
says ...
"... political parable about how American middle-class and lower-middle-class voters consistently take the donkey bait tossed to them by the flag-waving, fear-bating right-wing political machine and vote against their own economic interests, over and over and over and over."
Mgmax, Dave, there's your bait. Go for it, boys!
Cool car, by the way.
Posted by nemo at March 19, 2008 05:11 PM
Posted by carla kolchak at March 19, 2008 05:15 PM
comment #3
MilkMan says ...
This movie is based on the John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band song of the same name. And for the record, I prefer the rock stylings of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band over Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. I've always thought of John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band as the distilled essence of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band; less bombast, tighter grooves, better stories, an overall darker sensibilty ("Dark sides coming/Now nothing is real/She'll never know/Just how I feel). For what it's worth, here are the lyrics to Gran Torino, off of the 1980 (very rare, but you should be able to pick up a copy off of ebay for chump change if you can find it) album, To the Shore We Go, To the Shore We Die:
The engine is running
Girl by my side
Gran Torino's ready
Going to make her my bride
Her daddy's been looking
Little girl lost
Gran Torino's ready
Freedom comes at a cost
Gran Torino
Gran Torino
One more mile
Gran Torino
Gran Torino
Don't it make you smile
Police found us
Guns are drawn
Gran Torino's ready
Drive until the dawn
She said she'd come with me
My bride to be
Gran Torino's ready
How was I to know she was 16
Gran Torino
Gran Torino
Two more miles
Gran Torino
Gran Torino
Don't it make you smile
Got me in the county jail
For doing what I done
Gran Torino
It sure was fun
When I get out
Going to find Anna Belle
Gran Torino
Take me to hell
Chorus x 3
Posted by MilkMan at March 19, 2008 06:29 PM
comment #4
mlear says ...
AICN is reporting that this is a Dirty Harry movie. Guess Clint is following in Stallone's footsteps.
Posted by mlear at March 19, 2008 07:57 PM
comment #5
Spicer says ...
Cafferty better than Springsteen? Are you serious? That is one of the stupidest things I have ever heard. Ever. Cafferty only had his one hit song because people thought it was Springsteen.
mlear: AICN was just sort of hoping it was a Dirty Harry movie. And even if they were reporting it, odds are they were completely wrong about it.
Posted by Spicer at March 19, 2008 08:06 PM
comment #6
Mgmax says ...
I am of The Family now, Nemo.
Posted by Mgmax at March 19, 2008 08:09 PM
comment #7
Mgmax says ...
Beautiful, Milkman. Absolutely beautiful. I wish it had been in a more active thread so ten people would have fallen for it.
Posted by Mgmax at March 19, 2008 08:20 PM
Posted by Josh Massey at March 19, 2008 08:36 PM
Posted by actionman at March 19, 2008 09:04 PM
comment #10
Edward Havens says ...
It's not a Dirty Harry movie. It is a drama, and Wells is right that it is a family drama. But no one online has gotten it yet. I'll try to have a short story up on my site tomorrow if it hasn't properly broken by then.
Posted by Edward Havens at March 19, 2008 09:42 PM
comment #11
the king says ...
I hope Eastwood's hitting streak isn't in jeopardy?!
He's had quite a run since Mystic River ... wouldn't it be great if it never ended ...
Posted by the king at March 20, 2008 07:13 AM
comment #12
MikeSchaeferSF says ...
So he'll have 2 films out within a month of each other? According to IMDB Gran Torino doesn't exist.
Posted by MikeSchaeferSF at March 20, 2008 08:58 AM
comment #13
storymark says ...
"According to IMDB Gran Torino doesn't exist."
it was just announced. And IMDB isn't exactly error-free on movies in pre-production.
Posted by storymark at March 20, 2008 09:23 AM
comment #14
Jay T. says ...
I seriously doubt it's a Dirty Harry movie... AICN isn't exactly the most reliable source.
Posted by Jay T. at March 20, 2008 10:11 AM
comment #15
T. S. Idiot says ...
I'd like to see a movie based on "Little GTO" by Ronnie and the Daytonas.
Posted by T. S. Idiot at March 20, 2008 10:34 AM
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