The character of Walt and Eastwood's performance have garnered positive reception.
Character overview
Walt is introduced as an elderly Polish-American whose wife of 50 years dies, leaving him alone in his Rust Belt neighborhood of Highland Park, Michigan. Adhering to conservative values and openly prejudiced, he dislikes that his neighborhood has become home to poor immigrants. Adding to his isolation, Walt is retired and does not have a close relationship his family. His only companions are fellow members of the VFW and his elderly labrador retriever, Daisy. A handyman, Walt spends his days maintaining his property. He is a heavy drinker and tobacco user; often seen drinking Pabst Blue Ribbon, chewing Red Man tobacco, and smoking Marlboro Reds.
Walt is a decorated Korean War combat veteran, having served in the United States Army's 1st Cavalry Division. He was awarded the Silver Star for valor, having been the only survivor of his unit's assault on an enemy machine gun nest. By his own admission, he killed thirteen or more enemy soldiers during the conflict, but is particularly haunted by his unordered killing of a teenage North Korean soldier who had been trying to surrender to him. After the war, Walt returned to Michigan, worked at a Ford automobile factory, got married and had two sons. In 1972, he put the steering column in a Ford Torino he helped assemble, and at some point obtained the car for himself.
Character arc
In 2008, Dorothy Kowalski dies after a prolonged illness, leaving Walt a widower. Walt rebuffs his two sons when they express concerns for his well-being, and instead chooses to remain alone in his aging home and neighborhood. His neighbors, the Vang Lor family, are poor Hmong immigrants with whom he does not get along. Walt also rejects multiple attempts by Dorothy's priest to comfort him.
One night, Walt catches 15-year-old Thao Vang Lor attempting to steal his Ford Torino as part of a Hmong gang initiation. He nearly shoots Thao, who narrowly escapes. The following day, the gang attempts to abduct Thao; Walt intervenes and threatens the gang at gunpoint. Much to Walt's dismay, the local Hmong bring him gifts out of respect. Additionally, Thao's mother requires Thao to do work for Walt as penance.
Walt has Thao perform various jobs around his home and the neighborhood, and the two begin to form a mutual respect. Walt also rescues Thao's sister Sue from the unwanted advances of African American gangsters. He begins to bond with the Vang Lor family, recognizing their traditional values are more in line with his own beliefs than he originally thought. Walt, plagued by coughing fits and occasionally spitting up blood, visits the doctor and seemingly receives a poor prognosis.
Walt becomes a mentor to Thao, helping him to gain a construction job. When the gang assaults Thao, Walt responds by attacking and threatening one of the members. The gang retaliates by committing a drive-by shooting on the Vang Lor household and raping Sue. Thao begs Walt to help him retaliate.
Recognizing that Thao and his family will never be safe from the gang, Walt develops a plan. Thao, wanting revenge, looks to Walt for guidance. After making some preparations including a Catholic confession, Walt locks Thao in his basement, expressing that he wants to save him from being haunted by violence.
Walt presents himself at the gang's residence and begins insulting them. As the gang draws their firearms, Walt places a cigarette in his mouth and quickly reaches into his jacket; the gang opens fire and shoots Walt dead. Walt was unarmed and reached for his Zippo lighter. When Sue and Thao arrive, police reveal that witnesses have come forward and that the gang will be going to prison.
After Walt's funeral, his will and testament is read; he leaves his Ford Torino to Thao.
Views and morality
Walt initially is depicted as openly prejudiced, specifically toward East Asian people, often using ethnic slurs such as "gook" to describe them. He also dislikes Japanese automakers and is vocal about his dislike of rice burners (in contrast to traditional American muscle cars). Over the course of the film, Walt comes to appreciate the Hmong culture and people.
He also utilizes slurs when bantering with others, including his Italian-American barber Martin whom he calls a "wop" and "dago", as well as his Irish-American friend whom he calls a "mick".
Todd McCarthy of Variety said that Walt's "racist mutterings, which employ every imaginable epithet for Asians, are blunt and nasty, but Eastwood grunts them out in an over-the-top way that provokes laughs, and his targets are no less sparing of him."[1] Walt originally perceives his Hmong neighbors as being generic Asians rather than as the Hmong that they are.[1] Mark Jenkins of National Public Radio says "He hates everything new or foreign, so much so that he growls at the modern world like a junkyard dog."[2] Tom Charity says that the character's "racist Bunker mentality thaws" when Sue introduces him to Hmong food.[3]
John Serba of The Grand Rapids Press says that the intolerance demonstrated by Walt "goes deeper than skin color" since he is also against stupidity, "trait that transcends superficialities".[4] Serba adds that "his definition of unintelligent is broader than the average person's, thus, his conversations tend to become confrontations quickly, and perhaps surprisingly, to our amusement."[4]
Wanda Teays, author of Seeing the Light: Exploring Ethics Through Movies, said that Walt originally is a "moral absolutist" who believes that values are universal and do not differ at all even if the context is different. She said that after Walt beats a gangster in retaliation for an attack on Thao Vang Lor, the gangsters retaliate by attacking Sue Lor. Teays said that this causes him to rethink his tactics.[5]
Similarities and differences with other Eastwood characters
Tania Modleski, author of "Clint Eastwood and Male Weepies," said that "[f]or many reviewers, Gran Torino represents the final step in Eastwood's repudiation of the Dirty Harry[sic] persona. If Unforgiven ends up being equivocal in its attitude toward violence and vigilantism, Gran Torino appears to accept the impotence of the lone avenging hero" and that the impotence "is perhaps underlined by Walt's repeated gesture of pointing his finger at villains as if it were a gun."[6] Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle said that even though Walt, an "old fart," does not have the same name as Inspector Harry Callahan, the protagonist of Dirty Harry, played by Eastwood, "there's no mistaking the rasp in his voice or the uncompromising crankiness of his Weltanschauung."[7] Tom Charity of CNN said that Walt, "Like other Eastwood heroes before him, Walt sacrifices his independence by accepting that others depend on him."[3] Serba said that Walt, who is "bitter, hopelessly cranky," "shares a sense of moral certainty" with Callahan, but that Walt "is infused with the wisdom and weariness" that Callahan does not have.[4] Jenkins said that Walt is similar to Frankie Dunn, a character played by Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby.[2]
Nick Schenk, the writer of the script of the film, said "Walt is like a lot of shop teachers and coaches that you have in school. He's the kind of guy who's just waiting for you to screw up so he can roll his eyes at you."[8] Eastwood has said that the car is "sort of a symbol of his days with the Ford plant" and that the gun "is sort of a symbol of his days in the military. … He's clinging to the memory of the war. You'll find out when you see it, some of (the memories) are not as pleasant as others. That helps make him even tougher to get along with."[9]
Anthony Breznican of USA Today said that even though Clint Eastwood had served in the Korean War (in a non-combat role) he "has little in common with Kowalski."[9] Jenkins explained that Walt is "a man of action who's offended by the Catholic church's dogmatic insistence that it understands mortality better than a grizzled vet who's seen comrades die."[2] Jenkins added that Walt also "learned firsthand that self-sacrifice is not transcendent" in a similar manner to John Bradley, the protagonist of Flags of Our Fathers, and Tadamichi Kuribayashi, the protagonist of Letters from Iwo Jima.[2] Jenkins explained that Walt ultimately "assumes a Christ-like posture, both to save his new friends and to put Janovich in his place."[2] John Serba of The Grand Rapids Press argues that Eastwood in Gran Torino "finds his focus on" Walt and "When Walt wields his weapons with righteous fury, Eastwood the actor shows us a damaged man suffering a horrible wartime flashback, without stating it outright."[4] Serba argues that the "suggestiveness makes it easier to overlook the inexperience of his supporting cast and the occasionally overstated, transparent dialogue."[4] Biancolli said that Eastwood, as Walt, "just keeps doing his Dirty Harry glare, whipping out guns real and imaginary. But it's hard not to see him as Mr. Wilson [George Everett Wilson] — Dennis the Menace's crotchety neighbor. Skinnier, hairier, no mustache."[7]
Schenk said that he got the inspiration for Walt Kowalski from several war veterans he met while working as a clerk in a liquor store.[10] Schenk explained that "I just knew this character well. When I was working construction, I'd meet a lot of guys like Walt Kowalski. Because I liked history, I'd always be the one that the older guys on the site would tell their stories to."[8] He originally intended for Walt's car to be a Ford because a Ford assembly line was near Schenk's location in the Minneapolis area. He was not aware that Harry Callahan, the main character in Dirty Harry, drove a Gran Torino. Schenk said that the vehicle could have been a Crown Victoria but he preferred the sound of the name "Gran Torino."[8] Schenk said that individuals told him that he would not be successful in selling a script that had an elderly man as the main character, and especially one who sounds like he has racist views.[8]
Reception
Tania Modleski, author of "Clint Eastwood and Male Weepies," said that "by melodramatically sacrificing his life, Eastwood as Walt and as himself becomes God" because "Eastwood is in a sense resurrected by the reviewers who appear to want to immortalize him" and so "many reviewers accord him the masculine qualities that old age has threatened to take away from him."[11] Modleski said that three female reviewers, Manohla Dargis, Ann Hornaday, and Stephanie Zacharek, "seem particularly invested in shoring up "Clint's" masculinity, denying, in a sense, the impotence that his character's failure to use violence except to beget more violence against those he would defend might appear to suggest" and that "[t]he attention they lavish on Eastwood's body is noteworthy."[11]
Serna said that "Walt's Archie Bunker-ish sandpaper brusqueness" gives the film "a refreshing, if not outright surprising, levity."[4] Jenkins argued that Walt "is just not convincing, even as a semi-comic character" because the racism espoused by Walt "is as one-dimensional as his reluctant heroism".[2] Peter Howell of the Toronto Star said that Eastwood "transforms a stereotypical racist into a fully realized character."[12]
Clinton Eastwood Jr. is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western TV series Rawhide, Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Man with No Name" in Sergio Leone's Dollars Trilogy of spaghetti Westerns during the mid-1960s and as antihero cop Harry Callahan in the five Dirty Harry films throughout the 1970s and 1980s. These roles, among others, have made Eastwood an enduring cultural icon of masculinity. Elected in 1986, Eastwood served for two years as the mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California.
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American action thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. The film drew upon the real-life case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks out a similar vicious psychopath.
Magnum Force is a 1973 American neo-noir action thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on Rawhide and Hang 'Em High, directed the film. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino. The film score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. This film features early appearances by David Soul, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich. At 124 minutes, it is the longest of the five Dirty Harry films.
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American neo-noir action thriller film, the fourth in the Dirty Harry series, directed, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood and co-starring Sondra Locke. The film tells the story of a gang rape victim (Locke) who decides to seek revenge on her rapists 10 years after the attack by killing them one by one. Inspector Callahan (Eastwood), famous for his unconventional and often brutal crime-fighting tactics, is tasked with tracking down the serial killer.
The Dead Pool is a 1988 American neo-noir action thriller film directed by Buddy Van Horn, written by Steve Sharon, and starring Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry film series and is set in San Francisco, California.
Hmong or Mong is a dialect continuum of the West Hmongic branch of the Hmongic languages spoken by the Hmong people of Sichuan, Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hainan, northern Vietnam, Thailand, and Laos. There are some 2.7 million speakers of varieties that are largely mutually intelligible, including over 280,000 Hmong Americans as of 2013. Over half of all Hmong speakers speak the various dialects in China, where the Dananshan (大南山) dialect forms the basis of the standard language. However, Hmong Daw and Mong Leng are widely known only in Laos and the United States; Dananshan is more widely known in the native region of Hmong.
Hmong Americans are Americans of Hmong ancestry. Many Hmong Americans immigrated to the United States as refugees in the late 1970s. Over half of the Hmong population from Laos left the country, or attempted to leave, in 1975, at the culmination of the Laotian Civil War.
Clint Eastwood is an American film actor, director, producer, and composer. He has appeared in over 60 films. His career has spanned 65 years and began with small uncredited film roles and television appearances. Eastwood has acted in multiple television series, including the eight-season series Rawhide (1959–1965). Although he appeared in several earlier films, mostly uncredited, his breakout film role was as the Man with No Name in the Sergio Leone–directed Dollars Trilogy: A Fistful of Dollars (1964), For a Few Dollars More (1965), and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966), which weren't released in the United States until 1967/68. In 1971, Eastwood made his directorial debut with Play Misty for Me. Also that year, he starred as San Francisco police inspector Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry. The film received critical acclaim, and spawned four more films: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).
Dirty Harry is an American neo-noir action thriller film series featuring San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. There are five films: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool (1988). Clint Eastwood portrayed Callahan in all five films and directed Sudden Impact.
Gran Torino is a 2008 American drama film directed and produced by Clint Eastwood, who also starred in the film. This was Eastwood's first starring role since 2004's Million Dollar Baby. The film features a large Hmong-American cast, as well as one of Eastwood's younger sons, Scott. Eastwood's oldest son of record, Kyle, composed the film's score with Michael Stevens, while Jamie Cullum and Clint Eastwood provide the theme song.
The 80th National Board of Review Awards, honoring the best in film for 2008, were given on 12 January 2009.
Bee Vang is an American actor and activist of Hmong descent. He is best known for starring in Clint Eastwood's 2008 film Gran Torino as Thao Vang Lor.
Nick Schenk is an American screenwriter known for writing the Clint Eastwood-directed feature film Gran Torino in 2008 for which he won Best Original Screenplay from the National Board of Review. He continued his collaborations with Eastwood on The Mule (2018) and Cry Macho (2021).
Whitney Cua Her, better known by her stage name Ahney Her, is an American actress. She is of Hmong descent.
Scott Eastwood is an American actor. The son of actor and filmmaker Clint Eastwood, he has starred in several of his father's films, including Flags of Our Fathers (2006), Gran Torino (2008), Invictus (2009), and Trouble with the Curve (2012), as well as Texas Chainsaw (2013), Fury (2014), The Longest Ride (2015), Suicide Squad (2016), Snowden (2016), The Fate of the Furious (2017), Pacific Rim Uprising (2018), The Outpost (2020), Wrath of Man (2021) and Fast X (2023).
The Hmong people are a major ethnic group in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul area. As of 2000 there were 40,707 ethnic Hmong in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. The 2010 U.S. Census stated there were 66,000 ethnic Hmong in Minneapolis-St. Paul, giving it the largest urban Hmong population in the world. Grit Grigoleit, author of "Coming Home? The Integration of Hmong Refugees from Wat Tham Krabok, Thailand, into American Society," wrote that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area "acted as the cultural and socio-political center of Hmong life in the U.S."
The Hmong are a major ethnic group in Fresno, California. The Fresno Hmong community, along with that of Minneapolis/St. Paul, is one of the largest two urban U.S. Hmong communities. As of 1993 the Hmong were the largest Southeast Asian ethnic group in Fresno. As of 2010, there are 24,328 people of Hmong descent living in Fresno, making up 4.9% of the city's population.
Doua Moua is an American actor and writer best known for his roles as Spider in the 2008 film Gran Torino and Po in Disney's live-action Mulan.
1 2 Charity, Tom. "Review: 'Gran Torino' offers great Eastwood." CNN. January 9, 2009. 2Archived 2013-01-19 at archive.today . Retrieved on March 16, 2012.
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