Director: Clint Eastwood
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Actor(s): Clint Eastwood, Brian Haley, Christopher Carley, Geraldine Hughes
Released: 2009-06-09
Type: DVD
Meet Walt Kowalski (played by Clint Eastwood), widower, Korean War veteran, retired auto worker, and the last white resident of his Detroit side street. It's hard to say who irks him more--his blood kin (a pretty lame bunch) or the Hmong families who are his new neighbors. Kowalski's a racist, because it has never occurred to him he shouldn't be. Besides, that's the flipside of the mutual ethnic baiting that serves as coin of affection for him and his working-class buddies. Circumstances--and two young people next door, the feisty Sue (Ahney Her) and her conflicted brother Thao (Bee Vang)--contrive to involve Walt with a new community, and anoint him as its hero after he turns his big guns on some ruffians. This is one of those movies that had the potential to be preachy and conspicuously compassionate (as only Hollywood can do), but it remains, througout, a thoughtful and rather compelling story. Well worth the two hours spent on watching Walt Kowalski act on his real values, right to the last moment. Keep an eye on the character of the young priest. The attitude he portrays, when confronted with the reality of violent gang members taking over the neighborhood, is surprising, refreshing -- and strikingly well-written.