Gran Torino
Rent & Buy
Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, Thao Lor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.
What critics thought
Gran Torino earned broad approval as a crowd-pleasing late-career showcase for Eastwood, with most critics celebrating his commanding physical and verbal presence as the cantankerous Walt Kowalski. The film's treatment of race and multicultural understanding drew mainstream praise, but scholars and Asian-American audiences pushed back on its Hmong characterizations and what many identified as a white-savior framework — a tension largely absent from mainstream reviews.
“The notion of a 78-year-old action hero may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Eastwood brings it off, even if his toughness is as much verbal as physical. Even at 78, Eastwood can make 'Get off my lawn' sound as menacing as 'Make my day', and when he says 'I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby', he sounds as if he means it”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“It is a monumental face now, so puckered and pleated that it no longer looks merely weathered, as it has for decades, but seems closer to petrified wood.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“a meditation on tolerance wrapped in the disguise of a movie with a gun-toting Clint Eastwood and a cool car”
Nicole Sperling·Entertainment Weekly
“about the belated flowering of a man's better nature. And it's about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century.”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Accolades
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- mild
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
Clint EastwoodDirectorClint EastwoodWalt Kowalski
Christopher CarleyFather Janovich
Bee VangThao
Ahney HerSue
Brian HaleyMitch Kowalski
Geraldine HughesKaren Kowalski
Dreama WalkerAshley Kowalski
Brian HoweSteve Kowalski
John Carroll LynchBarber Martin
William HillTim Kennedy
Brooke Chia ThaoVu
Kyle EastwoodComposer
Nick SchenkWriter
Tom SternCinematographyGran Torino
Disgruntled Korean War veteran Walt Kowalski sets out to reform his neighbor, Thao Lor, a Hmong teenager who tried to steal Kowalski's prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino.
What critics thought
Gran Torino earned broad approval as a crowd-pleasing late-career showcase for Eastwood, with most critics celebrating his commanding physical and verbal presence as the cantankerous Walt Kowalski. The film's treatment of race and multicultural understanding drew mainstream praise, but scholars and Asian-American audiences pushed back on its Hmong characterizations and what many identified as a white-savior framework — a tension largely absent from mainstream reviews.
“The notion of a 78-year-old action hero may sound like a contradiction in terms, but Eastwood brings it off, even if his toughness is as much verbal as physical. Even at 78, Eastwood can make 'Get off my lawn' sound as menacing as 'Make my day', and when he says 'I blow a hole in your face and sleep like a baby', he sounds as if he means it”
Kenneth Turan·Los Angeles Times
“It is a monumental face now, so puckered and pleated that it no longer looks merely weathered, as it has for decades, but seems closer to petrified wood.”
Manohla Dargis·The New York Times
“a meditation on tolerance wrapped in the disguise of a movie with a gun-toting Clint Eastwood and a cool car”
Nicole Sperling·Entertainment Weekly
“about the belated flowering of a man's better nature. And it's about Americans of different races growing more open to one another in the new century.”
Roger Ebert·RogerEbert.com
Accolades
Parents guide
- Violence
- moderate
- Sex
- mild
- Profanity
- severe
- Substances
- mild
- Intensity
- moderate
Genres
Drama
Cast & Crew
Clint EastwoodDirectorClint EastwoodWalt KowalskiChristopher CarleyFather JanovichBee VangThaoAhney HerSueBrian HaleyMitch KowalskiGeraldine HughesKaren KowalskiDreama WalkerAshley KowalskiBrian HoweSteve KowalskiJohn Carroll LynchBarber MartinWilliam HillTim KennedyBrooke Chia ThaoVuKyle EastwoodComposerNick SchenkWriterTom SternCinematographyRent & Buy