Seen, Heard and Read

The movie is about Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood), a grumpy war veteran. We first meet him at the funeral of his late wife Dorothy.

Walt is a lonely old man a bit estranged from his family, his two sons and their families visit as little as possible. They even try to get Walt into a retirement home at one point. Walt is definitely not amused by that idea and throws them out of the house.

Walt does not like the fact that the neighborhood isn’t what it used to be, there’s to many immigrants there for his likening. He is basically the only Caucasian American left in the neighborhood. His nearest next door neighbor is a Hmong family consisting of Thao, a young teenager pressured by his cousin to join the gang, Thao’s sister Sue and their widowed mother and their grandmother.

Against his will Walt is dragged into the next door families problems. It all starts out when Thao, as a initiation test to his cousins gang, tries to steal Walt’s precious Ford Gran Torino. Thao fails. Embarrassed of the incident the old fashioned grandmother forces Thao to pay of the dept by for a full week be at Walt’s disposal, to help him out.

Eventually Walt decides to give Thao, and his family, a helping hand to get away from the gang influence, and even helps him get a job.

Walt ends up in the midst of the conflict between Thao and his cousins gang. He does what he can to stop the problems, taking on a tough attitude and showing no fears. When the gang strikes on Sue, his patience is long gone and he does the only thing he can think of to retaliate.

The story is at points very funny, giving a few good laughs. The conflict between Thao and his cousin is the main story, but there’s other things going on as well. It is a well told story about life and death, about being alone with with nothing but memories left.

It is said to be Clint Eastwoods last movie, his finale as an actor. He is also the director of the movie.

I liked the movie a lot, I would definitely recommend watching it.