Guilty Pleasure: Clint Eastwood

I can't think of a film by Eastwood that I didn't like (closest was Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil but that had Kevin Spacey).

Gran Torino is one of those movies that I watched because 1) it had Clint Eastwood in it; and 2) the title simply rocked.  To be honest I actually thought the title was referring to something else, but it is still a great title.

I'm not going to really delve into the movie.  Simply put, if you like Eastwood films, especially how you take a jerk of a man who is "misunderstood" by the rest of the world, you'll like this one.  I was piqued by the involvement of Asians, specially the Hmong people.

So what is it about Eastwood?  Is it the fact that his whiskey drawl voice still carries with the menace that made me respect my elders at a young age?  Or that fact that Eastwood again makes his characters believable and likeable? (I didn't say loveable, because you don't always love his characters). 

My brother was eager to watch the film; now that he has the opportunity to do so and having heard my opinion of it, he'll probably watch in the next few days.  

I remember watching Heartbreak Ridge with him when it showed on Showtime.  Not being old enough to recognize good or bad plots, we liked the interplay between Eastwood and his antagonist within the Marine Corps, the cadence that started with "Model A Ford and a tank full of gas...".

I remember watching the first parts of Dirty Harry and Sudden Impact at our Grampa's house.  The fact that he sits there, all badass and such, proclaiming to the crook, "You're asking yourself did he six shots or five?"  Anyone tries that now and the bit would fall flat.

Eastwood, 73, literally brings his best guns to Gran Torino.  And for that, Eastwood remains on my list of guilty pleasures.   For your viewing pleasure...

You like him too, right?

"Well do you...punk?"