Clint Eastwood has been acting in movies for roughly 65-years now, and directing them for 50, so to say he’s built up a strong amount of good will with audiences would be an understatement. Now, at 91 years of age, Eastwood continues doing what he loves, and while he’s still proven to be a force behind the camera, it’s the good will he’s banked that allows him to continue to act in front of it and have audiences suspend their disbelief when certain scenarios may arise. Cry Macho is Eastwood’s latest film that he both directs and stars in, and it’s one of his weakest outings as well.
Now, let me flat out say that by the time I’m 91 I hope I can move and interact as well as Eastwood does, as it’s crazy to think he’s heading towards being a century old with how active he is in Cry Macho. The main issue here is the script, which is the weakest he’s worked with in ages and because of this other weaknesses show through the cracks, such as terrible jokes, awkward deliveries and lots and lots of exposition.
It’s somewhat surprising, as the script is by Nick Schenk, who has written a couple of Eastwood films before this, including the powerhouse Gran Torino. Schenk came on to rework the script which was originally written by N. Richard Nash. Nash pitched the idea to Eastwood 50 years prior, but Eastwood felt he was too young to play the part so he passed. Nash went on to adapt the script into a novel in 1975 after not being able to sell the screenplay to any studio. Jumping forward, Eastwood decided that now was the right time for him to take on the role, and Schenk was brought on board to fix things up.
I haven’t read the novel, but I have to believe that it comes together better than the story in the film does, as things here come off rather dull and often boring. The dialogue doesn’t help things, as characters just keep telling the audience exactly what’s happening, even as we’re watching it. There’s no nuance or subtlety here, as it’s an adaptation that beats you over the head with everything even when there’s no need for it.
The story follows a former rodeo star, and now washed-up horse breeder Mike Milo (Eastwood,) as he agrees to do a favour for a friend of his, Howard (Dwight Yoakam), and go down to Mexico and bring back Howard’s 13 year-old son Rafo (Eduardo Minett) from his abusive mother, Leta (Fernanda Urrejola.) Howard and Leta have been separated for a long time, and Howard only has a picture of his son from when he was 10 years old, so he sends Mike down there with some money and wishes him luck.
Now, the opening scene to the film is bizarre, as it just lays out exposition about Mike’s past that could’ve been done through newspaper clippings to start the film (especially since that happens right after anyway!) The scene sees Howard fire Mike as the ranch’s horse breeder, all while ripping into him about his past substance abuse issues and just how useless he now is. Then Mike closes the scene out with a quip about how he’s always viewed Howard as a coward. It makes the relationship between Mike and Howard seem bad, but then a year passes (cue newspaper clippings!) and Howard shows up at Mike’s door and says Mike owes him because he kept Mike afloat when he was down and out. And later in the film Mike brings up that Howard saved him from hitting rock bottom. It may have made sense in the novel, but here it’s just odd and comes off messy when they could’ve just started the film with the newspaper clippings and Howard showing up asking Mike for a favour.
So Mike heads down to Mexico to find Rafo. He stops at Leta’s mansion, and she talks about how Rafo ran away, he takes part in cockfighting and she has no idea where he is. She wishes him luck and throws him out. Literally the next scene Mike pulls up to a cockfight and has found Rafo. Absolutely zero trouble. Rafo agrees to go back to Texas with him, as Mike says his dad wants to teach him to work on a ranch. Leta, however, has other ideas, and sends her henchman after them so that she can get Rafo back. She also tells the police to keep an eye out and return her son, and because of this Mike and Rafo have to take side roads to try and get Rafo back to the States. This detour leads to various subplots and a romantic interest for the 91 year-old protagonist, who just seems to ooze charisma around the ladies in this one.
One of the more frustrating aspects of the film is the lack of conflicts that actually have any meaning. Leta’s henchman catches up with Mike and Rafo early on in the film, and as he tries to take Rafo back Mike punches him in the face and they get away. I’m all for some suspension of disbelief, but this isn’t Indiana Jones. Cry Macho takes place in reality and these are supposed to be real people, so if you’re going to have Eastwood take on the lead role this late in his career at least have the henchman that’s after him be a bit older too. Instead, Eastwood – who looks good, but also as frail as a 91 year-old is going to look – just gives the guy a solid punch and there’s no retaliation. This goon could’ve just knocked Mike right out and that’d be that, but for some reason he just doesn’t fight back and the conflict in that scene is over. This is an issue throughout, with conflicts constantly being resolved within moments of them happening so there’s never any building of tension or fear of any sort of threat of something actually happening.
What’s most unfortunate is that there’s clearly the intention for a heartwarming story here, but it’s just so poorly handled through the storytelling that it never even nears its potential of reaching those levels. The truth is if this were a random up-and-coming director that put this out, with the same supporting actors and a similar leading man of Eastwood’s age but not as recognized and prestigious as Eastwood, then the film would be ridiculed across the board. It’s a predictable film with a conclusion that’s nothing short of frustrating given the way we’ve watched the story unfold. Because of this and all the other issues I’d say this one is for Eastwood completionist fans only.
Blu-ray Video and Audio Review:
The film is a beautifully shot film in some of the most simplistic of ways, and the Blu-ray 1080p transfer of the 2K source material showcases it nicely. The lighting ranges from the darkest of dark nights out in the desert, to the brightest of days along with magic hour shots sprinkled throughout and all work together incredibly well, with the blacks coming through rich, and the colours strong and natural.
On the audio side of things we’ve got a DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix that works nicely in the ways that best suit the story. The dialogue takes up the majority of the mix, but the score by Mark Mancina livens things up nicely, adding more emotion to the tale than the script deserves.
Special Features:
Back in the Saddle: The Making of Cry Macho – This behind-the-scenes feature comes in at just over 12-minutes in length, and sees Eastwood and his producers talking about various cast and crew who made the film possible, how the script came to them 50 years prior, but Eastwood felt that now was the time to make it, as well as some other tidbits about the filmmaking process.
Macho and the Mustangs – This featurette comes in at just over 7-minutes in length and focuses more on Eastwood’s love of animals, we meet animal wrangler Lisa Brown, they talk about the various shots using wildlife on set, Clint getting back in the saddle for the first time in decades, as well as a certain shot using trained horses as wild stallions.
Disclaimer: A review copy of this Blu-ray was sent to me to cover in honest and truthful fashion.
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents Cry Macho. Directed by: Clint Eastwood. Written by: Nick Schenk, N. Richard Nash. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Dwight Yoakam, Eduardo Minett, Fernanda Urrejola, Natalia Traven. Running time: 104 Minutes. Rating: PG. Released on Blu-ray: Dec. 07, 2021.
