Mike, an ageing ranchhand and onetime rodeo whiz (retired through grievous injury) is tasked by ex-boss Howard to go to Mexico and retrieve his teenage son Rafo from his mother and bring him back to Texas: the boy has fallen into dodgy ways. Mike falls foul of Rafo's mother, but retrieves the lad, and the two embark upon a road trip. And then events conspire to delay them.
What a strange film for Clint Eastwood, looking and sounding every one of his 90 years, to direct and star in. There is a LOT wrong with this movie. Let's start with two hot, if mature, women giving this old bloke the glad eye. Admittedly, Clint still oozes charisma, but even so, there is a distinct feeling of an old man's wish fulfilment. The jeopardy set up by the situation never really pays off, and the multiple problems the travellers encounter are usually solved by "and with one jump they were free." The other bit of the setup, Mike's and Howard's backstory, never goes anywhere. Macho the rooster does get a payoff, but is then more or less cast aside as the main payoff - Rafo's reunion with his father in the light of what he has discovered during the jorney - is offhandedly dismissed. And there is a huge second act which comes out of nowhere and turns out to be the main story.
And yet it is a likeable film, and I smiled most of the way through. It is perhaps of Eastwood's skill as actor and director that I came very close to accepting this frankly unbelievable tosh.
What a strange film for Clint Eastwood, looking and sounding every one of his 90 years, to direct and star in. There is a LOT wrong with this movie. Let's start with two hot, if mature, women giving this old bloke the glad eye. Admittedly, Clint still oozes charisma, but even so, there is a distinct feeling of an old man's wish fulfilment. The jeopardy set up by the situation never really pays off, and the multiple problems the travellers encounter are usually solved by "and with one jump they were free." The other bit of the setup, Mike's and Howard's backstory, never goes anywhere. Macho the rooster does get a payoff, but is then more or less cast aside as the main payoff - Rafo's reunion with his father in the light of what he has discovered during the jorney - is offhandedly dismissed. And there is a huge second act which comes out of nowhere and turns out to be the main story.
And yet it is a likeable film, and I smiled most of the way through. It is perhaps of Eastwood's skill as actor and director that I came very close to accepting this frankly unbelievable tosh.