Moviegoers will once again see Clint Eastwood grace the silver screen in his newly released “Cry Macho,” a movie filmed in New Mexico about a former rodeo star who finds himself teaching a boy what it means to be a good man.
The one-time Dirty Harry directs and stars as a crochety old cowboy pressed into transporting a teenager from Mexico to America in “Cry Macho,” an aimless and sometimes cringe-worthy film. But it has perhaps the best performance by a rooster in modern cinematic history.
The film is apparently supposed to be a meditation on masculinity, with Eastwood’s one-time rodeo star Mike Milo taming and rebuilding his young rebellious charge into an honorable young man. Instead, it’s a meditation on clumsy and predictable filmmaking.
The screenplay, by Nick Schenk and the late N. Richard Nash, is based on Nash’s book. Schenk is film’s leading Eastwood interpreter, having written for the icon before with “Gran Torino” and “The Mule.” Eastwood, now 91, is in that place he’s found himself so many times before: A gruff, honorable loner with a heart of gold.
The year is 1979 and the honorable loner — a widower, naturally — is still showing up at the rodeo for work in his 90s until his boss fires him. “You’re a loss to no one. It’s time for new blood,” says his employer, played by Dwight Yoakam.
A year later, this same boss inexplicably asks Mike for a favor: Get my son away from the clutches of my evil ex-wife in Mexico and bring him to me. Soon Eastwood is on his way south, trundling along in an ancient car.
Turns out the ex-wife (Fernanda Urrejola, overdoing it) is an unbalanced mob boss who both laughs at this curious visitor and weirdly wants to bed him. “You think you’re the first my ex-husband sent?” she mocks him.
Eastwood’s character finds the boy — did you doubt he would? — but the teen is a bit of a mess, psychologically. One telltale sign is that he’s overly fond of a fighting rooster he has called Macho and carries about everywhere.
Eastwood starred in and directed the film — the latest in a string of movies the actor/director has worked on in the state. His previous New Mexico-filmed movie was “The Mule,” a 2018 film about a man who becomes a drug mule for a Mexican cartel. “The Mule” was filmed in locations around Las Cruces as well as White Sands National Park.
County music singer Dwight Yoakam (“Sling Blade,” “Panic Room”) and Daniel V. Graulau also star in the new film. It is based on the 1975 novel of the same name by N. Richard Nash.
The story takes place in Texas and rural Mexico, but was filmed in in Belen and Polvadera, New Mexico — in Valencia and Socorro counties, respectively.
“Cry Macho” was released in theatres Friday, Sept. 17 and for streaming on HBO Max through Oct. 17. It runs at about two hours and is rated PG-13.
