Cast, Crew, Story, Theme, Review Muse-En-Scene, Life Connections

Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran living in a changing world, who is forced by his immigrant neighbors to confront his own long-held prejudices. MPAA Rating: R (for language throughout, and some violence) GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

CLINT EASTWOOD (Walt Kowalski) CLINT EASTWOOD (Walt Kowalski)  Best-known as an actor for his tough guy, anti-hero acting roles in action and western films, particularly in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.  Has won five Academy Awards— twice each as Best Director and as producer of the Best Picture and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award in GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

BEE VANG (Thao Lor) BEE VANG (Thao Lor)  Born in Fresno, California and raised in the Minneapolis area  Gran Torino makes his professional acting debut as a timid teenaged boy GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

AHNEY HER (Sue Lor) AHNEY HER (Sue Lor)  A native of Lansing, Michigan, she was 16 years old when she won the role of Sue.  Plays the self-assured young woman who makes an effort to befriend her surly next-door neighbor, Walt Kowalski GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

CLINT EASTWOOD CLINT EASTWOOD  Sadly, this picture might mark his last acting role, but it is not the last film he will directs!  In 2007 he won Best Director and Best Picture, for Letters from Iwo Jima  In 2005 he won Best Picture and Best Director for Million Dollar Baby GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

TOM STERN (Director of Photography)  He has had a long association with Clint Eastwood, most recently lensing Changeling.  He also served as the cinematographer on Eastwood's Flags of Our Fathers, Letters from Iwo Jima, Million Dollar Baby, Mystic River, and Blood Work. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Open casting calls for Hmong actors were held in Hmong communities in Detroit, Michigan; Saint Paul, Minnesota; and Fresno, California. None of the Hmong actors in the cast had acted in a film before except Doua Moua. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Retired auto worker Walt Kowalski fills his days with home repair, beer and monthly trips to the barber. Though his late wife's final wish was for him to take confession, for Walt--an embittered veteran of the Korean War who keeps his M-1 rifle cleaned and ready--there's nothing to confess. And no one he trusts enough to confess to other than his dog, Daisy. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

The people he once called his neighbors have all moved or passed away, replaced by Hmong immigrants, from Southeast Asia, he despises. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Resentful of virtually everything and everyone he sees, Walt is just waiting out the rest of his life...until the night his teenage neighbor Thao tries to steal his prized '72 Gran Torino, under pressure from Hmong gang-bangers. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

But Walt stands in the way of both the heist and the gang, making him the reluctant hero of the neighborhood--especially to Thao's mother and older sister, Sue, who insist that Thao work for Walt as a way to make amends. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Though he initially wants nothing to do with these people, Walt eventually gives in and puts the boy to work, setting into motion an unlikely friendship that will change both their lives. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Gran Torino bears echoes of the relationships explored throughout Eastwood's body of work. Producer Bill Gerber: "Clint has always dealt with complex issues of race, religion and prejudice in an honest way, which can sometimes be politically incorrect but is always authentic." GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Eastwood wanted to portray the Hmong in "Gran Torino" as authentically as possible, starting with casting an exclusively Hmong cast for those roles in the film. GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

75% Positive Consensus voice: “Though you can see his character's redemption coming a mile away, Clint Eastwood's Gran Torino is still well worth the ride.” --Claudia Puig, USA Today GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

Robert Lorenz (Producer): "Thao doesn't have a father figure to rely on and give him guidance, and Walt never had a real connection with his own sons that might have given him that satisfaction of fatherhood. It's sort of a perfect fit for each of them. Walt is also searching. He clearly knows that he's in the last chapter of his life, and he's searching for someone or something to make sense of it all and to calibrate the value of his life." GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

GIVING OPPORTUNITY TO OTHERS! What spoke to me most about the film was the use of first-timers. "I do like to give people a break," Clint Eastwood stated. "I like to see new people come along, and have opportunities.” What could be better than a retiring veteran, like Eastwood, using his influence to give new people opportunity? Not only is this true of the screenwriter and Hmong actors, but of the story itself --Walt Kowalski, an iron-willed veteran becomes the ‘father’ of the new kid on the block. Contributing unselfishly to the lives of others out of one’s acquired resources is to me a mark of greatness. GRAN TORINO Review © David Bruce

RELATIONSHIP IS THE ANTIDOTE FOR PREJUDICE Clint Eastwood: “It's interesting, and often funny, how (Walt) starts out with a lot of prejudice, and then works his way out of it through these relationships." GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce

THE IMPORTANCE OF LOOKING IN A MIRROR Producer Robert Lorenz: “That's the heart of his racism --a selfish inability to look at himself.” GRAN TORINO © 2008 Warner Bros. Pictures. Review © David Bruce