At the Movies with Fatwayne

There are a whole lot of things to love about this movie and an equal number of things to hate. The acting and humor are exemplary, especially in the case of Clint Eastwood who seems to have his growl and squinty eyed look down to a science. On the other end of the spectrum is the racial bigotry exhibited by each of the ethnic groups involved. I am talking about Irish, Italian, Black, Polish and Oriental. Sure, I found myself laughing at all the cracks that came out of the mouth of Walt Kawolski (Eastwood) who gave as good as he got and a whole lot more! For example, when invited to a cook out by his Hmong neighbors, he replies “sure, just keep your hands off of my dog”!  And a bit further into the movie as he is actually grilling for his same neighbors he asks “how do you want your dog – I mean steaks”? There is a lot more of this kind of “humor” and I must admit the the audience and I couldn’t help from laughing at this.

Humor is one thing but when this bigotry is pushed to violent hatred, that is an entirely different story.  This film is about a crotchety old Korean war hero who really doesn’t tolerate or have time for anyone even his own family (I don’t blame him in this case!). After his beloved wife dies he decides to continue living in his same house even though he is about the only Caucasian still living in the area.  The neighborhood is fast becoming an enclave of  Hmong people who were originally from the hill country of Viet Nam and Cambodia.  It doesn’t matter to our man Walt where they come from since he considers all Orientals to be just “slopes” or “zipper-heads”.

After a series of events that finds Walt coming to the rescue of the Hmong family living next door, a kind of mutual respect develops between them.  In fact, Walt develops a genuine affection for the teen aged boy, Thao and his sister.  It actually seems that Walt is discovering that people are pretty much alike in most respects.

Enter the gangs!  This is where the violence comes into play.  There are Hispanic, Black and Hmong gangs active in this neighborhood.  The main problem stems from the Hmong gang who try to recruit Thao against his wishes.

Enough said about the plot since I do not want to spoil it for you.  Suffice it to say that our war hero has no intention of letting the gangs have their way.

I have enjoyed Clint Eastwood since his days as Rowdy Yates in the TV series Rawhide.  It has been interesting to see him evolve as an actor over the years.  I must confess that upon learning that this may well be his last on screen appearance, I felt a pang of sorrow.  What a great career Mr. Eastwood!  Thanks for the memories.

One other quote for you to enjoy from Walt to the parish priest, Father Janovich (Christopher Carley) - “I think you are an over educated 27 year old virgin that likes to hold the hands of old ladies who are superstitious of promises of eternity”.  Yep, old Walt holds nothing back!

Rated  – R  -

Fatwaynes rating  –  -