Get Off My Lawn!

My boyfriend and I saw the smash hit "Gran Torino" last night. We both loved it.

As we've discussed before in this blog, there is a difference between Good and Nice. Clint Eastwood's character, Walt Kowalski, is good but he's not nice. He has no perceptible social skills whatsoever.

"Get off my lawn" may replace "Make my day" as his signature remark.

Despite the insensitive, racist, obscene language, the three words I would use to describe this movie are: Sweet, Funny and Real.

Early on Walt Kowalski tells the Catholic priest that he considers him "...an over educated, 27 year old virgin who knows nothing about life and death." But the priest and Walt eventually earn each other's respect.

The movie ends the same way some other excellent books and movies have ended. ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," for instance.) Walt Kowalski becomes a Christ figure.

This is Eastwood's movie all the way. If it's the last one he makes (but I hope not) it will serve him well.


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