Review: Cry Macho

Image courtesy of Warner Bros.

Clint Eastwood has had a long, illustrious career in front of and behind the camera. He's 91 years old, and in his early 70s had a run of some of his best films - including "Mystic River," "Million Dollar Baby," "Gran Torino" and his World War II double feature, "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters from Iwo Jima." So, it can be forgiven if some of his late, late work - such as "The 15:17 to Paris," "Richard Jewell" and his latest, "Cry Macho," are not quite on par with some of his best movies (on the other hand, the somewhat recent "The Mule" was solid).

"Cry Macho" - which Eastwood has apparently long wanted to adapt from Richard Nash's 1975 novel - plays somewhat like a greatest hits package of some of the director's recent efforts. Much like "The Mule," it features an aged man (Eastwood) getting himself mixed up in a situation that runs afoul of the law, and features a storyline, much like "Gran Torino," in which he mentors a younger man who needs some direction.

In this case, the young man is a boozing cockfighter named Rafa (Eduardo Minett), who carries in tow a fighting bird named "Macho," which also happens to be a character trait that Rafa holds in high esteem. Rafa lives with his wealthy mother in Mexico - although we are told there is abuse in the household, the specifics are never quite clear - but his father, Howard (Dwight Yoakam), who lives in Texas and hires Mike (Eastwood) for horse training work, wants him to come live with him. Mike was once the king of the rodeo, although this backstory is only mentioned in passing.

For reasons also not exactly explained, Mike owes Howard for hiring him at a time when Mike was suffering from the deaths of his wife and daughter - which are only fleetingly mentioned - and drinking a lot. Therefore, he guilts Mike into driving down to Mexico to convince Rafa to ride back across the border to come live with his father. The story, which is set in 1979, has little more in the way of specifics or plot than that, other than an extended stay in a small Mexican town, where Mike and Rafa get to know the kindly owner of a cantina named Marta (Natalia Traven), who cares for the children of her deceased daughter.

Although built around cliches, the scenes in which Mike and Rafa begin to make a home, of sorts, at Marta's while hiding out - they're on the run after Mike essentially takes Rafa away from his mother and the duo steal a few cars, including one from Rafa's mother's henchman - from police. These scenes have an unhurried feel, and are the best in the picture, especially because it gives the audience a break from the constant back-and-forth between Mike and Rafa while on their road trip, which typically involve exclamations from an excitable young man (Rafa) met with grumpy answers from an old codger (Mike). 

The film's story and characterizations often feel a little slight - we know little about Rafa other than that he feels abandoned by both of his parents and that he loves Macho, whereas Mike is a compendium of other characters the actor/director has played in other late Eastwood films. The women in the film are one of two extremes: Rafa's oversexed, overbearing mother (the scene in which she tries to seduce Mike is probably the worst in the film) or the saintly Marta, whose romance with Mike doesn't exactly feel organic, although there's a nice last shot in the film that mostly makes up for any flaws in their relationship.

So, while "Cry Macho" is more on par in terms of quality with "Richard Jewell" or "The 15:17 to Paris" than the slew of great films Eastwood made between 2003 and 2014, it also has its charms. "Jewell" suffered from being too ideological, while "Paris" was lower in quality due to spotty acting. "Cry Macho" fares better in most departments over those two films, but it still feels like a slight Eastwood movie. It's likable enough and revisits some themes the director has prioritized in his later work, even if it's not one of his best of that era.