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| Director: Clint Eastwood
Actors: Clint Eastwood, Brian Haley, Christopher Carley, Geraldine Hughes
Studio: Warner Home Video
List Price: $19.98
Buy Used: $4.25
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New (52) Used (43) Collectible (1) from $4.25
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Rating:  353 reviews
Sales Rank: 64
Format: Color, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 116 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 5
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 1000041155
UPC: 883929033164
EAN: 0883929033164
ASIN: B001KVZ6F2
Theatrical Release Date: 2008
Release Date: June 9, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 346-350 of 353
 Funny and poignant story is a fitting tribute to Eastwood's career December 29, 2008
Eugene Chamson (Oakland, CA USA)
5 out of 7 found this review helpful
If Clint Eastwood never makes another movie, Gran Torino will serve as the ideal swan song for an actor/director who has spent a career playing tough guys with tortured souls, and yes, tender hearts.
Here Eastwood plays Walt Kowalski, an aging Korean war vet still haunted by his past and simmering with rage and racism. Alone now after the death of his wife, Walt is alienated from his family and irritated by everything in his world, especially the Asian family that has moved in next door.
In typical Eastwood style, he fearlessly confronts neighborhood bullies and gang members the way we imagine an aging Dirty Harry might. For those of us who grew up watching Eastwood take care of bad guys, it's very satisfying to see the old master stick it to a new generation of punks. And Eastwood is not above self-parody. So when Walt aims a shotgun at a bully and snarls "Get off my lawn!" the audience has a good laugh.
As events force Walt to deal with, and eventually protect the Asians next door, we watch as his tough and racist persona gradually thaws and he enters into tentative friendship with his neighbors. This is another satisfying element of the film. The scenes where Walt, in his gruffy crude way, ends up helping the young Asian boy next door, are especially warm and heartful.
But beyond the rehabilitation of a bitter racist, Gran Torino is also a meditation on the limits of violence. For all his toughness, Walt isn't able to keep the violence from escalating. And it eventually forces him to come to terms with his violent past.
The ending is unexpected and out of character, which is what makes it brilliant. In the end, Walt heals his wounds and transcends his past. And by making this film, so does Eastwood. It will be a classic.
 Don't laugh, but this is a great interpretation of Karate Kid... December 29, 2008
Beardyjin (New Orleans)
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
Clint Eastwood delivers another memorable screen character as Korean War Vet Walt Kowalski--a man who lets out more politically incorrect humor on his own than Black, Stiller, & Downey combined did in "Tropic Thunder." The plot is actually very similar and touches on many of the themes as the 1980s classic "Karate Kid."
GRAN TORINO is much more somber and violent than "Karate Kid," but both films deal with characters from American & Asian cultures (here the Asian culture in question is Mhong) learning important lessons on life from each other that they couldn't or wouldn't learn from their own cultures. Whereas "Karate Kid" shows those life lessons being taught through learning karate, GRAN TORINO does so in a bit more intricate manner. Walt's Detroit neighborhood is changing along with the world and he isn't. A series of circumstances leads Walt to mentor his young neighbor Thao in what it means to "be a man" while coming to grips with what kind of man he has become.
GRAN TORINO is directed by Eastwood and shot in a similar style as his other recent hit involving an old man who's lost his faith and mentors a misfit kid--"Million Dollar Baby." And just like "...Baby," GRAN TORINO delivers a somber yet ultimately uplifting tale of friendship.
It's not about the car.... December 27, 2008
L. Power (San Francisco)
701 out of 750 found this review helpful
Throughout his illustrious acting career, Clint Eastwood has delivered a series of iconic characters, such as The Man with no name, Dirty Harry, Josie Wales, and Will Munny in Unforgiven.
Throughout his illustrious directing career he has delivered outstanding movies such as Unforgiven, Mystic River, and Million Dollar Baby, for which he has won five Academy Awards, for best Picture, Best Director, and including the Irving Thalberg Life Achievement Award.
The actors who have worked with him have been blessed with Oscar: Gene Hackman for Unforgiven, Tim Robbins and Sean Penn for Mystic River, Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank for Million Dollar Baby.
In Gran Torino he both directs and acts, and delivers an acting performance that will be remembered long after the final credits roll, in its unique way, as memorable as any other character he has created.
Gran Torino is the second best movie I have seen this year. Not just for the acting, not just for the directing, but for the storytelling, and the emotional journey on which it takes you, the laughter, the feeling of being gripped, and its more surprising moments.
In the opening scenes, we have the exposition of the character. We get to know Walt Kowalski, by how people act around him, and his seemingly hateful attitude towards people. More is conveyed through a scowl, and a snarl than with words. When the mischievous grandchildren go through his stuff in the basement, we see the Silver Star he won in Korea. There are three other important symbols in the movie, the lighter, the gun, and the car.
We see a hero with a warrior past, a patriot who fought for a cause greater than himself. Clearly, his bigotry stems from those experiences.
He's not just mean, he's 'get of my lawn' mean. He's Dirty Harry 'Go ahead punk, make my day!,' mean.
His dead wife's priest bugs him to hear his confession, at her request. The priest in a way is his wife's conscience.
When he snarls down the barrel of his rifle, at the neighborhood punk: 'I could blow your head off, and sleep like a baby,' you get the sense that he means it.
So, with all that happens, we see the change in his decision making, from someone reluctant to be involved in his neighbor's affairs, and a story can turn on something as random as looking at an empty beer cooler.
For all his faults, Walt has mature masculine character. Even though he is a difficult father, he has taught his children character. So, when he sees the boy next door lacks character, and a strong male role model, he takes him under his wing, and teaches him how to be a man.
The scenes where the boy practises Walt's high octane ball busting banter, are the funniest in the movie. Through knowing Walt, he makes decisions he never would have made by himself. In so doing, Walt finds meaning and purpose, and a chance for redemption, and the boy becomes a man.
The Academy's actor awards tend to go to actors in two types of role:
1.Psychopath- No Country for Old Men, The Usual Suspects, There Will Be Blood, Training Day, Silence of the Lambs.
2.Mentally Disabled, Social or Physical Handicap, overcomes great adversity or discrimination- Shine, As Good as It Gets, A Beautiful Mind, Ray, Scent of a Woman, Capote, Philadelphia, The Pianist, A Beautiful Life.
Every rule has an exception. Russell Crowe in Gladiator played a character with thematic similarities to Walt.
For a 78 year old man to direct and be lead actor in a movie of this caliber is an achievement worthy at the very least of being nominated for the highest award for Acting, Directing or both.
I hope you find this review helpful.
It Could Have Been a Classic December 26, 2008
Elliott (L.A.)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
Clint Eastwood produced and directed Gran Torino. The character he portrays, Walt Kowalski, worked thirty years for Ford and put the steering column into the titular vehicle. Long retired from the assembly line, his age shows and he sometimes coughs up blood, but he's too tough to admit any frailty.
Kowalski is recently widowed and lives alone in a decaying Detroit neighborhood. He's not close to his two sons. They have little patience with the highly-opinionated Kowalski who always bluntly says (growls) exactly what he thinks. It's likely that this abrasiveness alienated his family long ago. His sons seem to dread the prospect of helping their aging father should he become disabled.
It turns out that Kowalski is a "lovable racist," an obvious oxymoron which nevertheless portrays his character. He has a fondness for using ethnic slurs in his speech and is not at all shy about using them in front of their targets. He makes his prejudices clear early on and then grinds them into the ground. Enough already. In reality, no one is ever going to shake off the kind of crude remarks Kowalski makes, although in this film people sometimes shrug it all off to the eccentricities of old age.
It also turns out that Kowalski is a decorated Korean War veteran with more than a touch of Dirty Harry left in him. His toughness is tested when he befriends his neighbors, Thao (Bee Vang) and Sue (Ahney Her). These are young second generation Hmong immigrants who become the victims of a street gang. Vang and Her are novice actors who shine in these roles. Likely, Eastwood's magic as a director was crucial here.
The film builds to a powerful climax. The audience was cheering for the iconic Eastwood. There's talk of Eastwood getting an Oscar for his performance, one of those sentimental ones given to a distinguished actor who somehow has never won. Well, Eastwood's acting in this film merits an Oscar.
Kowalski reveals his heart of gold as the film progresses and he grows to appreciate the Hmong culture. This is probably the first time that Hmongs have been featured in a major Hollywood production.
In my opinion, if some of the trash talk had been left out along with the totally unconvincing portrayal of a priest by Christopher Carley this film would be a classic. As it is, it's still very good indeed.
 It was very weird December 26, 2008
Music Is The Best (Pretendland)
2 out of 17 found this review helpful
I saw this movie not knowing what it was about. I saw it because I was out with a friend, and they picked this film.
After watching, my first feeling was emptiness. I just sat an 1 /12 through a film that mixed comedy with drama. It felt anti-climatic in a sense.
My second thought was the unrealism of it. I don't really care if a movie's unrealistic, but I felt this film was trying to be realistic in certain ways.
Another thing was that I couldn't tell throughout the film whether it was trying to be a comedy or drama. It was both, and I don't think it really succeded.
Overall the film was decent, not great. 3/5 stars.
Showing reviews 346-350 of 353
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