January 11, 200917 yr I am reviewing this as a Clint Eastwood fan and I would expect anybody who is not a Clint fanatic like me would have a different feeling on it, but this movie is outstanding. Finally a movie I am looking forward to that does not disappoint. Clint like always is the definition of a scene stealer in this movie, every single line delivered from him is like manna from heaven. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « The end scene of him in a casket and getting shot up is such a perfect ending to his career. The ending is similar to Unforgiven in many ways, but this movie has a different parable and thus the different ending. The acting by two of the other main characters is admittedly pretty atrocious, but it's not enough to take away from the film. I guess I need to deduct a point on my IMDB score for this film but it gets a 9/10 from me.
January 11, 200917 yr Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite people ever. Everything he is apart of is amazing and this is another great movie. From a fist full of dollars to this he either directs or acts in excellent movies. I thought the movie was an 8/10, but I do not think it is the best movie in 2009. I have enjoyed Frost/Nixon more.
January 11, 200917 yr Author Clint Eastwood is one of my favorite people ever. Everything he is apart of is amazing and this is another great movie. From a fist full of dollars to this he either directs or acts in excellent movies. I thought the movie was an 8/10, but I do not think it is the best movie in 2009. I have enjoyed Frost/Nixon more. He is one of my favorite people also. Quick top 5 Clint movies? For me - 1. Unforgiven 2. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly 3. Million Dollar Baby 4. The Outlaw Josey Wales 5. Gran Torino Have not seen Frost/Nixon yet (hopefully soon), you should make a thread for it though.
January 11, 200917 yr Clint Eastwood is my favorite actor/director, love the guy, dying to see this, it opened wide this Friday right? My Faves are: Unforgiven Million Dollar Baby Mystic River Flags of our Fathers/Letters from Iwo Jima
January 11, 200917 yr I agree Letters from Iwo Jima was much better. If I had to give a top 5. 1. Good, Bad, Ugly 2. A Fistful of Dollars 3. Unforgiven 4. Mystic River 5. The Outlaw Josey Wales/Escape from Alcatraz
January 11, 200917 yr Flags of our Fathers was nothing compared to Letters from Iwo Jima. Yeah I know but I liked the combination of the two movies, even though I thought letters from Iwo Jima was a lot better.
January 11, 200917 yr Did anyone else laugh at the song that Eastwood sang as the credits rolled? It sounded AWFUL.
January 11, 200917 yr Author Did anyone else laugh at the song that Eastwood sang as the credits rolled? It sounded AWFUL. I laughed and it was pretty awkward, but I think there was a point to it...
January 12, 200917 yr WOW I loved it, loved it, absolutely loved it. Man I wish Clint Eastwood had another 40 years in him, I can't get enough of the guy. I don't see this movie getting many awards if any, but it's the best experience I have had at the theater this year hands down... The only negative in this movie is the acting by the two kids, it was pretty bad, but the movie and Eastwood are too great to let that bring it down. About the song, it was awkward at first, but I kinda liked it.
January 12, 200917 yr I havent see it yet but it's on my list of movies I want to see. Theres another forum I go to where someone described the movie as "racist old man yells at kids to stay off his lawn". lol
January 12, 200917 yr Theres another forum I go to where someone described the movie as "racist old man yells at kids to stay off his lawn". lol Then that poster has only seen the trailers.
January 13, 200917 yr Author WOW I loved it, loved it, absolutely loved it. Man I wish Clint Eastwood had another 40 years in him, I can't get enough of the guy. I don't see this movie getting many awards if any, but it's the best experience I have had at the theater this year hands down... The only negative in this movie is the acting by the two kids, it was pretty bad, but the movie and Eastwood are too great to let that bring it down. About the song, it was awkward at first, but I kinda liked it. :thumbup Basically summed up how I feel. It's hard to explain to someone who is not a Clint fanatic, but man I loved this movie so so much. Horrible acting by the kids and the priest, but it does not really matter; the movie is damn near perfect. If Clint Eastwood is not in the starring role by the way, if it is ANYBODY else in Hollywood...the movie absolutely does not work, agreed?
January 13, 200917 yr WOW I loved it, loved it, absolutely loved it. Man I wish Clint Eastwood had another 40 years in him, I can't get enough of the guy. I don't see this movie getting many awards if any, but it's the best experience I have had at the theater this year hands down... The only negative in this movie is the acting by the two kids, it was pretty bad, but the movie and Eastwood are too great to let that bring it down. About the song, it was awkward at first, but I kinda liked it. :thumbup Basically summed up how I feel. It's hard to explain to someone who is not a Clint fanatic, but man I loved this movie so so much. Horrible acting by the kids and the priest, but it does not really matter; the movie is damn near perfect. If Clint Eastwood is not in the starring role by the way, if it is ANYBODY else in Hollywood...the movie absolutely does not work, agreed? Oh absolutely.
January 13, 200917 yr Theres another forum I go to where someone described the movie as "racist old man yells at kids to stay off his lawn". lol Then that poster has only seen the trailers. :lol , yea the first 5 minutes he bitches about the lawn thats it. It is really funny and he is an old racist man, but it is so much more than that. It is a great movie.
January 20, 200917 yr Author Am I the only one who thinks the end to Unforgiven is almost cartoonish? I liked it the first time I saw it but the two subsequent viewings made me cringe at the ending. It makes me laugh and I'm not sure that was the effect it was going for. I also hated the interactions with the prostitutes, that was forced and drawn out for me. Clint Eastwood at his age, spitting out the tough guy lines seemed so forced, so unrealistic. I always took it as it is supposed to be exaggerated/cartoonish like that. It has been awhile since I have seen it, but IMO the story is told from the perspective of the dime novel author who at first is following and listening to Little Bill's stories, but then is in the bar at the end shoot out, asking questions to Munney. Everything gets exaggerated and we see it on film instead of a dime novel. Clint basically made William Munney a caricature of his own "man with no name" roles. Like I said though, it has been a few years since I've seen it, I'd have to watch it again to more clearly explain myself. That's what I wrote in a thread a year or so ago. It was definitely over the top but I again think this is on purpose. The scene of Clint against the bad guys is just too similar to Unforgiven for it to be a coincidence. » Click to show Spoiler - click again to hide... « I think the ending of his death is symbolic and a take on our expectations for violence in films. I know I was thinking the entire time that wow Clint is going to tear these kids up! It was a form of blood lust almost, and this being Clint's last film it was almost his way of saying this is not the way it's supposed to work. He ends his career in a coffin, perfect way to retire his persona that is Clint Eastwood. Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is the first time he died on screen after the millions of bullets he's taken and unrealistic situations that happen.
January 21, 200917 yr Author I'm sure I must have said something in that old thread. Not only am I too lazy to dig it up but my philosophy of cinema changes over time as I see more films so my opinion now might be completely different. However, I think it is wrong to label the ending of Unforgiven as cartoonish or exaggerated. One does not have to suspend disbelief in regard to what occurs onscreen and the action itself is not over-stylized. The ending is somewhat atypical of Hollywood (arguably), but that is its virtue. Eastwood's behavior is fitting of what the audience understands to be the nature of his character. See that's why I brought up that old thread because Fox (and many others have said this too) said that it just seems too exaggerated that this old, drunken pig farmer who in the beginning of the movie can't even shoot a static target or ride his horse is going to walk into a bar with a deadly sheriff and five other deputies pointing their guns on him and he is going to shoot them all dead within seconds. It really is kind of outlandish when you think about it, but I look at as purposely exaggerated because the entire movie is about the legend, the myth, the character that is the man with no name in the trilogy we all know. What happened to that guy later on in life? Also I think we are seeing that final scene thru the eyes of the dime novel writer and it's appropriate because he represents the movie director who exaggerates life. Now fast forward to Gran Torino and we get a similar showdown where he is clearly outnumbered, old, not a fighter anymore, walks up to them by himself but in this movie Clint is saying I'm done...I'm vulnerable, for the first time you are going to actually see me killed on screen and my last scene on the big screen will be in a coffin. It was his choice both in the film and in the writing. The legend that is Clint Eastwood (and the blood lust he created) is put to rest in that final scene. I haven't seen The Searchers recently enough to comment on it here, though I do need to rent it again as I do remember thinking of it while watching Gran Torino.
January 21, 200917 yr I'm sure I must have said something in that old thread. Not only am I too lazy to dig it up but my philosophy of cinema changes over time as I see more films so my opinion now might be completely different. However, I think it is wrong to label the ending of Unforgiven as cartoonish or exaggerated. One does not have to suspend disbelief in regard to what occurs onscreen and the action itself is not over-stylized. The ending is somewhat atypical of Hollywood (arguably), but that is its virtue. Eastwood's behavior is fitting of what the audience understands to be the nature of his character. See that's why I brought up that old thread because Fox (and many others have said this too) said that it just seems too exaggerated that this old, drunken pig farmer who in the beginning of the movie can't even shoot a static target or ride his horse is going to walk into a bar with a deadly sheriff and five other deputies pointing their guns on him and he is going to shoot them all dead within seconds. It really is kind of outlandish when you think about it, but I look at as purposely exaggerated because the entire movie is about the legend, the myth, the character that is the man with no name in the trilogy we all know. What happened to that guy later on in life? Also I think we are seeing that final scene thru the eyes of the dime novel writer and it's appropriate because he represents the movie director who exaggerates life. Now fast forward to Gran Torino and we get a similar showdown where he is clearly outnumbered, old, not a fighter anymore, walks up to them by himself but in this movie Clint is saying I'm done...I'm vulnerable, for the first time you are going to actually see me killed on screen and my last scene on the big screen will be in a coffin. It was his choice both in the film and in the writing. The legend that is Clint Eastwood (and the blood lust he created) is put to rest in that final scene. I haven't seen The Searchers recently enough to comment on it here, though I do need to rent it again as I do remember thinking of it while watching Gran Torino. I agree, in Unforgiven I expected his character to do what he did, the legend of the guy was too big for it not to happen, but in Gran Torino he seemed like a defeated old man, even though I didn't know what would happen, I didn't expect him to take on all those people by himself, and though the ending might have seemed over the top, I thought it was fitting.
January 21, 200917 yr Just FYI: That ghetto acting white kid in the scene where Clint has to rescue the girl from the black kids is actually Clint Eastwood's real life son.
January 21, 200917 yr Just FYI: That ghetto acting white kid in the scene where Clint has to rescue the girl from the black kids is actually Clint Eastwood's real life son. awfully young... or grandson?
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