Five minutes into Gran Torino, you know you’re in for two hours of quintessential Clint Eastwood.  Truly a throwback to the action thrillers that made Clint famous, Gran Torino feels almost inspired by former mentor Don Siegal, who directed such Eastwood films like Coogan’s Bluff, Dirty Harry, Escape from Alcatraz, and many other Eastwood hits of the 1970s.

Gran Torino grabs you from the first frame, as the movie opens at the funeral of the wife of Walt Kowalski (Eastwood), a bigoted, tough-as-nails Korean War veteran.  A misanthropic dinosaur that could make Dirty Harry seem like a bleeding-heart liberal, Walt can’t get along with anyone, including his kids, grandkids, or his Hmong residents who have taken over his neighborhood. His one prized possession: a 1972 Gran Torino he helped build on the assembly lines of Ford.

Drawn against his will into the life of his next-door neighbors during a gang fight, Eastwood utters the film’s “go ahead, make my day” catch phrase with, “Get off my lawn!”  Despite his initial resistance, Walt eventually builds a fondness for the family next door — in essense a surrogate father to both Sue (played by Ahney Her) and her brother Thao (played by Bee Vang), who’s on a losing battle to join his cousin’s gang.

Complicating Walt’s life is a wet-behind-the-ears priest, Father Janovich (played by Christopher Carley) who constantly checks in on him because of a promise he made to his late wife.  Walt dismisses the young priest (who he calls “Padre”) at first, until the man eventually earns his respect.

Walt’s world is filled with racial epithets from another generation.  Asians are “slopes,”  African-Americans are “spooks,” and his friends are Wops and a drunken Mick.  Despite the arcane stereotypes Walt draws from, there’s an underlying innocence to the hateful epithets when he uses them.  It’s almost like watching Don Rickles insult his audience — it’s all done for comedic effect, nothing more.

As the film unfolds, you get a clear sense where things are heading, despite wishing for the contrary. Even playing a character close to his age of 78, Eastwood still manages to pull off the tough guy as he battles age and the onset of fragility.

As a director, Eastwood wisely chose to cast himself beside relatively unknown actors, only adding to the credence of world, another lesson learned from Don Siegel and evidenced by the stellar fresh faces he cast in Best Picture The Unforgiven.

Even since its limited release opening last month, Gran Torino has captured audiences — a testament to Eastwood’s staying power and relevance as an actor, as well as director.

For some reason unknown to this reviewer, the Academy all but overlooked this Eastwood gem, perhaps in favor to his earlier effort, The Changeling, though Gran Torino is a far more superior film on every level.

Watching Eastwood on screen, you’re constantly reminded of what it’s like to be in the presence of a legend. With merely two years shy of being an octogenarian, I suppose it’s obvious Eastwood’s tough-guy roles are behind him…though if Gran Torino is any indication, I can’t think of a current matinee idol worthy to take him on, much less carry the torch for the next generation.  Unless you can imagine Tom Cruise in another twenty five years starring in a movie called “Ford Fusion”…