"Gran Torino" and "The Shootist"

WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD I'll be as vague as possible, but they're there.

I originally conceived of this post as a review of the Clint Eastwood film "Gran Torino," a film my wife and I saw not so much as a result of the commercials or of the numerous award nominations it received as for the fact that I enjoyed reading the script one day when I was avoiding the work of writing papers. However, the film has been reviewed widely, and I am no professional film critic. What I can say is that I feel it is an extremely well-made film with a strong script and an excellent cast that tells a not altogether new story.

This was brought home to me in the third act, as Walter Kowalski (Eastwood) is preparing for the climatic confrontation with the Hmong gangbangers who are menacing the Hmong teenagers, Thao and Sue, the crusty Kowalski has taken under his wing. He gets a haircut and a shave. He is fitted for a suit. My wife whispered to me "It's like 'The Shootist.'" As usual she is right.

For those of you who have not seen this masterpiece, "The Shootist" was John Wayne's last film. In it, Wayne portrayed J.B.Books, famed gunfighter, who has come to Carson City, Nevada in 1901 to die of cancer. It also starred Jimmy Stewart, Lauren Bacall, Harry Morgan and Ron Howard among other notables. The parallels are intersting.

Books is dying of cancer (like the man portraying him), as is Kowalski, though the latter's predicament is hinted at instead of being stated explicitly. Both are men whose lives have been marked and marred by violence: Books, as mentioned earlier, is a renowned gunslinger; Kowalski is scarred by his service in the Korean War. And in the end, both make a final, heroic sacrifice to rescue a young person who seems determined to follow in the footsteps of the older man.

In both of these movies, it is as though the characters these fine Western actors portrayed have come home to roost. This is made apparent in "The Shootist" as the narration of Books's life at the beginning is accompanied by clips from many of Wayne's previous movies. "Gran Torino" is more subtle, but the old Eastwood characters are there. There's the laconic menace of the Man With No Name ("Dollars" trilogy), the conspicuous tobacco spitting of a loner scarred by war ("The Outlaw Josey Wales"), the aging warior who wonders about the choices he's made ("Unforgiven"), the avenging angel who protects the innocent ("Dirty Harry"), even the grizzled Marine who takes an unlikely recruit under his tutelage in order to make him a man ("Heartbreak Ridge").*

The end is, perhaps, where "Gran Torino" does "The Shootist" one better. Books, in order to save Gillom Rogers (Howard) from embracing the life of the gunslinger, faces down the three men the boy most respects for their prowess. The end is almost predicatable. Books kills all three and is gunned down by the bartender. Gillom, in turn, kills the bartender with Books's gun, realizes what he's done, and throws the gun away. Books dies at peace.**

Kowalski manages to save the Hmong boy, Thao, from learning what it is to kill someone. This time, the old gunslinger faces his enemies alone and unarmed, offering himself as a sacrifice to get the gang members out of Thao's and Sue's lives. This is the triumph of "Gran Torino." The ancient warior, who is sick and sick of killing, finds a way to defeat his enemy without killing, though at great cost. Having weighed this cost and accepted it, Kowalski finds the bargain acceptable to save the innocence of Thao. Those who have derided this film as some sort of retread of Eastwood's old characters should think again- none of them would have faced death so bravely.

* No, there is not a trace of Philoe Beddoe to be found.
** In Glendon Swathout's book there is no such happy ending. Gillom offers to shoot Books and put him out of his misery as he lays dying, an offer Books accepts. The boy then shoots Books unceremoniously.