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OT: 88-Year Old Clint Eastwood in "The Mule"(NO SPOILERS)

posted 6 years ago by ecarle (14979)
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In 1978, Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds stood back to back for a cover of Time Magazine(back when that mag mattered) called "The Macho Men." Both were riding high as THE A-list action stars of their era, with Burt newly minted via Smokey and the Bandit and Clint already Dirty Harry and The Man With No Name.

Its 2018 -- 40 years later -- and Burt Reynolds has died this year, but he gave us one last poignant little film(The Last Movie Star) and his "pal"(of sorts) Clint Eastwood has given us something historic: an 88-year old actor as the over-the-title star of a major motion picture. That he directed.

The Mule.

It was a lot better than an expected, in an unexpected way: its funny. Clint's funny. The movie...despite violent Mexican drug cartels and grim economic backdrops and some very sad things happening...is funny.

At the center of the movie is an interesting idea: Clint's character is so old that his cartel employers don't have the heart to beat him up or kill him -- he's non-threatening, too fragile -- so he gets away with insulting them and ignoring their threats. For much of the movie. Needless to say, eventually enough's enough for them -- but Clint just doesn't give a damn.

In an era where we've got 60 and 70 somethings beating up bad guys(Liam Neeson's movies) or having sex in retirement homes(Just Getting Started) or robbing banks(Going in Style), here's Eastwood taking it up a couple of decades and playing a 90-year old man who, in two separate scenes is shown enjoying the favors of ...er...painted ladies. And really good looking ones too(the cartel hires the best.) A carefully lit Mr. E even takes off his own shirt in one of those scenes. He's freakin' immortal...and he is suggesting the rest of us could be too, if we "just don't let the old man in"(a catch phrase and song in the movie.)

I'm telling you, given my age, the gift of The Mule is that it made me feel VERY YOUNG.

Evidently as a favor, the star of Eastwood's "American Sniper," Bradley Cooper, plays the DEA man on Clint's trail. I liked him better here than in A Star Is Born. I had thought that Cooper was just going to do a cameo, but , no, he's around for the entire movie. (The Clint/Cooper relationship mimics that of the OTHER 80-year old crook, Robert Redford, a coupla months ago with Oscar-winner Casey Affleck in The Old Man and the Gun.)

Keeping with the laugh-in-the-face-of-tears tone of "The Mule," I found one highlight to be Clint singing along to radio songs as he drives his drug runs from El Paso to Chicago: we get Clint renditions of Ain't That a Kick in the Head(Dino), I Love You More Today Than Yesterday, Dang Me(Roger Miller), I've Been Everywhere Man(Johnny Cash), and of course, On the Road Again(Willie.) Its another great concept of the movie: if you're a lone man whose job it is to drive thousands of miles...singing will get you through it.

I was worried that I wouldn't like watching an 88-year old Clint Eastwood in a leading role, but he keeps us interested via his personality. Clint's been looking and sounding old since at least Heartbreak Ridge(1986)...the "old guy persona" has lasted longer than his Dirty Harry one. He's very skinny -- that would seem to be the key to his longevity. And the movie makes the point that this old man can't hit or shoot anybody -- he survives by knowing he could be killed by anyone at anytime...and thus he poses no threat. Until he does.

I'm still sort of banking on Mary Poppins Returns as my favorite of '18, but The Mule, surprisingly, could take that slot. As with the Burt Reynolds movie earlier this year and the Robert Redford one along the way, The Mule makes its subject how a movie star spent his life with us. And The Mule is the best of the three.

But be warned...its slight. Eastwood's annoying habit of cutting storytelling and budget corners shows up at the climax, which seems to come out of nowhere too quickly. But there is some very moving material before that happens...and some very funny stuff by Eastwood along the way.

He's the comedian for our times.

[–] swanstep (2715) 6 years ago

But be warned...its slight. Eastwood's annoying habit of cutting storytelling and budget corners shows up at the climax, which seems to come out of nowhere too quickly.

That's too bad. Interestingly, the critically acclaimed Cold War has a near-joke ending that comes out of nowhere. I was skeptical of the movie (style over substance) up till then, but that ending convinced me that it was a truly shallow piece of work. It sounds like The Mule is better than (Polish, b&w, moody euro-blonde-centric) Cold War but I swear that critics have gone crazily easy on the latter whereas Clint has had to earn his pretty good reviews.

I was going to add something about The Mule doing good business because I knew it opened fairly well. but then I read that its budget was $50 mill.. Ugh, it's got a *long* way to go to turn a profit.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

That's too bad. Interestingly, the critically acclaimed Cold War has a near-joke ending that comes out of nowhere. I was skeptical of the movie (style over substance) up till then, but that ending convinced me that it was a truly shallow piece of work.

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Endings are hard. Part of Hitchcock's greatness, I think, is that he scored four of the greatest, most perfect endings ever put on film in a ROW -- Vertigo, NXNW, Psycho and The Birds -- unmatched in my experience, and in comparison, Billy Wilder's famous perfect one liner endings to Some Like it Hot and The Apartment seem...minor?

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It sounds like The Mule is better than (Polish, b&w, moody euro-blonde-centric) Cold War but I swear that critics have gone crazily easy on the latter whereas Clint has had to earn his pretty good reviews.

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Eastwood's in a tough spot. He has all the respect in the world for his age, but he did that thing with the chair and Obama some time back(hell, 6 YEARS) and ...he's marked. As John Wayne was marked. A few reviews mention that incident. And I don't even think Clint's that much of an official Republican...he has some strong progressive views on social issues and the environment, for instance. But, he did what he did and now he gets hit pretty hard. Still, once upon a time he got lefties like Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, and Matt Damon to work for him, they didn't have hard feelings.

[–] ecarle (14979) 6 years ago

Look, I had a big beef with many of Eastwood's movies in the 70's and 80's. He had a Depression-era sensibility: make the films quick, make 'em cheap, cut corners -- but -- (and this was key) rely on Eastwood's own tough guy icon superstar status to carry the day. Eastwood used his great star power to cheat his audiences with sub-par films. It worked until about 1988 -- when the very expensive and exciting Die Hard smashed the cheapo "Dirty Harry V" to smithereens at the box office. Less was no longer more. Clint kept flopping, through Pink Cadillac, The Rookie, and White Hunter, Black Heart -- until Unforgiven saved his butt.

Ever since Unforgiven, Eastwood has filmed better scripts(with co-stars like Costner and Streep), but he still cuts corners, and The Mule reflects this. It also reflects great humor, a great character...and some pretty good stuff about how an old man who neglected wife, children, and grandchildren has to face some facts, too. I'd say the quality of the film -- and the co-stars(some pretty good actors respect Clint enough to have taken fairly short roles), overcome the corner-cutting.

This COULD be the last time we see Eastwood on screen. Its a fitting finale...but its not so final that I can't hope he finds something to do at or after 90. One for the history books, Clint!

I expect it will make some money...largely in TV platforms where older folk mainly see their movies(not me.) I think Warners makes so much money off of their Clint Library that he's allowed to lose money on his new stuff. But then American Sniper was the biggest hit of the year...

PS. I keep seeing trailers for Cold War, but I guess I'll take my time getting around to it. Endings ARE hard.

PPS. I like this exchange between Clint and nicely-cast Mexican cartel boss Andy Garcia, upon Clint being flown to the cartel's big mansion and plied with lots of women and booze:

Clint: Wow. Who do you have to kill to buy this place?
Garcia: A lot of people (laughs, he likes Clint.)