Film Review: CRY MACHO (2021) *** and a 1\2 out of *****

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Clint Eastwood returns as actor and director with Cry Macho (2021), a sweet, gentle, and charming little film, which, in its own modest, easy-going way, achieves so much with seemingly little effort. But although Eastwood is a notoriously fast worker, his movies, with very few exceptions, are almost always a smooth ride, and easy on the eyes. Cry Macho is a prime example of these trademark qualities of an Eastwood film.

Cry Macho tells a simple tale: 1980. Texas. Mike Milo, a washed-up rodeo star and horse breeder, reluctantly agrees to help his ex-boss and benefactor to bring his half-Mexican teenage son home and out of his abusive mother’s reach. So he crosses the border to rural Mexico, finds the troubled boy, and, together, they journey back to Texas. But their journey takes an unexpected turn or two. The plot is little more than a collection of road-trip movie cliches, and the script, especially some of the dialogue, doesn’t really add much that is fresh or original to the mix. But Eastwood is a smart, restless filmmaker, and it’s easy to see why he was attracted to the material, despite its shortcomings. In his hands, Eastwood turns this tired script, which has been floating around Hollywood for decades, into an exercise in charming filmmaking.

From the endearing performance of most of the cast, especially Natalia Traven as Marta, the lovable den mother; and Eduardo Minett as Rafo, with his tough kid posturing and moving dedication to his pet rooster, Macho; and, of course, Eastwood himself, who gives himself one of his most likable characters in a long time as Mike Milo, everyone involved seems to be having a blast.

And, in many ways, Milo’s character, and the film itself, is spiritually linked to one of Eastwood’s favorite films, 1980’s Bronco Billy, about the leader of a wild west show, a middle-aged dreamer who loves show business, the old west, and horses. Milo could be Bronco Billy gone to seed. A burnt out man who has lost his hopes and dreams, and who, by befriending the teenage Rafo, a hopeless outcast like himself, starts to find his way again. No wonder Eastwood uses the same font he used on the Bronco Billy poster for the Cry Macho titles.

Cry Macho is a film out of time. A film that would have been right at home in the early 1980s or 1990s. Now, it’s understandable that it struggles to find an audience, at a time when nihilism is trendy, and negativity is bankable. But Cry Macho, despite its flaws, is a spellbinding, humane film that feels old and new at the same time, and is Eastwood’s best film in years. Highly recommended.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2021.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @Dark.Fantastic.AK·Writer