Clint Eastwood and Dwight Yoakam in the Clint Eastwood movie ‘Cry Macho’

The 1975 book Cry Macho by N. Richard Nash was rewritten from the earlier screenplay, which was also written by Nash. That the book was received well, experiencing some starts and stops along the way to the directorial and starring hands of Clint Eastwood. With Nash and Nick Schenk receiving writing credit, we present our impressions of the movie Cry Macho (2021).

(Dwight Yoakam as Howard Polk in the Clint Eastwood movie Cry Macho).

Filmed in New Mexico, the movie itself introduces us to 1980 Texas with retired rodeo star Mike Milo down on his luck following an injury. Milo, portrayed by Eastwood, has been out of work for a year when his former boss, Howard Polk, hires his former hand to travel to Mexico City, Mexico to locate Howard’s 15-year-old son and bring the boy, Rafo, back to the United States. Dwight Yoakam portrayed Howard Polk.

(Fernanda Urrejola as Leta in the Clint Eastwood movie Cry Macho).

When getting into Mexico, Mike Malo meets the boy’s mother. Leta, as portrayed by Fernanda Urrejola, presents herself as an alcoholic. Malo picks up on the point that the environment isn’t great for Rafo, and if he wants to honor the deal with the boy’s father to bring him across the international border. The question for this Western becomes what the noble thing is, and whether he, Malo, is willing to do it.

(From left, Clint Eastwood as Mike Milo and Natalia Traven as Marta in the Clint Eastwood movie Cry Macho).

In the face of opposition from Leta and her support crew, including Aurelio as portrayed by Horacio Garcia Rojas. Rafo forces Milo’s hand. This brings Marta and her three grandchildren, as portrayed by Natalia Traven, Elida Munoz, Abiah Martinez and Ramona Thornton, into the larger drama of danger and risk. Eduardo Minett portrayed Rafo. What becomes of Rafo, Milo, Marta, the grandchildren, and those at odds over what happens with Rafo is the point of the movie.

(From left, Elida Munoz as 14-Year-Old Granddaughter and Eduardo Minett as Rafo in the Clint Eastwood movie Cry Macho).

While Cry Macho might lack some of the punch of a movie starring a more youthful Clint Eastwood in the starring role, the substance of the conflict and the secondary stories that come into it are not without merit. That the underlying moral question raised have you considering right and wrong, and the space in between, offers something fruitful. I give the movie Cry Macho as directed and partially produced by Clint Eastwood 3.5-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, March 22, 2023