...Gran Torino Film Critique ENG 225 March 17, 2013 Gran Torino Film Critique Gran Torino is a drama about redemption, helping others, and demonstrates how we are all the same regardless of cultural differences. The movie focuses on the relationship Walt develops with his Hmong neighbors. Walt manages to strategically save the life of the boy next door, Thao. Walt helps Thao get his life back on track. Thao has been coerced to partake into his cousin’s gang. The gang forces Thao to steal Walt’s Gran Torino. Once Walt finds Thao in his garage trying to steal his Gran Torino, he knows that something has gone wrong with Thao. At this point, the drama in the story soars, as Walt begins his personal quest to protect Thao. Walt tries his best not to reveal that he has a caring soul but that he is an angry and grumpy old man. Later the film reveals that Walt is the complete opposite of angry and grump. As the story unfolds and the gangbangers return and Walt reaches for his gun, the film moves from comedy, drama, tragedy, and then into something unexpected. Nick Schenk wrote Gran Torino and his inspiration with the Hmong culture. Schenk placed a Hmong family next door to a Korean War veteran. The main story line develops as the Korean War veteran (Clint Eastwood) learns to adapt and interact with the Hmong family. Clint Eastwood directed, produced, and starred in the drama Gran Torino. Clint Eastwood began his acting career in low budget films in 1955. In 1959...
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...Topic: Clint Eastwood Team: Andrew Stacey Lia Naputi Camden McKone Description: Clint Eastwood was born in San Francisco California on May 31, 1930. Clint Eastwood’s first major role came in the popular 1960’s western show, Rawhide. Clint Eastwood with his poncho, cigar, and squint became an icon of westerns and masculinity in America with movies like A Fistful of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Eastwood has 4 Academy Awards. Two of those awards came to him in the movie Million Dollar Baby for best director and best picture. Evan at 78 years of age he came out with his highest grossing film Gran Torino, earning 260 million dollars worldwide. Clint Eastwood, besides acting, producing, and directing is also a family man, ex-mayor, and army veteran. To be in the film business for acting and directing successfully this long and continuing to come out with movies is truly an incredible feat that only a few others can be accounted for as well. Clint Eastwood is able to be in the popular culture of today as well as an iconic film star of the 60’s and 70’s. He is a man of many talents and has secured himself as a timeless actor and director. Sources: 1) Anderson, Cal. "Clint Eastwood - Biography, Filmography, and Lots More." Clint Eastwood - Biography, Filmography, and Lots More. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. 2) “Clint Eastwood Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014. ...
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...In Director and Actor Clint Eastwood’s film Gran Torino (United States, 2008) race and cultural clash are the main forces driving the story of Walt Kowalski, a retired Polish American and his encounters with his Asian Hmong neighbours whom he grows closer with as his own family pulls away following the death of his wife. Walt’s isolation from his family as well as his bitter attitude toward the world that changed around him reflect the cultural shift society has undergone and how the American dream has become a nightmare of crime, gangs, sex, and money. Walt’s vintage Gran Torino becomes a symbol, encompassing a time when things were simpler and the future looked bright. As he copes with the changes that occur in every aspect of his life Walt becomes an antihero, driven to do good for the people around him by using the violence built up inside of him from his years in the Korean War. Eastwood embodies a dying generation through the single character of Walt and his personality and actions allow the audience to draw comparisons between the America of yesterday and the America of today, which has immigration, innercity violence, and racism. His direction brings the audience’s attention to these social and cultural issues through his extensive camera work and a well developed screenplay. From the beginning of the film onward, Eastwood uses the camera frame as part of the narrative to show Walt’s position on the world around him. This is first seen when his teenage granddaughter...
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...Torres, Stacy. "Aging, Gran Torino-Style." Contexts (2010): n. pag. Print. In this article the author, Stacy Torres begins with highlighting the aging issues that are presented in the film. She points out that in this film; Walt defies the stereotypes of the old and from a physically helpless victim of these stereotypes to a doting old man enjoying a worry-free retirement. He turns out to be a man of heroic deeds by helping helpless victims of violence, Thao and his sister, Sue. The author of this article terms the star, Walt as a man who can be graded under a different generation of his own because of the raw language that he does use; it makes one to flinch. It gets worse for such kind of man to live with neighbors that he cannot befriend: the Hmong brother and sister who live next door. But, out of the confrontation with Thao, who was trying to steal his Gran Torino car he becomes friend with this teenager and later on with his sister. The true friendship goes on as he shifts from spending all day involving himself with physical labor of mowing the lawn and fixing his neighbors’ car, sink, or washing machine. One of the things that the writer of this article notes is the deteriorating physique of Walt and the uncaring family members. She suggests that they either should take the...
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...'Sometimes, the most unexpected events enable individuals to grow.' How is this shown in Gran Torino? The key point in Clint Eastwood’s film, “Gran Torino” is all about the necessities of becoming a man and being important to society. The characters in “Gran Torino” undergo changes within the film that were caused by traumatic events that occur in the film. Thao gains confidence and becomes a man, finally realising his usefulness in the world. Walt gains new views and perceptions of the world around him and even learns to let go of his past. However, character development doesn’t extend out to all characters within the film, but situates on the most important individuals within the movie. Thao Vang Lor isn’t the protagonist of “Gran Torino” but he is the most important when it comes to character development. Thao is an American-born Asian who feels he doesn’t quite belong with his family. Intelligent as he is; Thao starts as a scrawny, hunched-over and his Hmong family don’t consider him a man. His Grandmother even tells one of the family members; "He does whatever his sister tells him to do. How could he ever become man of the house?” Thao is constantly being told what to do and does all the chores that the Hmong people see as ‘Women’s chores’, such as the dishes, or gardening. When Thao first meets Walt Kowalski at the start of the film, he asks for jumper cables to help start up a car. But he is shy and Walt immediately dislikes Thao and doesn't even give him the chance...
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...factories were shut down most of the white people left the city to find new jobs, causing one of the largest housing crisis in American history. Homes were being sold for cheap which caused low income ethnic groups to move in and crime to rise. Many families watched this slow change occur and watch their loved ones move away from them before their very own eyes. Clint Eastwood was one of those men that witnessed this change occur. Clint is a retired worker from the Ford plant who is a man who can’t accept the change around him. He is a man who eats chili for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and causes nightmares by looking someone directly in the eyes. After the death of his wife, he struggled to find happiness in his life unless it involved beer and a cigarettes. His tough natured hard-working American self, gave him an image as a Christ figure that people could look up to. An individual’s identity is determined by their actions and how they able to adapt to different cultures and racial surroundings around them. Surrounding cultures can have great influences on a person’s identity or well-being. In Clint Eastwood’s case, the diverse cultures that surrounded him had little to no effect on his opinion of other races and his identity. This was the case, however, until his neighbor Sue asked him why he always looked so angry. As he was staring at Sue, he couldn’t help think how “His own street, now occupied by foreigners” could have possible allowed a Hmong family to move in...
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...The Big 3, also known as Detroit’s three, Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler, reported sales that plummeted drastically, placing them on the brink of bankruptcy. Currently, Americans are stuck in ‘halftime’. Delivering an emotional jolt back into reality, aside from the humorous Super Bowl commercials, Clint Eastwood reminds all Americans that it’s halftime in America, and the second half is about to begin. Aside from all the tragedy, Eastwood states, “all that matters now is looking ahead and finding a way forward.” It’s time to move away from this devastating economic crisis and move forward in our future. Clint Eastwood, a renowned cinema icon, appears in the first full minute in Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” commercial without even seeing him. He begins explaining how it is halftime during the Super Bowl, but also halftime in America. Describing Chrysler’s credibility and ideology with ethos, Eastwood’s role in this commercial is quite important, although some may not realize it. As leading actor in the film Gran Torino, Eastwood played the role of a retired Ford Motor City factor worker. This same character delivers Chrysler’s message, setting the tone, in Eastwood’s well known ‘gruff’ voice. Although both teams are now discussing how they’re going to come together and win in the second half, Eastwood mentions in relation to America, how those who are hurting are questioning, “what we’re all going do to make a comeback (against the recession)...
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