Eastwood shines up his ‘Gran Torino’

“Hey, you kids, get off my lawn!” has never carried quite the resounding curmudgeon-next-door rancor as it does spewing forth from the locked-and-loaded lips of Clint Eastwood. This is one scary old dude you do not want to live near. In the neighborhood-racist movie “Gran Torino,” Eastwood, as angry white guy Walt Kowalski, boots unsavory types from his lawn at gunpoint while uttering a shortened version of that classic scold. Actually, he doesn’t “say” much in this film. He grunts, he groans, he grimaces. Mostly he growls. This is Eastwood 4.0, an elder Dirty Harry blended with the score-to-settle gunslinger from “Unforgiven,” teetering just this side of caricature. Kowalski, a Korean War vet and retired auto worker (he owns a prized ‘72 Ford Gran Torino) has recently lost his wife and becomes entangled with the Asian family next door. Estranged from his own grown children, Kowalski must choose between his raging prejudice and the protective affection he develops for some of his young neighbors. Eastwood, who also directed and produced “Gran Torino,” is astoundingly productive for a 78-year-old filmmaker (he already released “The Changeling” earlier this year). Every time he steps in front of the camera, we assume it will be his final performance (he last acted in the Oscar-winning “Million Dollar Baby” in 2004). He keeps coming back. “Gran Torino,” though stilted and strained at times, is entertaining thanks to its hard-nosed, funny star.