History Film / TheMule

* LogicalWeakness: Inverted. Earl is an elderly, frail war veteran with completely estranged family. So all the standard intimidation tactics of the cartel just don't work on him, as nobody will miss him, guns don't scare him and he's not afraid to die due to his advanced age.

* JerkToNiceGuyPlot: In the beginning of the film, Earl Stone is self-centered and he neglects his family (he even does not attend his daughter's wedding). In the end, he has changed his ways: he even risks his life to visit his dying ex-wife. Her ex-wife and daughter forgive him for his past jerkassery.

** The DEA knows that the nickname of the cartel's top mule is Tata, but none of them thinks of picking up a dictionary or looking up on the Internet and checking that the word is a Mexican slang for "granddaddy".

* SuspiciousSpending: mostly averted, but the operator of the VFW Hall notices Earl’s fancy new truck and quickly figures he can pay for the repairs.

* BenevolentBoss: Of all the cartel members who interact with Earl, Laton is the most tolerant of his idiosyncrasies, gives him leeway to do things his way and celebrates his success by inviting him to a party at his estate and treating him to hookers young enough to be his granddaughters. Unfortunately for him, his own enforcers see that benevolency as a weakness and ultimately kill him in paranoid attempt to keep things running, despite there being no real problems with their operation.

* ReverseMole: Bates and Trevino strongarm a cartel member named Luis into acting as a DEA snitch by threatening to put him away for life.

* TheyHaveTheScent: The cop Earl meets on the road during his first run has a dog that starts barking, and Earl puts a cream on the animal's nose so it won't smell the drug in his car's trunk.

* OhCrap: The cartel didn't tell Earl what he is supposed to ship, he opens the bag mid-way through his first run and find out it's drugs, much to his shock. He still keeps going, given how lucrative those runs are.

The cast also includes Creator/BradleyCooper, Creator/DianneWiest, Creator/MichaelPena, Creator/LaurenceFishburne, Creator/TaissaFarmiga, Ignacio Serricchio, Alison Eastwood and Andy Garcia.

* BenevolentBoss: Of all the cartel members who interact with Earl, Laton is the most tolerant of his idiosyncrasies, gives him leeway to do things his way and celebrates his success by inviting him to a party at his estate and treating him to hookers young enough to be his granddaughters.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: The two cartel thugs assigned to punish Earl for abandoning his last job. When they learn he only did it to be with his dying wife, even they feel bad about what they have to do... but their boss doesn't feel the same way.

''The Mule'' is a 2018 American crime film produced and directed by Creator/ClintEastwood, who [[DirectedByCastMember also plays the lead role]], with a script by by Nick Schenk. It is Eastwood's first acting role since ''Film/TroubleWithTheCurve'' (2012) and his first starring role in a film he directed himself since ''Film/GranTorino'' (2008).

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Yes, Earl is caught and sent to prison for presumably the rest of his life. ''But'' he reconnected with his daughter and now gets to spend most of his time working with flowers, his true passion. ]]

* RightUnderTheirNoses: Who would suspect an affable old man to be a drug ferryman for a Mexican cartel?

* Suspicious Spending: mostly averted, but the operator of the VFW Hall notices Earl’s fancy new truck and quickly figures he can pay for the repairs.