Wit a little fantasy the oeuvre of Clint Eastwood as an actor is reflected in the oeuvre of Clint Eastwood as a director. Looking at his oeuvre in this was the Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone (1964 - 1966) are reflected in "Unforgiven" (1992) while "Dirty Harry" (1971, Don Siegel) is (partly) reflected in "Gran Torino" (2008).
Using our fantasy a little longer it is also possible to see "Million dollar baby" (2004, Clint Eastwood) and "Gran Torino" (2008, Clint Eastwood) as twin films.
In both films Eastwood plays a man that has weak familie ties. His son and daughter in law have little time for him and would prefer him moving into a nursing home. To compensate for this Walt Kowalski (the lead character played by Eastwood) develops pseudo familie ties with the boy next door. He becomes a sort of grandchild for him, just as his pupil in "Million dollar baby" becomes a sort of daughter for boxing trainer Frank Dunn.
There are also differences between the two films. In "Million dollar baby" the feelings of Frank Dunn grow from neutral (he just don't want to be a boxing trainer anymore) to sympathy. In "Gran Torino" the feelings of Walt Kowalski grow from hatred (the boy has tried to steal his car) to sympathy.
In "Million dollar baby" Frank Dunn tries to help his pupil to fulfill her ambitions. In "Gran Torino" Walt Kowalski tries to prevent that his boy next door is recruited by a criminal gang.
At the beginning of the film Walt Kowalski does not only hate his boy next door because he has tried to steal his car, but also because he is a foreigner. When he came to his neighbourhood it was predominantly white. Over the years this has changed, and Walt doesn't like it.
One can condemn Walt for his undeniable racist tendencies (from the beginning of the movie) but one could also look at him as a victim of globalization.
Walt Kowalksi had a job in the American car industry and did build the Ford Torino, a model that was produced between 1968 and 1976. In the film he still drives his Torino 72 that is perfectly maintained and is his love and pride.
The fact that his son does not make American cars but sells Japanese ones is very painfull for Walt and influences both his relationship with his son and with his Asian neighbors.
For a long time globalization was seen as a good thing, enhancing productivity and welfare. Only after the financial crisis of 2008 was discovered that it didn't enhance welfare for everybody and that there were also victims of globalization. Bringing back industrial jobs became a major item in the 2016 American presidential elections. "Gran Torino" was quick to identify Walt as one of the losers of globalization.
