Are Clint Eastwood’s Not-Trying-Too-Hard Movies Actually Better than His Oscar Films?
Clint Eastwood’s best picture since Gran Torino (zero Oscar nominations) is Trouble with the Curve, on the surface a baseball movie but really a defense of a kind of cultural conservatism that is quintessentially Clint. Eastwood plays Gus, a longtime talent scout whose prostate and eyesight are failing at roughly the same rate. By the end of the movie, he hasn’t done anything about these but he has shown some young hotshots a thing or two about experience, wisdom, and age.
Gus, a widower whose wife’s tombstone is inscribed “May the Lord grant you extra innings,” is in danger of losing his job (a fellow scout, played by John Goodman, even suggests this might be a good moment to retire) while in the process of scouting an arrogant small-town slugger (played to perfection by Joe Massingill) who figures to be a first-round draft pick.
Decrying the way that number-crunching knuckleheads like a younger competitor have no feel for the aspects of the game that don’t show up in statistics, Gus believes the human factor is the reason a young protegé is in a slump. So he arranges for the kid’s parents to come see him, and the problem is fixed. Standing in for every young spreadsheet geek (and, without being mentioned, Moneyball) is a rival scout played by Matthew Lillard of The Descendants, who can now boast of playing the sworn enemy of both Eastwood and George Clooney within the space of a year. Lillard’s character believes you can learn everything there is to know about a player without ever attending a ballgame. As Sam Kinison used to say: Is he right? Hint: Gus says things like, “Anybody who uses computers doesn’t know a damn thing about this game!”
Gus has a daughter who has become a big success as a lawyer in Atlanta, but though she grew up talking baseball with her dad, something isn’t right between them. Also, she is working on a case that will determine whether she makes partner, but worrying about what will happen to her dad if he is forced out to pasture, she agrees to come along on his road trip to contribute her considerable baseball acumen and make sure he doesn’t drive too much. He complains that the reason his ‘65 Mustang is looking a little banged-up is because his garage suddenly got smaller.
is it possible to truly love a man (platonic) without ever having met him..?
I think so
btw, Amy Adams still looks like she is in her late 20s.. she’s a dreamgirl..
played by Matthew Lillard of The Descendants, who can now boast of playing the sworn enemy of both Eastwood and George Clooney within the space of a year.
Not bad for the guy who was born to play Shaggy.
Send a free ticket to this movie to Nate Silver.
Not only is he the Obama conniving left leaning pollster all the libs love, he also founded PECOTA, the bible to every baseball stat geek in existence, and used by the evil guys in this movie.
“Gran Torino” is Eastwood’s greatest film – the story of America 1950-2008, and I still cry at the end every time I watch it.
As for Amy Adams? well, still daydreaming about a remake of “Singing in the Rain” with her opposite Hugh Jackman. Yeah, never going to happen. But, if Beyonce can’t make it to Eastwood’s remake of “A Star is Born”, who knows?
I’ve always believed that they got the ending of “Gran Torino” wrong. Instead of just giving the kid the car, he should’ve given him his collection of tools. Tools were a very important part of the movie. For working people, clothes don’t make the man, tools do.
Totally agree about Walt Kowalski’s tools! But I figure the church probably got all contents with the house, and then let Thao Vang Lor and his family move in.
The part where I always cry is not the end end, but the segment where Walt dies for true justice.
The Oscars are more about political correctness than anything else. When DiCaprio did not get best actor for “Blood Diamond” (and I was not a Leo fan, but was wowed by that performance), I forced myself to see “The Last King of Scotland” to find out why Forest Whitaker won that year. Still think DiCaprio was much better.
So, does the LA Times now speculate that Morgan Freeman and Tim Robbins will return their Oscars in protest? I think not.
How do you know he didn’t just leave them in the trunk?
From memory, he had a lot of tools in his garage, probably more than would fit in a trunk. Tools were an important theme of the movie because they empower people. When asked how he got so many tools, Walt said it came from a lifetime of work. Giving the kid his tools would’ve been a better message than giving him his car.
Just finished “Bronco Billy”,”Honkytonk Man”,”Every Which Way But Loose” and “Any Which Way You Can”. Loved them all! Not a girly man in sight.Good scenery too,wonder how many teenage boys fell in love with Sondra Locke?
It doesn’t get a lot of notice, but Bronco Billy is a gem of a film.
I’m also a fan!
Clint only made one bad movie; BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY with Merle Streeeeeeep. Watching that chick flick, I thought to myself “Clint, what have you done!”. No action, no cowboys, no bad guys, no 44 magnums…a chick flick where the “guy stuff” was feelings.
Clint is a guy’s guy…and a woman’s hero.
Haven’t seen TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, but will once it comes out on DVD. Please, Clint you can’t do chick flicks…a man’s got to know his limitations…
Ditto Bridges of Madison. Had similar problems with Play Misty for Me although it at least had some suspense and danger. But neither one are part of my “complete” Eastwood collection.
“Bridges” blew big time, but it was a terrible script based on a terrible book from an author who put his wet dreams into book form.
Re Timberlake, John Wayne made a few mistakes with actors too. Ricky Nelson as a tough gunfighter from Colorado? Please.
Yeah, I know, I’m a snob.
Fred, Ricky Nelson wasn’t chosen for “Rio Bravo” because he passed as a tough guy. John Wayne was trying to get more young people out to his movies and Ricky Nelson was big then (1959) with young people. Only Elvis Presley was bigger. Could you have pictured Elvis as Wayne’s tough guy sidekick? He employed other pop stars in a few of the movies which followed “Rio Bravo” too. Frankie Avalon was in “The Alamo” in 1960 & Fabian was in “North To Alaska” also from 1960. Bobby Vinton was in a few of his ’70s movies too. Regarding Clint Eastwood, I’ve always enjoyed John Wayne’s & Steve McQueen’s tough guy movies much more for a very important reason. Wayne & McQueen were outspokenly against gratuitous profanity, violence, & sex in their movies. Those very things detract from most of Eastwood’s films. The “Spaghetti Westerns” & “Where Eagles Dare” are the only ones I can think of that weren’t spoiled by gratuitous profanity, sex, & violence. My opinion only.
Streep’s only decent movie was Deer Hunter.
Her acting (and womenly) skills were showcased when she came out of the shower clad only in a towel … only to find Di Nero had fallen asleep on her.
Now that was good film making
“Please, Clint you can’t do chick flicks…a man’s got to know his limitations…”
Very good!
As to Justin Timberlake, he did really well as the Napster inventor in Social Network. In fact, I think he is a good actor, despite his reputation as a pop singer.
I disagree about Justin Timberlake. He’s a good actor, and if he chooses the right material, he’s going places. He still needs a break-out role to be taken more seriously as an actor. But he’s the real deal with the chops to do it. Not as good as Tom Hanks but getting there.
I really like Justin Timberlake. I can’t stand his music, but I think he’s a pretty decent actor and one that isn’t afraid to make fun of himself. That’s one of the things I really like about Antonio Banderas too.
I only wish they’d movies like this with FOOTBALL as the backdrop. I can’t stand baseball.
Then again I want to see this for Clint not the setting.
Just got back from it…as soon as I saw the kid throw the peanuts I correctly guessed that he would end up getting discovered!
I’m glad this article reads much better than its header. The GOP, and American conservatives, owe Clint a lot. A whole lot. His speech to the Republican convention was brilliant. It even managed to pierce the popular culture with the chair device. And that’s something that we have never been that good at. But we’re improving.
I’m watching to see if the box office will reward this film, that conservatives will support Eastwood for his “chair” speech with money, sort of like what happened with Chick-a-fil. The LA Times is already cackling about what a disaster both Eastwood personally and this movie are, solely because of his RNC appearance.
Picture your standard Mao devotee of 1972. The olive-drap fatigues, his breast covered with dime-store Mao buttons, Little Red Book clutched fervently in his sweating hands. Can you see him? Well that is the LA Times. And the NYT. And the Alphabet Media. And all the various failing “news” magazines. And CNN, PBS, NPR, and, the most empty-headed of them all: MSNBC. All of them: unquestioning, spoon-fed, truth-immune drones to a five-story caricature of one mere (and massively unimpressive) man: Barry Soetoro-Obama.
Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya’ punk. That’s the real Clint Eastwood.
You gotta ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?”
Well, do ya’ punk?
Perhaps no one here remembers when Clinty did all those crazy “Carny with monkey movies”. It was a failing roadshow; a throwback, which had been overtaken by events (read: Government regulation).
I think they were more artistic than any Batman movie, and they always ended on at least a bittersweet note. They were all about love, keeping alive a tradition, striving against the MAN, and the will to persevere. Clint KNOWS America. He coulda’ delivered the “make my day, punk” line any way at all, but the way he chose to do it struck a chord with America.
Go watch the monkey movies. Then you’ll understand Clint.
I think he did “Paint Your Wagon” just to hang out with Lee Marvin. God knows, I would.
Wouldn’t you?
There are no better Eastwood movies than “The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly”, “Coogan’s Bluff”, and “High Plains Drifter”. Everything that he did later were remakes of these three films. And I mean everything!
Yeah, BUNK. I love all the old spaghetti westerns, but Clint has done plenty of great stuff since. *Space Cowboys*, for instance, is a movie with scenes that I will remember till the end of my days. I mean, the man, and his work, are an American treasure. He ranks right up there with John Wayne in epitomizing, on the Big Screen, what American individualism, and grit, and self-belief are all about.
So why should Mr. Eastwood come out in this year to make his political beliefs public and plain? I think it is because he knows full well what is at stake here, and he has the personal fortitude to come out, against all the little lock-step, anti-American spit-ballers in Hollywood, the Pop Culture, and the utterly shameless MSM.
I always thought Pale Rider was a remake of Shane.
It’s not the characters Clint plays but the man himself. He is truely larger than life, one of the few actors who are like his.
Clint’s best film ever period? Bird.
I want a permanent yard sign that says “Get off my Lawn”.
And then there is the deathless “fang shmay”. Yessss.
“Gran Torino” is very much like—though much better than—”Bronco Billy.” Both are love songs to America. “Gran Torino” is much better because it is less of a symbolic set piece—and particularly because it shows that what appears to be “racism” in the US is merely a kind of white-noise background that need not interfere with personal respect.
“Gran Torino” is similar to Robert Duvall’s films such as “Tender Mercies,” “The Apostle,” and “A Family Thing,” which show the small beauties of America despite the appearance of racism and the seeming hypocrisies of religion.
IMO, his two academy award winning movies are his best work.
If I was dictator of America, I’d make it a law that Eastwood and Freeman have to make one movie together per year.
And, they wouldn’t be let off the hook for old age. Work ’til you die.
Morgan Freeman? Really? You want to see more of him?
“MORGAN FREEMAN: I think that we did a really good thing when we elected Barack Obama. I read his books, they read his books. He is absolutely and totally qualified for the job. He has proven himself to be not only qualified for the job, but very good at it. The things that he’s managed to get accomplished in the face of so much push back is amazing. And I think, this is Morgan Freeman’s personal thought, we’re going to be in a lot of trouble if we don’t reelect him because people on the other side of the fence scare me.”
“…he also said the Tea Party is going to do “whatever [it] can to get this black man outta here.”
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/06/20/morgan-freeman-were-lot-trouble-if-we-dont-reelect-obama-people-other#ixzz27JhUKHma
Read more: http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/06/20/morgan-freeman-were-lot-trouble-if-we-dont-reelect-obama-people-other#ixzz27Jh44Q7M
“Morgan Freeman? Really? You want to see more of him?”
Yes, he’s one of my favorite actors.