Cry Macho (2021)
Directed by Clint Eastwood
A one-time rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder takes a job from an ex-boss to bring the man's young son home from Mexico.
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3 films that influenced Cry Macho
What critics say influenced Cry Macho
It takes its place in Eastwood’s larger cinematic tour of penitence—which includes, among its recent highlights, “Gran Torino”—yet actually winds all the way back to the very start of his directorial career, in 1971, with “Play Misty for Me.”
Set in 1979, when Eastwood was honing his brand in films about cowboys ("The Outlaw Josey Wales") and cops ("Dirty Harry"), "Cry Macho" also borrows from Eastwood's most recent action forays as a senior citizen -- "Gran Torino" and "The Mule."
That sort of inane clutter is nothing compared to what screenwriter Nick Schenk (“Gran Torino,” “The Mule”), working from a novel by the late N. Richard Nash, saddles poor Yoakam with.
His bond with a Latino teen recalls his get-off-of-my-lawn bond with his Asian neighbor in “Gran Torino” (2009), written by the same screenwriter Nick Schenk, who also wrote “The Mule” (2018).
One can respect Eastwood’s perseverance and ability to churn out adult targeted fare that earn solid returns (“The Mule” and “Gran Torino”), but sometimes projects don’t manifest the way they should.
(CNN) At 91, Clint Eastwood's long career as a filmmaker and longer one as a star are far more interesting than "Cry Macho," an understated, uneventful slog of a movie that feels like a misguided merger of "Gran Torino" and "Bronco Billy."
The musical score (Mark Mancina, Moana) fairs better and the few Mexican songs that are on the soundtrack are more evocative than any other element in the 1hr and 44min production, which is edited (David S. Cox, Den of Thieves) with certain conviction, but little artistry.
He also shot Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, which might be more in line with the look of Cry Macho, and Eastwood’s movie certainly benefits from Davis’ ability to use natural sunlight outdoors while capturing the stunning vistas of the Mexican landscape, and also using the lighting to create moodier indoor shots.