REVIEW: CRY MACHO

4/5

Mule Torino.

104 Mins. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven, Horacio Garcia Rojas, Fernanda Urrejola & Dwight Yoakam. Director: Clint Eastwood. 

Macho, macho man Clint Eastwood at 91 still punches people and rides a horse. Feel pale in insignificance yet? Cry freedom! All for the mule variations of the outlaw's first western since he was 'Unforgiven' in 1992. Set with neo shades of his most recent 'Gran Torino' and 'The Mule'. This follows his last film looking at the Atlanta 1996 hero 'Richard Jewell' in what should have been the 2020 year of the Tokyo Olympics that in turn finally came after COVID-19 this Summer. In his legendary legacy Clint has twisted his fork round and played with spaghetti, asked punks if they were lucky, protected the President and even given birth to a 'Million Dollar Baby'...and let's not forget the time he went 'Every Which Way But Loose' with an orangutan swinging from the chandelier like Sia. And now with his 35th directed film the man who has starred in over 60 has a chicken in his coop as they have all come home to roost. Or should we say eleven...as almost a dozen birds played Macho (maybe the plate was the fate of the top ten), the character in the title of his new movie out this week in theatres and on HBO Max for a month. 'Cry Macho' based on N. Richard Nash's (the writer of the Broadway version of 'The Rainmaker') novel of the same name has been adapted for the screen by National Board Of Review, Best Original Screenplay ('Gran Torino') winner Nick Schenk who also penned 'The Mule'. So you know 'Macho' is in good company for something that won't be a far cry from Clint's typical, trademark, subtle and beautiful direction. Albeit this time when our leading man behind the lens steps out of his wagon like he was getting off a bronco into the sun and spotlight of a Hollywood moment as iconic as he is to that very industry, there is a difference under the stetson. 

The good, the bad and the ugly has been replaced with a more woke Eastwood in this gentle road movie as tender as the night. You won't find any racist jokes or quips here across the border, no matter how much he used to get away with it. As a matter of fact everyone in Mexico calls him a gringo in this one, but you ain't about to hear an old white man complain about racism (I'm talking about myself here). Its a different time and this is a different movie than 'Gran Torino'. Those old days have got off his lawn like way back then when he came to terms with understanding the boundaries of the homes and hearts of others and that America was not just a white picket fence. But still a friendship is forged as strong as the one which led his 'Torino' character to leave that very classic American automobile in his will to his young neighbour and not his own son that couldn't "buy American". It's a stetson this old cowboy wears not a MAGA hat like Larry David (that now famous photo of him and Timothee Chalamet at a café is a visual representation of when my body type meets my hairline for lunch) in a hilarious 'Curb Your Enthusiasm' (new season, next month. This really is the old man's time) moment Trump just didn't get (making it even funnier), but he's still ready to thrown down with toxic masculinity (cry macho all you like but it's bulls### like Samuel L. Jackson told 'Mule' star Clifton Collins Jr. in both actors best work, the hood dark '187') and any punk who thinks he can cross him as this great American legend tries to make his country what it was again before it was fake tanned by blonde wigs that came off with red caps. Seeing him punch a man more than half his age or break even the wildest horses that even a rolling stone couldn't tame isn't surprising. It's the moment this almost self-dubbed 'Dr. Dolittle' talks to a chicken and calls him a jerk like he's about to cover him in the same sauce that really gets your goat. After being hunted with heart by his 'American Sniper' Bradley Cooper in 'The Mule', this movie on the road to the borderlands like 'Logan' is a love story of familial friendship disguised as an action for all the Jackson's wanting that old Joe back. He even ballroom dances to the jukebox tune of his own concerns of the heart. Play it again, Clint. 

Tasked with bringing a bolo tied Dwight Yoakam's (the country music star and 'Logan Lucky' warden on formidable form) boy home, this former rodeo star rides to his own dawn. Not so cocksure, catching Z's when he can, but never falling asleep behind the wheel as you shouldn't rest on his reverance. It's newcomer Eduardo Minett who like a debuting Bee Vang before him really makes his mark and should for sure form friendships fondly with many more films after this. It's more than him and his rooster now as he wakes up this movie in its third act adolescence with his aggravation concealing an anxiety that just wants a figure of fatherhood to help shine the light on the way he's leading his life. Sadly he's not going to get that from his mother either played perfectly like a screen icon by Chilean, theatrical actress Fernanda Urrejola (Netflix's 'Blue Miracle'). How the basic instinct of Eastwood resists her snake bite like charms is beyond me...but it may have something to do with "the gift" Andy Garcia gave him in 'The Mule' to keep up with his pacemaker. Urrejola is a boss talent though unleashing a John Wick like dog of a henchman on his tail ('Diablero's' (Netflix) Horacio Garcia Rojas, straight scary and as cool as they come once upon a time in Mexico). But for all the goings on here-between learning to ride and heading for the Texas sun-its Eastwood's blossoming romance with 'Trade' and 'Collateral Damage' star Natalia Traven that really takes us across a bridge like Madison County. Charming her whole family charismatically. It's truly heartwarming and full of grace as the beautiful Traven is worthy of being her own Meryl. She is the stirring soul of this story that has so much more heart than the bruised black and blue nature of most movies like this today. Spielberg's speel once said that superhero movies would soon go they way of old westerns. But the iconic director forgot about this hero who is revitalising the genre he helped bring to America's way like the neo offshoot that's bringing new code to this movie matrix. He is the one. Burt Lancaster, Pierce Brosnan and even 'The Terminator' come Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger almost cried macho like Eastwood who was also down back in the day. But after all this time there is only one manco here that is worthy of being back in the saddle for this loaded gun. You dig? TIM DAVID HARVEY. 

Further Filming: 'Gran Torino', 'The Mule', 'Unforgiven'.