Clint Eastwood has given rise to some of the iconic characters in cinema. From spaghetti westerns to cool cop to noted director and Oscar winner he has earned a respected place in movie history. Gran Torino will no doubt get him another Oscar nomination and if he wins, it will be due to his body of work and not this performance. Not that he gives a poor performance, it’s just not Oscar material in my opinion. The story of a grouchy old man dealing with being alone and facing the changes in his world is nothing new. Old folks learning to respect and appreciate others is cliche’ too. Maybe simple familiar themes are comforting to people and we can identify easily with them. The audience certainly identified with Walt Kowalski. Every racial epithet and grumble elicited chortles and snickers. I couldn’t get away with it, but Clint can. It’s OK. We expect old people to be racist. In earlier times much of Gran Torino would be considered a minstrel show and abhorred by ‘enlightened’ individuals, but since most of the racism is directed towards Asians it’s not so bad. I don’t think Clint had this in mind while directing the film. His character is an ignorant old man carrying scars he won’t let anyone but us see and we know he will be redeemed by the end of the movie. I can’t decide if this is an important film for Clint or not. He works fast and doesn’t like too many takes. He trusts his actors and likes the ‘honesty’ of the first take whenever possible. This doesn’t allow for much subtlety in the performances. I may be getting grouchy myself in being hyper critical. As I left the theater I saw a woman weeping uncontrollably, really inconsolable, so Gran Torino had some impact on the audience. Am I getting too old and jaded to be able to simply enjoy a movie? See Gran Torino and let me know what you think.