Word: eastwoods
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...Michigan town. When some kids brawl in front of his house, he brandishes a rifle and actually shouts, "Get off my lawn!" In any other movie, he'd be the sour comic relief or the monster's first victim. But since, in Gran Torino, he's played by Clint Eastwood, Walt is a stalwart man of the Midwest--the hero who has a score to settle. With himself...
Well into his fifth decade as one of the world's most popular and honored movie stars, Eastwood has lately sloughed off acting to concentrate on directing; Gran Torino is the ninth feature (including the documentary Piano Blues) that he's helmed since turning 70 in 2000. He doesn't do much work in front of the camera anymore, but what's there is choice. His last starring role, as the grizzled fight trainer in 2004's Million Dollar Baby, earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, while the movie won for picture, actress (Hilary Swank), supporting actor...
That makes an Eastwood lead role a movie event--especially since he's hinted he would stick to directing from now on. About Gran Torino, he recently said, "That will probably do it for me as far as acting is concerned." (We hope not. At 78, he still looks great.) He might have been kidding, but you'll want to catch the film in case it really is the Lone Thespian taking his last ride into the sunset...
...movies starring giant spiders (Tarantula) and talking mules (Francis in the Navy). He settled into the saddle as ramrod Rowdy Yates, second lead in the cattle-drive TV western Rawhide, a job that guaranteed a paycheck but deferred movie fame. Sergio Leone changed all that when he paid Eastwood $15,000 to play a misanthrope with a gun, wiping out two teams of bad guys, in Fistful of Dollars. By the time he'd done two more Leone westerns, For a Few Dollars More and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, Eastwood was a star in the classic Hollywood...
...Testament God--anyone with an intimidating presence and a sandpaper soul. Is that acting? Sure. He doesn't just behave; he performs, confidently, richly, within the slim range of the Man with No Name, no home and no regrets. How do we know this is acting? Because in person Eastwood is genial, soft-spoken, quick-smiling--the opposite of the movie Clint in temperament and thoughtfulness, his equal only in stature...