CRY MACHO (2021)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
Clint Eastwood's "Cry Macho" is not a despairing or nostalgic film about looking back at the good old days. It is not as reflective of a past life as other Eastwood pictures like "Gran Torino" or, more appropriately, his last great western "Unforgiven." Eastwood's character in this film, Mike Milo, is more of a simple man - a codger who is not looking forward or backward as much as looking at the present, the here and now. He loves tending to and riding horses and the ranch life. It is this very simplicity that makes Eastwood's Mike one of the more sympathetic characters he has played in years.
Mike does have flaws - a Texas ex-rodeo star who drinks too much and is always late for his work as a ranch hand. When he loses his job to his employer, Harold Polk (Dwight Yoakam), a full year passes before they speak again. Harold has a 13-year-old son named Rafael (Eduardo Minett), who is presumably living in Mexico with his unfit mother, Leta (Fernanda Urrejola), who lets him participate in cockfighting. Mike is asked to do a favor for Harold - bring his son back to the Lone Star state. Mike is reluctant yet goes ahead with the plan, crossing into a small Mexican town where he finds Rafael. Of course Rafael is hesitant to go back to Texas for a father he has not seen in ages. Along the way, the federales and Leta's bodyguards are pursuing them from town to town - as it turns out, Leta is more concerned over business matters than her son.
Mike's trip with Rafael gets rough when he decides he's not taking the risk with the federales on his tail - they argue since Rafa decides he wants to go to Texas along with his rooster named Macho (regardless of what some other critics said, this is hardly cringe-inducing even if it sounds like it on paper). Eventually things calm down and their long trip back includes campfires, frequenting cafes where Amarillo is served (Mexican kids can apparently get away with drinking tequila) and stopping at one lonely pueblo with a restaurant/cafe owned by the widowed Marta (Natalia Traven). Marta knows the pair is in trouble with the federales and lets them stay in a casita. It is no surprise that Marta melts Mike's heart and this is one of the few instances I can remember since Eastwood's "Bridges of Madison County" where we see a more benevolent Eastwood - his smile at Marta and the grandchildren makes for one of the more pleasurably romantic moments I've seen in a movie this year.
"Cry Macho" defies the conventional aspects of what could have been a violent neo-Western thriller with Eastwood firing a few rounds at the federales. Rather the film is more of an examination of an older man who found out far too late in the game about making amends in life - he thought he had it all figured it out and he didn't. The most Eastwood does is punch Leta's bodyguard in the face and threaten him with a gun. Mike is not a killer - despite his occasional lapses in grunting and cursing, he is as innocent as his title character in "Bronco Billy." The movie is more lyrical to a degree, observing the wide open spaces of New Mexico (doubling for Mexico) and the small details of that Mexican pueblo with its inviting shrine to the Virgin Mary. Mike occasionally is asked by the townspeople to examine their wounded pet animals - something you don't normally see Clint Eastwood doing. He's almost seen as a savior to this pueblo but not quite, and thank goodness it did not go down that road.
Written with affection and empathy by Nick Schenk (based on a N. Richard Nash 1975 novel), "Cry Macho" never bores and never pushes for extreme emotions or extreme action. It is decidedly the most unusual modern Western I've ever seen, at least since Wim Wenders' "Don't Come Knocking" with the late Sam Shepard. It is a relaxed, confident and low-key movie and from legendary director and star Clint Eastwood, I wouldn't expect less.
