Cry Macho

Clint Eastwood has directed and starred in some great movies.  This time, however, he has decided to direct and star in Cry Macho.  This is a movie that goes beyond merely being slow and plodding, and simply becomes lifeless, inert, and dead in the water as it goes on.  This is one of the few films I can think of where nothing happens.  And by nothing, I mean nothing original, noteworthy, exciting, dramatic, or engaging. 

There are moments where the film resembles an experiment to see just how lethargic and uninteresting a movie can be before the audience gives up hope.  It did not take me long until I wanted to bail out.  How could Eastwood, who is responsible for Unforgiven and Million Dollar Baby, be behind this?  Even at the age of 91, he should have been able to tell that there was nothing to work with here.  He plays Mike Milo, a rodeo star long past his prime with a long history of personal demons involving a dead wife and kid, a back injury, as well as too much drinking.  A year after his boss (Dwight Yoakam) fires him for being over the hill, he approaches Mike with the proposition of going to Mexico in order to get his 13-year-old son Rafael (Eduardo Minett).  Rafael has been living with his wealthy mother over there, and Mike's former boss fears that he has taken to a life of crime, and wants Mike to drive across the border and bring him back to him.

Rafael's mother, Leta (Fernanda Urrejola), lives in a sprawling mansion, and surrounds herself with some of the least effective or threatening goons ever captured on film.  She warns Mike that he will never find the kid, as she doesn't even know where he runs off to.  One minute later, Mike finds Rafael at the cockfights, where he competes with a rooster named Macho.  Mike convinces the kid to come with him back to Texas to live on his dad's ranch.  From there, the movie drags its way from one encounter to another.  The two try to stay ahead of the local law, those hired goons, ride some horses, get their truck stolen, steal a car of their own, and befriend a pretty and widowed restaurant owner named Marta (Natalia Traven) who lives with her young daughters.  All the while, Mike bonds with Rafael, though truth be told, the chemistry that Eastwood shares with Minett does not quite match the chemistry he shares with Macho the Rooster, who follows them around everywhere, and even gets the last line in the picture.

Cry Macho is a screenplay that's been floating around Hollywood since the 70s, and has almost been made numerous times with a variety of stars ranging from Roy Scheider, Burt Lancaster, to even Arnold Schwarzenegger in the lead.  From the evidence of the film I watched, I have no idea why so many people were desperate to make this.  It has absolutely no impact, no dramatic angle, and what little amount of character building there is to be had is so shallow as to be non-existent.  I was never involved in any way, shape or form.  Sure, there are some nice shots and images here, but that comes with the territory when Eastwood is behind the camera.  It doesn't help that the kid who is supposed to be at the center of all of this is a crashing bore, and young Eduardo Minett never builds him into someone the least bit interesting at any time during the film.

I again have to ask, why this movie?  Why were so many talented people dying to make this for well over 45 years?  There's no evidence of anything appealing up on the screen.  Every emotion and scene is spelled out as if the movie somehow thinks the audience can't figure it out.  The movie simply drags its feet for 105 minutes, supplying nothing to the audience.  Nothing funny or clever, nothing exciting, nothing dramatic, and certainly nothing worthwhile.  It's like sitting on a long bus ride through uninteresting scenery, and you're stuck sitting next to a snoring old man, only this time, that man just happens to be Clint Eastwood.  The movie has the dry, lifeless tone of a barren desert with the sun beating down on you.  You just want to pack up and go home long before the experience is over.

I can enjoy movies where not much happens, and have enjoyed plenty in the past.  But Cry Macho simply seemed content to offer me nothing other than the occasional nice image.  I expect more from Eastwood.  Things like character, development, or good gravy, a plot worth giving a damn about.  This time, he lets me down.

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