{"id":8986,"date":"2024-11-27T13:24:42","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T18:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/?p=8986"},"modified":"2024-11-27T13:24:42","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T18:24:42","slug":"cry-macho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/2024\/11\/27\/cry-macho\/","title":{"rendered":"Cry Macho"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Cry Macho <\/strong>(2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Western-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Clint Eastwood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mark Mancina\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 17, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Clint Eastwood, Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven, Dwight Yoakam, Fernanda Urrejola, Horacio Garcia Rojas, Ivan Hernandez, Abiah Martinez.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: $10.3M (US)\/$16.5M (World)<\/p>\n

Rating<\/strong>: *** \u00bd<\/p>\n

\u00a0Clint Eastwood isn\u2019t just an actor or filmmaker; he\u2019s an American icon. For close to 60 years, he\u2019s made an indelible impression on the collective psyche of generations of audiences. He\u2019s worked in nearly every genre be it action (Dirty Harry), western (Unforgiven), drama (The Bridges of Madison County), thriller (Tightrope), comedy (Pink Cadillac) and on two occasions, shared the screen with an orangutan (Every Which Way but Loose and Any Which Way You Can). That he\u2019s still going strong at 91 years of age is incredible.<\/p>\n

\u00a0As much as I admire his tenacity and (true) grit, I think Clint ought to take a cue from Robert Redford and retire from acting. His latest film Cry Macho<\/strong> would be the perfect high note for him to go out on. He delivers a magnificent performance as a character not too far removed from the grumpy old man he played in Gran Torino. He plays Mike Milo, a retired rodeo star with a lot of emotional baggage. His soon-to-be former boss Howard, played by country star Dwight Yoakam (Sling Blade), goes through the list (severe back injury, alcoholism, etc.) before firing him as his ranch hand. BTW, it takes place in 1979.<\/p>\n

\u00a0A year later, Howard shows up at Mike\u2019s house with a proposition. He wants him to go to Mexico City and retrieve his 13YO son Rafo (Minett, Como Dice el Dicho) whom he hasn\u2019t seen since he was six. He\u2019s been living south of the border with his hard-partying mother (Urrejola, Narcos: Mexico) who has two parental settings, abusive and neglectful. When Mike asks her about the boy, she tells him he\u2019s a criminal living on the streets, stealing cars and taking part in cockfights. The oldster finds the boy (quite easily, in fact) and tells him his father wants him to come live with him in Texas. Rafo, intrigued by the idea of living on a ranch, agrees to go with him.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Mom, none too happy about this development, demands Mike leave Mexico without her son. Of course, he\u2019s hiding in Mike\u2019s truck with his pet rooster Macho. After some debate, they hit the road with one of the mother\u2019s bodyguards following them. The boy is crazy about cowboys and talks a lot about being macho, a concept Mike thinks is way over-valued.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Cry Macho<\/strong> meanders around a bit until the guys finally find themselves in a small border town where they both see that life can be beautiful. They meet a kind, middle-aged caf\u00e9 owner named Marta (Traven, Collateral Damage) who takes a shine to the old gringo and young man. They stay in an old church until Marta offers to put them up while they\u2019re in town. They come across a horse ranch where Mike teaches Rafo to ride while acting as the town vet for the locals. Mike develops a special bond with Marta\u2019s deaf granddaughter. At long last, Mike has found happiness, but will it last?<\/p>\n

\u00a0The script for Cry Macho<\/strong> has been kicking around Hollywood since the N. Richard Nash novel was first published in 1975. At various points, Roy Scheider, Burt Lancaster and Arnold Schwarzenegger were attached to star. I\u2019m sure they would have been good, but Clint absolutely crushes it despite one issue obvious to anybody that\u2019s read the book. In it, his character is in his late 60s\/early 70s. Clint is obviously not that young. He looks and sounds like the nonagenarian that he is with his raspy voice, thin frame and frail-looking body. It should be difficult, impossible even, to accept him in the role. I think he pulls it off. It\u2019s easily his best performance since Gran Torino. It\u2019s not dissimilar either. Once again, his character is a cantankerous old coot imparting wisdom to an angry ethnic teen in need of a positive male role model. Sure, it\u2019s redundant, but it\u2019s still a great fit for Clint.<\/p>\n

\u00a0I\u2019m not at all familiar with young co-star Eduardo Minett. Cry Macho<\/strong> is the Mexican actor\u2019s first foray into American films. I\u2019ve not seen his other work, but he\u2019s very good in his first north of the border effort. He has a naturalistic quality that makes him believable as a smart, distrustful street kid who wants a loving family. He\u2019s not going to get it from his whore of a mother. His father has ulterior motives for wanting his son to come live with him. He finally experiences the idea of family when he and Mike bond with Marta and her granddaughters. BTW, Traven is terrific as the tough but tender caregiver. Yes, there\u2019s romance in the air between her and Mike.<\/p>\n

\u00a0What I like best about Cry Macho <\/strong>is the slow, unhurried pace of the story and the beauty and simplicity with which it unfolds. It\u2019s a western only in the sense of setting and it involves cowboys and horses. It\u2019s not about action or shooting it out with cops, Federales or cartel baddies. It\u2019s a drama that gets by on quieter moments like when Mike makes a connection with the little deaf girl or tends to a woman\u2019s injured goat. It\u2019s a sincere little film that boasts gorgeous scenery courtesy of cinematographer Ben Davis (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri). The score by Mark Mancina (Training Day) is also great.<\/p>\n

\u00a0Simply put, Cry Macho<\/strong> is a wonderful little movie that would allow Clint to make a graceful exit should he decide to hang up his hat after this one. However, I have a feeling that he\u2019ll keep going and going until the very end. If he keeps making them this good, I say go for it.\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cry Macho (2021)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Warner Bros.\/Western-Drama\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 RT: 104 minutes\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Rated PG-13 (language, thematic elements)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Director: Clint Eastwood\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Screenplay: Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Music: Mark Mancina\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cinematography: Ben Davis\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Release date: September 17, 2021 (US)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Cast: Clint Eastwood, Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven, Dwight Yoakam, Fernanda Urrejola, Horacio Garcia Rojas, Ivan Hernandez, Abiah Martinez.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Box Office: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9343,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8986","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dramas","category-hidden-treasures"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Cry-Macho-PIC.jpg?fit=620%2C348&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8986"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9345,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8986\/revisions\/9345"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movieguy247.com\/MovieGuy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}