Clint Eastwood has been known for playing macho tough guy roles in the late 60's and 70's. His roles ranged from playing a lone gunfighter in the spaghetti western trilogy directed by Sergio Leone, to playing the street-wise police detective Harry Callahan. Now, he plays a different kind of role. One that is more softer and more touching than ever before. Eastwood stars and directs in Honkytonk Man. Honkytonk Man tells the story of a down and out Depression country singer, who's wounds up taking his nephew on a cross-country road trip to the Grand Ole Opry, where Eastwood wants to try to get a record. Along for the ride is the little boy's grandfather, played by John McIntire. When the trio go on their trek across the country, they stumbles into different kinds of misadventures that teaches Eastwood's nephew lessons along the way. Lessons that include life and death. Even love in that matter. The nephew, by the way, is played by Eastwood real-life son, Kyle. He gives a very fine as Whit. There is a lot of times in this movie that really press gently on the Eastwood persona. This is something that surprises me and any other movie goer who follows Clint Eastwood's movies. Honkytonk Man was the second Eastwood movie to be released. The first was Firefox, in which he plays a air pilot, who hijacks a Soviet spy plane. And, when Eastwood sings in this movie, he really does try to put in a lot of effort when he is performing on stage with the audience. The movie is also bittersweet with the relationship between Eastwood and his nephew. Like I said before, this is a change for Clint Eastwood. He drops his tough guy persona and turns it into a completely character. This may compared to his other film he did called Bronco Billy, in which he plays a rodeo cowboy. That film and this brings back some of those elements that Bronco Billy had and is inserted into Honkytonk Man. One more thing, I was disappointed that this movie didn't get a lot of attention. This film was a box-office flop, compared to his other film, Firefox, which grossed more money than this movie. There are a lot of fine performances in Honkytonk Man coming from Eastwood, Eastwood's son and also McIntire. ★★★ 3 stars.
Review of Honkytonk Man
