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* RapeAsDrama - A horrible, extremely realistic version.
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* RapeAsDrama - A horrible, extremely realistic version.[[spoiler:Spider's gang rapes Sue to get back at Thao and Walt. This drives Walt over the edge, and into his sacrifice.]]
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-->'''Sue Lor:''' No worries, we only eat cats.
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-->'''Sue Lor:''' [[SarcasmMode No worries, we only eat cats. cats.]]
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* WrongInsultOffence: This exchange occurs between Walt and Sue, a spunky teenaged member of the Hmong family who'd moved in next door, concerning an old stereotype about Asians eating dogs:
-->'''Sue Lor:''' There's a ton of food.
-->'''Walt Kowalski:''' Yeah, well just keep your hands off my dog.
-->'''Sue Lor:''' No worries, we only eat cats.
-->'''Sue Lor:''' There's a ton of food.
-->'''Walt Kowalski:''' Yeah, well just keep your hands off my dog.
-->'''Sue Lor:''' No worries, we only eat cats.
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* WarIsHell
-->'''Walt''': You want to know what it's like to kill a man? Well it's goddamn awful, that's what it is. The only thing worse is getting a medal of valour for killing some poor kid that wanted to 'just give up, that's all.' Yeah, some scared little gook just like you. I shot him right in the face with that rifle you were holding in there a while ago. There's not a day goes by that I don't think about it. You don't want that on your soul. But I got blood on my hands. I'm soiled.
-->'''Walt''': You want to know what it's like to kill a man? Well it's goddamn awful, that's what it is. The only thing worse is getting a medal of valour for killing some poor kid that wanted to 'just give up, that's all.' Yeah, some scared little gook just like you. I shot him right in the face with that rifle you were holding in there a while ago. There's not a day goes by that I don't think about it. You don't want that on your soul. But I got blood on my hands. I'm soiled.
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-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': ''And what about life?''
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-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': ''And ''[[ArmorPiercingQuestion And what about life?''life?]]''
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* TheFundamentalist - [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] with the Father Janovich. Despite being the priest of the church Walt and his wife attended, he is actually really relaxed outside of church, [[TurnTheOtherCheek even when Walt hurls insults at him.]]
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* RealLifeRelative: ClintEastwood and son Scott Eastwood (as Trey)
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* RealLifeRelative: ClintEastwood and son Scott Eastwood (as Trey)Trey).
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* RealLifeRelative: ClintEastwood and son Scott Eastwood (as Trey)
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Changed line(s) 7,8 (click to see context) from:
''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance[[hottip:*:It wasn't.]]. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
to:
''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance[[hottip:*:It performance[[hottip:*: It wasn't.]]. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
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* BatmanGambit - Walt's plan to deal with Spider's gang is to [[spoiler:spook them into [[TriggerHappy using their itchy trigger fingers]], gunning him down. He turns up unarmed, and creates a ruckus so people will watch his murder. As a result, Spider's gang is arrested for murdering an unarmed old man.]]
to:
* BatmanGambit - Walt's plan to deal with Spider's gang is to [[spoiler:spook [[spoiler: spook them into [[TriggerHappy using their itchy trigger fingers]], gunning him down. He turns up unarmed, and creates a ruckus so people will watch his murder. As a result, Spider's gang is arrested for murdering an unarmed old man.]]
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* HeelFaithTurn - Possibly with [[spoiler:Walt, even though he isn't technically a bad guy, given that his last words are ""Hail Mary, full of grace."]] It's a little ambiguous, though.
to:
* HeelFaithTurn - Possibly with [[spoiler:Walt, [[spoiler: Walt, even though he isn't technically a bad guy, given that his last words are ""Hail Mary, full of grace."]] It's a little ambiguous, though.
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* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice - Walt provokes the gang into killing him in public so the members will be put away for his murder.]]
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* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice [[spoiler: HeroicSacrifice - Walt provokes the gang into killing him in public so the members will be put away for his murder.]]
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* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Done non-verbally, when Walt learns [[spoiler:that his attempt to intimidate the Hmong gang ended up getting Sue beaten and raped. And this is on top of the drive-by at her house. Then he goes home and starts punching up his cabinets--even the glass ones--while verbally berating himself.]]
to:
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Done non-verbally, when Walt learns [[spoiler:that [[spoiler: that his attempt to intimidate the Hmong gang ended up getting Sue beaten and raped. And this is on top of the drive-by at her house. Then he goes home and starts punching up his cabinets--even the glass ones--while verbally berating himself.]]
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* PapaWolf - An unusual example in that it doesn't seem to apply to his own family, though, to be fair, they're selfish assholes. However, [[spoiler:he blames himself for not getting close to them.]]
to:
* PapaWolf - An unusual example in that it doesn't seem to apply to his own family, though, to be fair, they're selfish assholes. However, [[spoiler:he [[spoiler: he blames himself for not getting close to them.]]
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* [[spoiler:ShootHimHeHasAWallet - Walt uses this in his [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Gang]] so the gang gets arrested for shooting an unarmed man]]
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* [[spoiler:ShootHimHeHasAWallet [[spoiler: ShootHimHeHasAWallet - Walt uses this in his [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Gang]] so the gang gets arrested for shooting an unarmed man]]
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* [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit: Walt's plan to bring the gangsters to justice involves his death. See BatmanGambit above.]]
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down [[spoiler:in the moments before his death.]] "Oh, I ''am'' at peace."
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down [[spoiler:in the moments before his death.]] "Oh, I ''am'' at peace."
to:
* [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit: [[spoiler: ThanatosGambit: Walt's plan to bring the gangsters to justice involves his death. See BatmanGambit above.]]
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down[[spoiler:in [[spoiler: in the moments before his death.]] "Oh, I ''am'' at peace."
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down
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* HigherEducationIsForWomen:
-->'''Sue''': It's really common. Hmong girls over here fit in better, we adjust. The girls go to college, the boys go to jail.
-->'''Sue''': It's really common. Hmong girls over here fit in better, we adjust. The girls go to college, the boys go to jail.
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* PerpWalk: Spider has one as he's being led out in cuffs.
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* {{Hypocrite}} / SmallNameBigEgo: As a lot of [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpas]], Walt regards himself as a man who knows plenty about life and dead, and who is abused by those (other races) surrounding him. Everyone else thinks is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor. The movie shows his CharacterDevelopment from this to [[BeYourself a realistic assessment of his qualities and weakness]] .
to:
* {{Hypocrite}} / SmallNameBigEgo: As a lot of [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpas]], Walt regards himself as a man who knows plenty about life and dead, and who is abused by those (other races) surrounding him. Everyone else thinks is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor. The movie shows his CharacterDevelopment from this to [[BeYourself a realistic assessment of his qualities and weakness]] .weakness]].
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* LastDisrespects: During the funeral of Walt Kowalski's wife, one of the granddaughters was dresses fairly inappropriately is fiddling around on her cell phone during the service. Walt's kids start asking Walt if he wants to go to a "nice retirement place" so they could sell the house, and the same disrespectful grandchild starts asking whether she could have some of the furniture and other items in the couch.
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* ActorAllusion: Walt's pictures of the Korean War are stills from "film/KellysHeroes"
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* ActorAllusion: Walt's pictures of the Korean War are stills from "film/KellysHeroes""KellysHeroes"
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*ActorAllusion: Walt's pictures of the Korean War are stills from "film/KellysHeroes"
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''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
to:
''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance.performance[[hottip:*:It wasn't.]]. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
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->''"This year, you have to make a choice between two life paths. Second chances comes your way. Extraordinary events culminate in what might seem to be an anticlimax. Your lucky numbers are 84, 23, 11, 78, and 99. What a load of shit."''
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->''"This year, you have to make a choice between two life paths. Second chances comes your way. Extraordinary events culminate in what might seem to be an anticlimax. Your lucky numbers are 84, 23, 11, 78, and 99. [[TemptingFate What a load of shit.shit]]."''
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Removing wick to Did Not Do The Research per rename at TRS.
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* DidNotDoTheResearch: 1972 Ford Torinos were made in Lorain, Ohio, not Detroit or within commuting distance of it.
** The film is also set in Highland Park, Michigan which is 93% black and less than 1% Asian yet the film has no black major characters in the film and claims that Highland Park is filled with Hmong immigrants.
** The latter can be somewhat justified: the original screenplay was set in St. Paul, Minnesota (which has a major Hmong population), and the setting was changed to Detroit so the filmmakers could take advantage of location shoot tax breaks.
** The film is also set in Highland Park, Michigan which is 93% black and less than 1% Asian yet the film has no black major characters in the film and claims that Highland Park is filled with Hmong immigrants.
** The latter can be somewhat justified: the original screenplay was set in St. Paul, Minnesota (which has a major Hmong population), and the setting was changed to Detroit so the filmmakers could take advantage of location shoot tax breaks.
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* VitriolicBestBuds - Walt's idea of male friendship is based around this setup, as shown with his barber and the construction foreman, and later Thao. Walt and Sue also have this going: the moment he starts to respect and like her is the moment when she starts getting sassy back at him.
to:
* VitriolicBestBuds - Walt's idea of male friendship is based around this setup, as shown with his barber and the construction foreman, and later Thao. Walt and Sue also have this going: the moment he starts to respect and like her she is the moment when only Hmong he really respects at first because she starts getting sassy back at him.refuses to take any crap from him
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* BilingualBonus: most of the Hmong dialogue is untranslated
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* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Walt tries to hide his Heart of Gold with a JerkAss racist exterior, but Sue is indeed correct in saying that he's a good man
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** The latter can be somewhat justified: the original screenplay was set in St. Paul, Minnesota (which has a major Hmong population), and the setting was changed to Detroit so the filmmakers could take advantage of location shoot tax breaks.
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** The film is also set in Highland Park, Michigan which is 93% black and less than 1% Asian yet the film has no black major characters in the film and claims that Highland Park is filled with Hmong immigrants.
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trope renamed at TRS
* DramaticDrop - Walt drops his glass when [[spoiler: Sue returns from being gang-raped.]]
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* DropWhatYouAreDoing - Walt drops his glass when [[spoiler: Sue returns from being gang-raped.]]
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* BloodFromTheMouth: Walt periodically coughs up blood throughout the movie, {{Foreshadowing}} his eventual death.
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* MoralEventHorizon: Walt has never forgiven himself for the horrible things he did at the war.
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* MoralEventHorizon: Walt has never forgiven himself for the horrible things he did at the war.
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[[quoteright:256:[[BadassGrandpa http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Lawn.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:His Lawn: You should get off of it.]]
->''"This year, you have to make a choice between two life paths. Second chances comes your way. Extraordinary events culminate in what might seem to be an anticlimax. Your lucky numbers are 84, 23, 11, 78, and 99. What a load of shit."''
-->--'''Walt Kowalski''', reading a newspaper
''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
Not to be confused with the series ''GranTurismo''.
----
!!''GranTorino'' provides examples of:
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Walt pats the head of a child in a Hmong household as a gesture of kindness; the family of the child is shocked by this due to their cultural differences.
* BadassBoast
-->'''Walt''': Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while that you shouldn't have fucked with? That's me.
** Or ...
-->'''Walt''': Yeah, I blow a hole in your face and then I go in the house and I sleep like a baby. You can count on that. We used to stack fucks like you five feet high in Korea ... used you for sandbags.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]RetiredBadass - Walt Kowalski embodies a realistic version of this trope.
** TruthInTelevision, ClintEastwood could definitely be considered one.
** Walt is also a deconstruction: Walt´s fighting skills don't help him in his life in the city. His wife knows that his children cannot empathize with Walt, so she begs the local GoodShepherd to watch him. Walt’s antics and {{Badass Boast}}s give him a reputation of a CrankyNeighbor and only make things worse (see MyGodWhatHaveIDone). His real act of bravery is realizing he is a TroubledSympatheticBigot, and the conflict is not solved by his acts of violence but with a BatmanGambit that invoke a ShootHimHeHasAWallet. The only people who really felt protected by him were his neighbors.
* BatmanGambit - Walt's plan to deal with Spider's gang is to [[spoiler:spook them into [[TriggerHappy using their itchy trigger fingers]], gunning him down. He turns up unarmed, and creates a ruckus so people will watch his murder. As a result, Spider's gang is arrested for murdering an unarmed old man.]]
* BittersweetEnding - [[spoiler: Walt is dead, but he was terminally ill anyway and his sacrifice lets justice be done. Thao gets the Torino, and has a bright future ahead of him.]]
* BoomerangBigot - Walt is a white Pole who throws derogatory slurs at everyone, including Poles and whites.
* BookEnds: A funeral.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter - Ashley Kowalski, ''grand''daughter in this case.
* ConvenientTerminalIllness: Walt.
* CoolCar - Everyone wants Walt's Gran Torino.
* CoolGun: Walt's M1 Garand rifle.
* CrankyNeighbor - Walt, initially. The Hmong lady next door is too happy to return his affections.
* [[{{ComingOfAgeStory}} Delayed Coming Of Age Story]]: Walter Kowalsky, even when he is a senior who has raised a family, still lives emotionally as [[ShellShockedVeteran the young soldier that crossed]] the MoralEventHorizon at the KoreanWar. He must [[HeelRealization assume]] he is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor RacistGrandpa who has alienated his own family and now that his wife has died is completely alone, so he can be a real BadassGrandpa PapaWolf.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: 1972 Ford Torinos were made in Lorain, Ohio, not Detroit or within commuting distance of it.
* DrinkOrder - In the bar, Walt orders Pabst and a shot of Jack; the priest tries to order a diet Coke, but Walt makes him order "a drink" instead (he opts for a gin and tonic). Also, Walt is very fond of Pabst Blue Ribbon (not surprising given his generation, class, and location).
* DropWhatYouAreDoing - Walt drops his glass when [[spoiler: Sue returns from being gang-raped.]]
* DuctTapeForEverything - Or to be exact, duct tape, vise-grips and [=WD40=] for half of everything.
* FirstNameBasis - when Walt allows the priest to use his name it is a dramatic moment.
* GangBangers - The Hmong boys are somewhere on the scale between this and...
* GenericEthnicCrimeGang
* GoodShepherd - The rookie priest Father Janovich tries his best to be this, and Walt's wife clearly liked him; Walt's not nearly as impressed, but then, he's a curmudgeon. In the end, Janovich admits to having learned a bit from Walt.
* GoryDiscretionShot - Averted when Spider [[KickTheDog burns Thao's cheek with a cigarette.]]
* GrumpyOldMan - Walt Kowalski.
* HardWorkMontage - Thao trying to make amends for trying to steal from Walt.
* HeelFaithTurn - Possibly with [[spoiler:Walt, even though he isn't technically a bad guy, given that his last words are ""Hail Mary, full of grace."]] It's a little ambiguous, though.
** [[spoiler: His confession suggests that since the war he's been a curmudgeon, but actually a stand up truly good person with the worst sin he's confessing being either kissing a woman at a Christmas party 30 years prior, or not paying tax after selling a personal item.]] [[spoiler: However, his ''second'' confession, to Thao in the basement, is what you'd expect from a veteran. It even is done through a grill similar to his first confession.]]
* [[spoiler: TheHeroDies]]
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice - Walt provokes the gang into killing him in public so the members will be put away for his murder.]]
* {{Hypocrite}} / SmallNameBigEgo: As a lot of [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpas]], Walt regards himself as a man who knows plenty about life and dead, and who is abused by those (other races) surrounding him. Everyone else thinks is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor. The movie shows his CharacterDevelopment from this to [[BeYourself a realistic assessment of his qualities and weakness]] .
* IncurableCoughOfDeath - Complete with [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up blood]] for Walt. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], considering his age and heavy smoking; it's strongly implied to be lung cancer.
* IntergenerationalFriendship - Walt is (based on his actor's age) in his mid or late seventies. He befriends siblings Thao and Sue, who are teenagers. Youa (also a teenager), the sibling's mother (in her thirties or forties), and Father Janovich, who is 27. Before them, he is VitriolicBestBuds with Martin the barber, who's in his forties.
* InvulnerableKnuckles - averted.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace - hinted at with Thao inadvertently pointing a rifle at Walt while examining it, evoking an unspoken rebuke.
* JadedWashout - PlayedWith. Walt gets no respect from his family or - at first - the neighbors (and he's not really giving any excuse to doubt him), but he ''does'' eventually get respect from the neighbors, and has no trouble with money.
* KnightInSourArmor - Walt again. He's a sour, cynical bastard, but Sue correctly has him pegged as a good man.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll[=/=]HeelRealization: Invoked and played straight: Just after Walt accuses Father Janovich of being this, Father Janovitch asks him what Walt knows. Walt realises that he knows plenty about ''death'', but not a lot about ''life.''
-->'''WALT:''' '' [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords 'Death is bittersweet? Bitter in the pain, sweet in the salvation.’ ]]'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech That’s what you know of life and death? Good God, it’s pathetic.]]
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': [[LetsSeeYOUDoBetter What do you know, Mr. Kowalski?]]
-->'''WALT:''' ''Plenty. [[TheKoreanWar I lived with death for three years in Korea.]] [[WarIsHell We shot people, we stabbed them with bayonets,]] [[MoralEventHorizon we hacked seventeen-year-old kids to death with shovels, for Christ’s sake]]. [[ShellShockedSenior I did things that won’t leave me till the day I die, horrible things, things I have to live with.]]''
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': ''And what about life?''
-->'''WALT''' [[{{Beat}} has to think for a second. He struggles with his answer:]] ''Well... I survived the war... got married... and raised a family''.
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH:''' ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Sounds like you know more about death than you do living.]]''
-->'''WALT''' [[INeedAFreakingDrink downs a shot.]] [[HeelRealization ''Maybe so.'']]
* LullDestruction - Walt talks to himself a ''lot.'' And to his dog. Some of this may help the story, but a lot of it could be communicated without words, or is information the audience already has.
** TruthInTelevision as multiple studies have shown that a person who lives alone or is isolated tend to talk to themselves just to break the silence around them.
* MacGuffin - The Gran Torino.
** MacGuffinTitle
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Done non-verbally, when Walt learns [[spoiler:that his attempt to intimidate the Hmong gang ended up getting Sue beaten and raped. And this is on top of the drive-by at her house. Then he goes home and starts punching up his cabinets--even the glass ones--while verbally berating himself.]]
** [[spoiler: Played comically by the priest when Walt finally comes to his church for confession.]]
* NotSoDifferent - Walt basically says this to himself when he's in the bathroom at the neighbor's house. He looks in the mirror says that, "God, I've got more in common with [[PretendPrejudice these gooks]] than I have with my own spoiled-rotten family."
** Arguably a case of ThatMakesMeFeelAngry.
* NWordPrivileges - The film examines the rules around this a lot; Walt assumes N-word privileges towards everyone.
** Walt never actually uses literal N-word privileges, when confronted by black thugs Eastwood opts for the common 1950's - 1970's racist terms "spook" and "spade" (the use of which terms seem to confuse the young men, or at least leaves them briefly nonplussed...)
* OneLastSmoke: Once he's decided to face the gangsters, Walt treats himself to a wet shave, a tailor-fitted suit and a cigarette in the bathtub. [[spoiler: Averted when he's shot by Spider when he [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet pulls out his lighter]].]]
* PapaWolf - An unusual example in that it doesn't seem to apply to his own family, though, to be fair, they're selfish assholes. However, [[spoiler:he blames himself for not getting close to them.]]
* PeerPressureMakesYouEvil: Averted since Walt isn't going to let that shit fly.
* PretendPrejudice - Walt.
* PunchAWall
* ThePreciousPreciousCar - Walt's Gran Torino. Not only is it vintage, Walt has a personal attachment to its construction: he was on the line where it was built.
* [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpa]] Walt is a deconstruction of this trope: The whole point of the movie is that Walt realizes the people who he has being directing racial slurs all his life are NotSoDifferent, that his experience as a soldier [[ShellShockedSenior only let him know much more about death than about life]], and that he is a KnowNothingKnowItAll.
* RapeAsDrama - A horrible, extremely realistic version.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath - [[spoiler: Walt's speech through the locked door indicating that he feels that he can face the gang because the bad things he has done mean that what he does to them won't make him any dirtier, then defeating them by dying, revealing that he actually meant that the bad things he has done mean that he is ready to die for a good cause. His confession earlier suggests that he actually doesn't need redemption in any eyes but his own.]]
** [[spoiler: Also invoked by the fact he reveals to Thao through the locked door, that he shot a young Chinese soldier who was trying to surrender to him. His HeroicSacrifice to save Thao, another young man about the same age, represents his atonement for that old sin.]]
*** [[spoiler: Walt's confession to Thao mirrors his earlier, somewhat insincere confession to the priest, with the barred and screened basement door replacing the traditional confessional booth screen seen in the earlier scene.]]
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior - The reason Walt gets away with universal NWordPrivileges.
* ShellShockedVeteran - Walt is kind of one.
* [[spoiler:ShootHimHeHasAWallet - Walt uses this in his [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Gang]] so the gang gets arrested for shooting an unarmed man]]
* SurrogateSoliloquy - Walt talks to his dog, when he gets really stressed he talks to himself. While he is talking to his dog about the woman next door, the woman next door is talking to herself saying the exact same things about him in another language.
* TactfulTranslation - Sue attempts to provide a TactfulTranslation of her RacistGrandma's insults to Walt as "Welcome to our home", but given how angry the grandma is, it's unconvincing. Walt calls her on it, and she admits it.
* [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit: Walt's plan to bring the gangsters to justice involves his death. See BatmanGambit above.]]
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down [[spoiler:in the moments before his death.]] "Oh, I ''am'' at peace."
* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Due to a combination of factors, Walt is a Grade A Grumpy Old Man, and holds certain views about his Hmong neighbors that are continually challenged during the course of the movie. In the end he befriends Thao and gives him the prized Gran Torino.
* UnusualEuphemism - "Christ All Friday". Possibly meant as a CurseOfTheAncients as well.
* VitriolicBestBuds - Walt's idea of male friendship is based around this setup, as shown with his barber and the construction foreman, and later Thao. Walt and Sue also have this going: the moment he starts to respect and like her is the moment when she starts getting sassy back at him.
* WhiteMansBurden - Although Walt is bigoted in the beginning, he starts to take compassion to the Hmongs, eventually takes Thao under his wing and eventually saves him from the gangs.
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[[caption-width-right:256:His Lawn: You should get off of it.]]
->''"This year, you have to make a choice between two life paths. Second chances comes your way. Extraordinary events culminate in what might seem to be an anticlimax. Your lucky numbers are 84, 23, 11, 78, and 99. What a load of shit."''
-->--'''Walt Kowalski''', reading a newspaper
''GranTorino'' is a film, directed by and starring ClintEastwood, in what is rumoured to be his final onscreen performance. He plays Walter "Walt" Kowalski, an [[BadassGrandpa elderly]] [[RetiredBadass retired]] veteran of TheKoreanWar living in Highland Park, Michigan (a rundown suburb of [[MotorCity Detroit]]), shortly after the death of his wife. He has difficulty relating to his two grown up sons, who are caught up in their own lives, and generally disapproves of the way the world is changing, such as the influx of the ''Hmong'' People, immigrants who fled Vietnam after [[TheVietnamWar the war]]. Next door is Thao, a quiet boy who is pressured into joining his cousin Spider's gang. As part of his "initiation", Thao is pressured to steal Walt's prized possession, a 1972 Ford [[{{MacGuffin}} Gran Torino]], but fails, and is caught. For dishonoring his family, Thao's mother asks Walt to accept Thao's help in doing chores around his house, which leads to an OddFriendship. Spider, upset at Thao's rejection of his gang, begins to retaliate against the family, forcing Walt to intervene.
Not to be confused with the series ''GranTurismo''.
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!!''GranTorino'' provides examples of:
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Walt pats the head of a child in a Hmong household as a gesture of kindness; the family of the child is shocked by this due to their cultural differences.
* BadassBoast
-->'''Walt''': Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while that you shouldn't have fucked with? That's me.
** Or ...
-->'''Walt''': Yeah, I blow a hole in your face and then I go in the house and I sleep like a baby. You can count on that. We used to stack fucks like you five feet high in Korea ... used you for sandbags.
* BadassGrandpa[=/=]RetiredBadass - Walt Kowalski embodies a realistic version of this trope.
** TruthInTelevision, ClintEastwood could definitely be considered one.
** Walt is also a deconstruction: Walt´s fighting skills don't help him in his life in the city. His wife knows that his children cannot empathize with Walt, so she begs the local GoodShepherd to watch him. Walt’s antics and {{Badass Boast}}s give him a reputation of a CrankyNeighbor and only make things worse (see MyGodWhatHaveIDone). His real act of bravery is realizing he is a TroubledSympatheticBigot, and the conflict is not solved by his acts of violence but with a BatmanGambit that invoke a ShootHimHeHasAWallet. The only people who really felt protected by him were his neighbors.
* BatmanGambit - Walt's plan to deal with Spider's gang is to [[spoiler:spook them into [[TriggerHappy using their itchy trigger fingers]], gunning him down. He turns up unarmed, and creates a ruckus so people will watch his murder. As a result, Spider's gang is arrested for murdering an unarmed old man.]]
* BittersweetEnding - [[spoiler: Walt is dead, but he was terminally ill anyway and his sacrifice lets justice be done. Thao gets the Torino, and has a bright future ahead of him.]]
* BoomerangBigot - Walt is a white Pole who throws derogatory slurs at everyone, including Poles and whites.
* BookEnds: A funeral.
* BrattyTeenageDaughter - Ashley Kowalski, ''grand''daughter in this case.
* ConvenientTerminalIllness: Walt.
* CoolCar - Everyone wants Walt's Gran Torino.
* CoolGun: Walt's M1 Garand rifle.
* CrankyNeighbor - Walt, initially. The Hmong lady next door is too happy to return his affections.
* [[{{ComingOfAgeStory}} Delayed Coming Of Age Story]]: Walter Kowalsky, even when he is a senior who has raised a family, still lives emotionally as [[ShellShockedVeteran the young soldier that crossed]] the MoralEventHorizon at the KoreanWar. He must [[HeelRealization assume]] he is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor RacistGrandpa who has alienated his own family and now that his wife has died is completely alone, so he can be a real BadassGrandpa PapaWolf.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: 1972 Ford Torinos were made in Lorain, Ohio, not Detroit or within commuting distance of it.
* DrinkOrder - In the bar, Walt orders Pabst and a shot of Jack; the priest tries to order a diet Coke, but Walt makes him order "a drink" instead (he opts for a gin and tonic). Also, Walt is very fond of Pabst Blue Ribbon (not surprising given his generation, class, and location).
* DropWhatYouAreDoing - Walt drops his glass when [[spoiler: Sue returns from being gang-raped.]]
* DuctTapeForEverything - Or to be exact, duct tape, vise-grips and [=WD40=] for half of everything.
* FirstNameBasis - when Walt allows the priest to use his name it is a dramatic moment.
* GangBangers - The Hmong boys are somewhere on the scale between this and...
* GenericEthnicCrimeGang
* GoodShepherd - The rookie priest Father Janovich tries his best to be this, and Walt's wife clearly liked him; Walt's not nearly as impressed, but then, he's a curmudgeon. In the end, Janovich admits to having learned a bit from Walt.
* GoryDiscretionShot - Averted when Spider [[KickTheDog burns Thao's cheek with a cigarette.]]
* GrumpyOldMan - Walt Kowalski.
* HardWorkMontage - Thao trying to make amends for trying to steal from Walt.
* HeelFaithTurn - Possibly with [[spoiler:Walt, even though he isn't technically a bad guy, given that his last words are ""Hail Mary, full of grace."]] It's a little ambiguous, though.
** [[spoiler: His confession suggests that since the war he's been a curmudgeon, but actually a stand up truly good person with the worst sin he's confessing being either kissing a woman at a Christmas party 30 years prior, or not paying tax after selling a personal item.]] [[spoiler: However, his ''second'' confession, to Thao in the basement, is what you'd expect from a veteran. It even is done through a grill similar to his first confession.]]
* [[spoiler: TheHeroDies]]
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice - Walt provokes the gang into killing him in public so the members will be put away for his murder.]]
* {{Hypocrite}} / SmallNameBigEgo: As a lot of [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpas]], Walt regards himself as a man who knows plenty about life and dead, and who is abused by those (other races) surrounding him. Everyone else thinks is a GrumpyOldMan JadedWashout CrankyNeighbor. The movie shows his CharacterDevelopment from this to [[BeYourself a realistic assessment of his qualities and weakness]] .
* IncurableCoughOfDeath - Complete with [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up blood]] for Walt. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], considering his age and heavy smoking; it's strongly implied to be lung cancer.
* IntergenerationalFriendship - Walt is (based on his actor's age) in his mid or late seventies. He befriends siblings Thao and Sue, who are teenagers. Youa (also a teenager), the sibling's mother (in her thirties or forties), and Father Janovich, who is 27. Before them, he is VitriolicBestBuds with Martin the barber, who's in his forties.
* InvulnerableKnuckles - averted.
* IJustShotMarvinInTheFace - hinted at with Thao inadvertently pointing a rifle at Walt while examining it, evoking an unspoken rebuke.
* JadedWashout - PlayedWith. Walt gets no respect from his family or - at first - the neighbors (and he's not really giving any excuse to doubt him), but he ''does'' eventually get respect from the neighbors, and has no trouble with money.
* KnightInSourArmor - Walt again. He's a sour, cynical bastard, but Sue correctly has him pegged as a good man.
* KnowNothingKnowItAll[=/=]HeelRealization: Invoked and played straight: Just after Walt accuses Father Janovich of being this, Father Janovitch asks him what Walt knows. Walt realises that he knows plenty about ''death'', but not a lot about ''life.''
-->'''WALT:''' '' [[MeaninglessMeaningfulWords 'Death is bittersweet? Bitter in the pain, sweet in the salvation.’ ]]'' [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech That’s what you know of life and death? Good God, it’s pathetic.]]
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': [[LetsSeeYOUDoBetter What do you know, Mr. Kowalski?]]
-->'''WALT:''' ''Plenty. [[TheKoreanWar I lived with death for three years in Korea.]] [[WarIsHell We shot people, we stabbed them with bayonets,]] [[MoralEventHorizon we hacked seventeen-year-old kids to death with shovels, for Christ’s sake]]. [[ShellShockedSenior I did things that won’t leave me till the day I die, horrible things, things I have to live with.]]''
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH''': ''And what about life?''
-->'''WALT''' [[{{Beat}} has to think for a second. He struggles with his answer:]] ''Well... I survived the war... got married... and raised a family''.
-->'''FATHER JANOVICH:''' ''[[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech Sounds like you know more about death than you do living.]]''
-->'''WALT''' [[INeedAFreakingDrink downs a shot.]] [[HeelRealization ''Maybe so.'']]
* LullDestruction - Walt talks to himself a ''lot.'' And to his dog. Some of this may help the story, but a lot of it could be communicated without words, or is information the audience already has.
** TruthInTelevision as multiple studies have shown that a person who lives alone or is isolated tend to talk to themselves just to break the silence around them.
* MacGuffin - The Gran Torino.
** MacGuffinTitle
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Done non-verbally, when Walt learns [[spoiler:that his attempt to intimidate the Hmong gang ended up getting Sue beaten and raped. And this is on top of the drive-by at her house. Then he goes home and starts punching up his cabinets--even the glass ones--while verbally berating himself.]]
** [[spoiler: Played comically by the priest when Walt finally comes to his church for confession.]]
* NotSoDifferent - Walt basically says this to himself when he's in the bathroom at the neighbor's house. He looks in the mirror says that, "God, I've got more in common with [[PretendPrejudice these gooks]] than I have with my own spoiled-rotten family."
** Arguably a case of ThatMakesMeFeelAngry.
* NWordPrivileges - The film examines the rules around this a lot; Walt assumes N-word privileges towards everyone.
** Walt never actually uses literal N-word privileges, when confronted by black thugs Eastwood opts for the common 1950's - 1970's racist terms "spook" and "spade" (the use of which terms seem to confuse the young men, or at least leaves them briefly nonplussed...)
* OneLastSmoke: Once he's decided to face the gangsters, Walt treats himself to a wet shave, a tailor-fitted suit and a cigarette in the bathtub. [[spoiler: Averted when he's shot by Spider when he [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet pulls out his lighter]].]]
* PapaWolf - An unusual example in that it doesn't seem to apply to his own family, though, to be fair, they're selfish assholes. However, [[spoiler:he blames himself for not getting close to them.]]
* PeerPressureMakesYouEvil: Averted since Walt isn't going to let that shit fly.
* PretendPrejudice - Walt.
* PunchAWall
* ThePreciousPreciousCar - Walt's Gran Torino. Not only is it vintage, Walt has a personal attachment to its construction: he was on the line where it was built.
* [[{{RacistGrandma}} RacistGrandpa]] Walt is a deconstruction of this trope: The whole point of the movie is that Walt realizes the people who he has being directing racial slurs all his life are NotSoDifferent, that his experience as a soldier [[ShellShockedSenior only let him know much more about death than about life]], and that he is a KnowNothingKnowItAll.
* RapeAsDrama - A horrible, extremely realistic version.
* RedemptionEqualsDeath - [[spoiler: Walt's speech through the locked door indicating that he feels that he can face the gang because the bad things he has done mean that what he does to them won't make him any dirtier, then defeating them by dying, revealing that he actually meant that the bad things he has done mean that he is ready to die for a good cause. His confession earlier suggests that he actually doesn't need redemption in any eyes but his own.]]
** [[spoiler: Also invoked by the fact he reveals to Thao through the locked door, that he shot a young Chinese soldier who was trying to surrender to him. His HeroicSacrifice to save Thao, another young man about the same age, represents his atonement for that old sin.]]
*** [[spoiler: Walt's confession to Thao mirrors his earlier, somewhat insincere confession to the priest, with the barred and screened basement door replacing the traditional confessional booth screen seen in the earlier scene.]]
* ScrewPolitenessImASenior - The reason Walt gets away with universal NWordPrivileges.
* ShellShockedVeteran - Walt is kind of one.
* [[spoiler:ShootHimHeHasAWallet - Walt uses this in his [[SuicideByCop Suicide by Gang]] so the gang gets arrested for shooting an unarmed man]]
* SurrogateSoliloquy - Walt talks to his dog, when he gets really stressed he talks to himself. While he is talking to his dog about the woman next door, the woman next door is talking to herself saying the exact same things about him in another language.
* TactfulTranslation - Sue attempts to provide a TactfulTranslation of her RacistGrandma's insults to Walt as "Welcome to our home", but given how angry the grandma is, it's unconvincing. Walt calls her on it, and she admits it.
* [[spoiler:ThanatosGambit: Walt's plan to bring the gangsters to justice involves his death. See BatmanGambit above.]]
* TranquilFury - Walt finally calms down [[spoiler:in the moments before his death.]] "Oh, I ''am'' at peace."
* TroubledSympatheticBigot: Due to a combination of factors, Walt is a Grade A Grumpy Old Man, and holds certain views about his Hmong neighbors that are continually challenged during the course of the movie. In the end he befriends Thao and gives him the prized Gran Torino.
* UnusualEuphemism - "Christ All Friday". Possibly meant as a CurseOfTheAncients as well.
* VitriolicBestBuds - Walt's idea of male friendship is based around this setup, as shown with his barber and the construction foreman, and later Thao. Walt and Sue also have this going: the moment he starts to respect and like her is the moment when she starts getting sassy back at him.
* WhiteMansBurden - Although Walt is bigoted in the beginning, he starts to take compassion to the Hmongs, eventually takes Thao under his wing and eventually saves him from the gangs.
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