{"id":17130,"date":"2021-09-16T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-09-16T18:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/?p=17130"},"modified":"2024-03-02T21:14:06","modified_gmt":"2024-03-03T05:14:06","slug":"review-cry-macho","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/review-cry-macho\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Cry Macho<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There\u2019s a welcome familiarity in the quiet opening of \u201870s-set Cry Macho<\/em>. A classic Chevy truck \u2014 vintage even then \u2014 winds down rural Texas roads with music to match in Will Banister\u2019s amiable country song \u201cFinding a New Home.\u201d When Clint Eastwood appears on screen for the first time, he\u2019s climbing out of the truck, patting it gently on the hood like it\u2019s the haunch of a horse, thanking it for the ride. But once the dialogue begins, this Western temporarily loses its charm, as Dwight Yoakam is saddled with a load of expository dialogue that would test even a plowhorse\u2019s strength. But Cry Macho<\/em> finds its way again, turning into a fine drama that caters to Eastwood\u2019s strengths as an actor, director, and icon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As Yoakam\u2019s Howard Polk explicates too explicitly, Mike Milo (Eastwood) just ain\u2019t what he used to be \u2014 a rodeo star and ace horse breeder \u2014 after he fell on hard times and into a bottle. He\u2019s grown tired of Mike\u2019s irascible attitude and fires him. Fast forward a year later to 1979, and Howard again has a lot of explaining to do when he asks the taciturn Mike for a favor he feels he\u2019s owed for all he\u2019s done for his former employee. Howard wants Mike to travel to Mexico City to rescue (slash kidnap) his 13-year-old son, Rafo (Eduardo Minett), from his hard-partying mother (Fernanda Urrejola) and bring him back to Howard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it isn\u2019t just Rafo\u2019s mother and the Mexican police who will complicate Mike\u2019s mission to bring the boy back to Texas; Rafo himself is a handful. Mike picks the young troublemaker up at a cockfight, where he meets Rafo\u2019s beloved fighter, a rooster named \u201cMacho\u201d (aka \u201cStrong,\u201d as Rafo translates). The unlikely trio travels north, as the crusty cowboy begins to soften toward his companions as they wend their way to the border. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A more literal translation of the rooster\u2019s name is (unsurprisingly) \u201cmale,\u201d and Cry Macho<\/em> follows in the grand tradition of Eastwood films that comment on American masculinity \u2013 most notably in 1992\u2019s Unforgiven<\/em>, but also in basically any film where he dons a cowboy hat. Cry Macho<\/em> initially seems like more of the same from the filmmaker, with the title almost an AI creation of an Eastwood film. But there\u2019s a real tenderness here to balance the trademark toughness of the actor and director, and it\u2019s not just in his friendship with Rafo. Animals beyond Macho and the inevitable horses parade through the film, with Mike treating them each with real care. Additionally, Eastwood has never looked more vulnerable on screen, and other than a scene that obviously uses a stunt double, the veteran star appears okay with showing his 91 years through his hunched posture and the way he struggles up a hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beyond Eastwood\u2019s performance, his visuals showcase the expansive vistas with as much attention as you\u2019d expect in any well-crafted Western, with stunning sunsets and wide shots of the desert. Cinematographer Ben Davis doesn\u2019t just shoot exteriors well, though; he does some lovely work with sunlight and shadow, especially in how he approaches the worn face of the actor-director. It\u2019s initially tempting to mute the movie, with visuals far outperforming the dialogue in early scenes, but the script from Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash soon improves. Adapted from Nash\u2019s 1975 novel, Cry Macho<\/em> is paced at a gentle trot, rather than a gallop, with its 104 minutes seeming far longer. When Yoakam\u2019s Howard tells Mike to hurry it up, it\u2019s hard to disagree, even though some of the film\u2019s best moments arrive once Mike and Rafo are making little progress in their journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cry Macho<\/em> ultimately rewards those who stick through its rough beginning, which feels more like a parody of an Eastwood movie than the director\u2019s work itself. Once the film settles in, it offers viewers an unexpectedly moving drama that feels like both a tribute to and vehicle for the legendary man behind it. \"\"\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n

B+<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n

“Cry Macho” is out Friday in theaters and on HBO Max.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Clint Eastwood\u2019s latest stumbles a bit on its way out of the gate, but eventually settles in as an enjoyable and even moving character-driven drama. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":594,"featured_media":17132,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[340],"tags":[1098],"class_list":["post-17130","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-movie-review"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17130","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/594"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22185,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17130\/revisions\/22185"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17132"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}