Just in time for Oscar season, Clint Eastwood’s western Cry Macho will land September 17.
I can promise you two things about this movie. The first, film critics and film Twitter will likely be very harsh, while audiences will really like it. It is definitely a film that will draw audiences more broadly, as Clint Eastwood is still considered an American hero and cinematic icon. But something tells me it will be skewered regardless. I guess one can always hold out hope for objectivity.
From Warner Bros. Pictures come director/producer Clint Eastwood’s uplifting and poignant drama “Cry Macho.” The film stars Eastwood as Mike Milo, a one-time rodeo star and washed-up horse breeder who, in 1979, takes a job from an ex-boss to bring the man’s young son home from Mexico. Forced to take the backroads on their way to Texas, the unlikely pair faces an unexpectedly challenging journey, during which the world-weary horseman finds unexpected connections and his own sense of redemption.
Also starring are Eduardo Minett as the young boy, Rafo, in his feature film debut, Natalia Traven (“Collateral Damage,” TV’s “Soulmates”) as Marta, with Dwight Yoakam (“Logan Lucky,” “Sling Blade”) as Mike’s former employer, Howard Polk. The cast also includes Fernanda Urrejola (“Blue Miracle,” Netflix’s “Narcos: Mexico”) as Leta and Horacio Garcia-Rojas (“Netflix’s “Narcos: Mexico,” TV’s “La querida del Centauro”) as Aurelio.
Oscar winner Eastwood directed from a screenplay by Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash, based on the novel by Nash. Eastwood, Albert S. Ruddy, Tim Moore and Jessica Meier produced the film, with David M. Bernstein serving as executive producer.
The filmmaker’s creative team behind the scenes included BAFTA-nominated director of photography Ben Davis (“Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri,” “Captain Marvel”), production designer Ron Reiss (set decorator, “Richard Jewell” and “The Mule”), Oscar-winning editor Joel Cox (“Unforgiven”), who has cut most of director Eastwood’s films, and editor David Cox (“Den of Thieves,” assistant editor on “Richard Jewell” and “The Mule”), and longtime collaborator costume designer Deborah Hopper. The music is by Mark Mancina (“Moana”).
Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A Malpaso/Albert S. Ruddy Production, “Cry Macho.” The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures. It opens in theatres September 17, 2021.
Clint’s first Oscar was for a total masterpiece, but 2nd was for an outragingly puerile tearjerker that basically made me feel like it was insulting my intelligence. He’s a great director, but he can do both sublime and utterly disappointing films. I am torn on this one, from the trailer… so far, I’d say no.
First comment here ever. I just wanted to pop in and let Sasha know that I knew exactly what the opening of this article would be before I even started reading. And, on that note, I’m outta here. I found this site back around 2000 or 2001 just by typing “oscarwatch.com” I’ve visited semi-daily for years. However, that is about to change, as I will be adding this site to my blocked list to avoid my fingers taking me there automatically for the first while. I am so tired of being lectured to by the equivalent of a freshman philosophy/poli-sci major who thinks she has some super special insights. OMG, the world and most things in it resemble a pendulum, and wild swings in one direction often engender wild swings in the other. It’s almost as if both are necessary for there to be a middle at all. Congrats, though, on seeing things so much more clearly than the rest of us. I certainly hope someone has given you a cookie for it. Peace.
Finally the movie are back. Looks like one of the very best in a potentially stacked year. These trailers are too long lol
F’guy supporter sees the error of his ways, makes a last stitch effort to correct them, and comes home to roost.
O…K
A part of cringey moments aside, this seems to explore masculinity (toxic one) and Clint’s career actually makes him an excellent author to develope a film about it. So, I am intrigued, but this could go either way… I can see critics bandwagon on a film like this, and I can also see them championing Clint for Lead Actor, if the film is any good in the end.
When Clint makes good films, the critics praise them. When he doesn’t, they don’t. And he’s made some really really interesting films in his supposed “old man” phase. And yes, it’s not Clint’s fault that some in the saintly hinterlands didn’t realize that American Sniper wasn’t a pro-war film (but Clint deserved some of the shit he got for playing so coy about that topic).
If (big if) this film is good, he’s going to vault to the top of Best Actor and likely stay there.
I actually liked the trailer and hope the rest of it works as well.
L00ks g00d t0 me . And if s0me pe0ple d0n’t like it They can get 0ff my Lawn !
Why do you think critics will have a problem with this? They almost always like Eastwood’s films.
I think we can officially say Clint Eastwood has had the most impressive career in Hollywood history?
No one has sustained this level of success at the top for this long of length. He was a working actor back in the Golden Era Of Hollywood, and now he has directed an starred in a new film in the streaming era. Incredible.
I might be in the minority but Letters From Iwo Jima deserves to be in his top three directorial efforts.
I d0n’t think y0u’re in the min0rity Flags 0f 0ur Fathers and Letters fr0m Iw0 Jima taken as a c0mplete w0rk was an incredible achievement !
Letter From Iwo Jim is fantastic. Sadly Flags of Our Fathers is forgettable.
Flags was WAY TOO ON THE NOSE.
I disagree. Clint’s first credited performance in a film is in the late 1950s. I don’t even think he was that much of a star until much later in his career. He first gained fame as a director in the late 80s. His career is long, but the acclaim started once Clint turned 60. He received his first Oscar nomination in the 1990s.
You have people like Jack Nicholson, Kate Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman, who have been respected actors and beloved stars for much longer. Streep, while almost two decades younger than Eastwood, has had the acclaim in terms of acting abilities and versatility that Clint never had.
And Clint made his debut at the very end of the Golden Age. People like Hepburn and Bergman have been working during the entire period (and have been involved in all-time classics during this period, unlike Clint).
I know Clint is quite a thing for men of a certain age, but let’s not push it. His career really pales in comparison with plenty of filmmakers. (When it comes to directing, Clint will never be as respected and influential as Scorsese, as financially successful as Spielberg and Lucas. He’s not legendary like John Ford and Wyler. He’s not a revolutionary like Welles.)
I might be in the minority, but while I love Unforgiven, I think Million Dollar Baby is mediocre schmaltz and most of Clint’s films are quite forgettable and by the numbers.
He started getting Oscars in the 90s but Clint was a huge star long before that. Dirty Harry was HUGE in the 70s; there are other barometers to success than Oscar wins/noms.
He certainly in the greatest actor turned director in the business.
There have of course been other successful actors/directors, but in terms of longevity there’s no one really close.
Only one I can think of that beats him in years is Mickey Rooney, as he was a child actor in the silent era and was still working in the 2010s all the way to his death in 2014. But really, while impressive, he wasn’t really starring and dominating the industry in his 80s or 90s. He was lucky to be doing cameos, and had a supporting role in Night At The Museum. In 2021 at 91 Clint is still a major player in the industry by starring AND directing in a new movie. That is unprecedented.
Yeah acting in the Golden Era is sorta stretching it, but he definitely was a part of it however minor(Revenge Of The Creature). His first major role was television’s Rawhide in 1959! We often forget he was one of the first “tv stars” to successfully transition into movies as a star.
In a way Cry Macho turns his career full circle. Not only is this a film with western motifs, but it comes on a streaming service(ie television) the same day as theaters. The streaming wars of course are transforming the theater-going experience the same way tv transformed the theater-going experience back in the 50s.
I acknowledged that he was a star much earlier, but was he respected? And you’re pushing it by stating that he’s the greatest actor turned director. Both Woody Allen and (especially) Charlie Chaplin were actors first. Both are far more influential than Eastwood.
And by the way, the legendary Angela Lansbury has had a much longer career than Clint (and she was respected and winning awards from her debut in the early 1940s). She stole scenes from Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. She was directed by George Cukor. And she has been working both in films, on TV and on Broadway (where she won an impressive 5 Tonys). Her latest film to date was in 2018. So that’s 74 years in the business compared to Clint’s 65. So he’s not the golden standard in that department. (And I can think of many others who surpass him in terms of years: one of these people won an Oscar in 1961 and presented best picture a few months ago.)
And while it might be unprecedented in Hollywood to have somebody in their 90s to direct a major film, this is certainly not unheard of. Manoel de Oliveira made movies until the end of his life at 106. He is the only director who started in silent movies and made movies in the 21st century. He made films that made it into the Cannes line-up and were recognised by critics when he was in his 90s and even older.
By the way, most of Clint’s film were before my years. My first Clint movies are his lesser efforts this century. But even though I dislike both American Sniper and Million Dollar Baby, I made an effort to watch his other films. Unforgiven is certainly a masterpiece. It’s too bad Clint lost his touch in old age. He turned into a sentimental man, and I think this is doing him no favours. This new film has the same schmaltzy feel. I think it would have suited Clint to grow old the way my beloved John Huston did…