Marvelous what a difference Milo makes.
Clint Eastwood plays Mike Milo in his latest directed, produced and starring in picture, CRY MACHO.
Unlike his recent grumpy old men incarnations, Clint’s Mike is a mellower old timer, playing a ninety year old widower and horse whisperer who agrees to help a mate retrieve his son from a maniacal matriarch in Mexico and repatriate him with his big hat no paddock papa back in Texas.
Forced to take the back roads on their way to Texas, the unlikely pair together with the boy’s rooster, the marvelously monikered Macho, faces an unexpectedly challenging journey, during which the broken down bronco buster finds unforeseen connections with the kid and his own sense of redemption.
CRY MACHO’s screenplay is by Nick Schenk who also penned Gran Torino and The Mule for Eastwood, and this bitter sweet twilight years movie makes for a happy trifecta. And it still allows Clint to utter some immortal lines like: A man has a right to name his cock Macho. Now there’s an ejaculation surely to be enshrined with Go ahead, make my day!
Beautifully shot by Ben Davis, the acclaimed cinematographer of such gems as Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, CRY MACHO captures the sweep of nostalgia, nature and nuance.
Shots of wild horses running on plains parallel to roadways provide a striking contrast between past and present as well as projecting a visual narrative additive.
There’s a fan base hankering for the laid back and laconic of Dirty Harry and Every Which Way, and to give Eastwood his due as producer, performer and director, CRY MACHO is every bit as entertaining and engaging as those iconic pictures.
Probably more Bridges of Madison County than Unforgiven, CRY MACHO boasts a blossoming romance in senior citizen slow dancing to the accompaniment of a splendid score by Mark Mancina.
Clint Eastwood has left an indelible mark on movies for the past sixty years and now in his nineties with his forty-fifth directorial credit he shows no sign of stopping.
Featured image: Clint Eastwood as Milo and Natalia Traven as Marta in CRY MACHO
Richard Cotter