Gran Torino is a 2008 crime drama film produced and directed by Clint Eastwood, who also stars in the lead role. It features a significant Hmong American cast, a first for mainstream American films. The score was composed by Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens, with Jamie Cullum and Clint Eastwood providing the lead track.

Plot

Recently widowed Walt Kowalski is an ill-tempered and prejudiced Korean War veteran and retired Ford factory worker. His Rust Belt neighborhood in Metro Detroit has become ridden with gang violence and poor Hmong immigrants, including Walt's next-door neighbors, the Vang Lor family. Walt is estranged from his spoiled family, and on his 80th birthday, angrily rejects his son's suggestion that he move to a retirement community in favor of living alone with his elderly Labrador, Daisy. A chronic smoker, Walt suffers from coughing fits, occasionally spitting up blood. As Walt's late wife requested, her priest, Father Janovich, tries to comfort Walt and persuade him to go to confession. Despite being harshly rejected by Walt, Father Janovich repeatedly tries to get through to him.

Awards