Humor, humanity blend with violence in Eastwood's 'Gran Torino'

Clint Eastwood turns out to be simultaneously the best and the worst possible actor to star in his own second 2008 feature "Gran Torino."

I say the best because cranky old racist Army vet Walt Kowalski could easily be Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" Callahan in retirement, a clench-jawed, anti-PC, bigoted Detroit homeowner who utters "Get off my lawn!" as if it were an update of "Make my day!"

I say the worst, because Eastwood the director lets Eastwood the star go utterly nuts chewing scenery that Jack Nicholson wouldn't bite on.

Eastwood's performance is so over the top, it threatens to become a parody of his tough-guy persona, right down to a scene where he points his finger like a gun at several gangbangers, evoking Charles Bronson's similar gesture to thugs at O'Hare Airport near the end of "Death Wish."

That noted, "Gran Torino" could well become a huge hit for the 78-year-old filmmaker, not only for his grandstanding, grandfatherly performance, but for the story's blend of humor and humanity, topped off with some old-fashioned violence and a cogent endorsement of the American melting pot.

Retired and recently widowed, Kowalski built Ford cars for 50 years after he came home from the Korean War. Now, his immaculately maintained Detroit house has become surrounded by immigrants, who he refers to in derogatory terms.

They are, in fact, the hill people from Thailand who sided with U.S. troops during the Vietnam War. When Saigon fell, the U.S. scooped up many of the local Hmong people and transplanted them in America, where they migrated right next door to Walt Kowalski.

One night, Kowalski catches a timid teen neighbor, Thao (Bee Vang), trying to steal his vintage 1972 Gran Torino as a gang initiation rite. The family is so ashamed that Thao is forced to work for Kowalski as penance. Begrudgingly, the grumpy vet puts the teen to work around the neighborhood, and they form a father-son bond of the sort that Kowalski doesn't even share with his two estranged grown sons.

Soon, Kowalski becomes adopted by his Asian neighbors, especially the loquacious, outgoing Sue (a charming Ahney Her), the quiet Thao's older sister. But their newfound peace becomes threatened by local gang recruiters, who will go to any length to pull Thao into their clutches.

"Gran Torino," scripted by Nick Schenk (reportedly not for Eastwood), occasionally indulges in overwritten dialogue that tells us information already communicated by Eastwood's face. (Didn't the director trust the actor to communicate his feelings?)

The introduction of a constant, bloody cough adds a gratuitous element of concern for Kowalski, and unnecessarily tips off more savvy filmgoers to a pivotal plot development.

It's one thing for a proud papa to give his son a job scoring a movie (Kyle Eastwood, who also composed music for Dad's "Letters From Iwo Jima"), but the director really steps off the bus of good judgment when he lets himself warble a tune over the closing credits.

He sounds like a pirate being strangled. Underwater.