[...] Eastwood plays retired worker Walt Kowalski (a distant relation of Brando's Stanley, perhaps), a man with a formidable scowl and the temperament to go with it. Kowalski is Mr. Fed Up, someone with a bad word for everyone, whether it be feckless sons, pierced grandchildren or priests he considers to be too young to pry into his life.
Newly widowed, Kowalski is especially upset with changes going on in his Detroit neighborhood. Hmong immigrants, refugees from Southeast Asia and especially Vietnam, where the Hmong helped American troops during the war, have moved in everywhere, even next door.
Classically against his will, Kowalski is drawn into the life of the neighborhood, specifically the plight of Thao (Bee Vang), the fatherless teenage boy next door who is being pressured to join a local Hmong gang and foolishly attempts to steal Kowalski's prize Ford Gran Torino. Kowalski also likes the sassiness of Thao's slightly older sister Sue, played by Ahney Her, an actress who like the rest of the neighbors is a member of the Hmong community.
[...] It's almost as if Clint Eastwood all at once finds himself in a different movie than either he, or us, really expected. But if the last few years have proved anything, it's that anywhere Eastwood is, movie audiences are wise to follow.
Kenneth Turan in the Los Angeles Times

USA, 2008, 116 min

Director: Clint Eastwood

Writer: Nick Schenk and Dave Johannson

Cast:
Clint Eastwood ... Walt Kowalski
Christopher Carley ... Father Janovich
Bee Vang ... Thao
Ahney Her ... Sue

Cinematography: Tom Stern

Film Editing: Joel Cox and Gary Roach

Links:
IMDB
Trailer
Wikipedia
New York Times Movie Review
by Manohla Dargis, December 12, 2008