Thursday, October 23, 2008

Gran Torino




Walt Kowalski, a racist Korean War veteran whose prized possession is a classic car that catches the eye of local gangs in his Detroit neighborhood. One of the troubled kids who covets the vehicle is from a family of Hmong immigrant neighbors, whom Kowalski has long resented.

"The young kid, as part of a gang initiation, tries to steal it, and the old guy gets him at the end of the M-1, which becomes kind of a big deal," Eastwood says. "The kid has to do penance because of the pride of the Asian group. They make him do penance. He has to come over, and the old guy doesn't want anything to do with him, doesn't want him anywhere around."

"Walt helps him get a job and helps him toughen up a bit," Eastwood says. "(Walt) doesn't work construction. He's retired. But he gets the boy in through a buddy, an old crony. They take him in and try to show him how to handle himself in life."

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