17th March 2024

I’ve just watched two later Clint Eastwood movies. Gran Torino is the movie Sabine’s nephew will be examined on in his A Level equivalent English exam in Germany. It was released in 2008 and is a great movie. It is spectacularly politically incorrect. It covers a lot of aspects of American life and Clint pays his character, a Korean War veteran and retired Detroit Ford Plant xenophobe, a man of his era, to perfection at least in my eyes. I just creased up at one one part and I’m still laughing out loud at its memory as I type this. Could he get away with it today – sadly probably not.

You need to know that Clint Eastwood has been part of my life since he played Rowdy Yates in a weekly black and white cowboy programme called Rawhide https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rawhide_(TV_series); it shows my age as its first series came out in 1959. So perhaps unsurprisingly, at the end of Gran Torino, I was looking at others of his movies on Amazon Prime and, in my excitement reminiscing about all the enjoyment I have had watching him on the big screen, I accidently rented “The Mule”.

I watched it tonight. It came out 10 years later in 2018, and is much less politically incorrect even though the character he plays is very similar except he looks older – 88 in fact when he made the movie. Again, it was a good story with a strong cast. At the end of the film the lyrics to the closing song made me suddenly sit up – they included the words to Gus’s mantra mentioned in other stories that I have taken to heart so much.

Google helped out – here’s an extract of an interview with the writer and singer, Toby Keith:

Keith, 62, remembered a conversation with Eastwood that gave him the idea to write “Don’t Let The Old Man In.” The country music icon said it happened during the time Eastwood was filming The Mule, a 2018 thriller that follows a ninety-year-old horticulturist and Korean War veteran (who) turns drug mule for a Mexican cartel.  Keith’s song ultimately ended up in the film.

“It’s an interesting story, how this song came to be,” Keith said in a video on Instagram. “Clint Eastwood, when asked by me, what he was gonna do on his birthday, he said he was gonna go shoot a movie. He was 88 years old, and I said, ‘what do you do to keep yourself going?’ He said, ‘I try to get up and be productive, and don’t let the old man in.’ So, I wrote (the song, and) sent it to him. He put it in that movie, The Mule, and then it exploded on NBC when I sang it on the People’s Choice [Country] Awards when I was getting the Icon (Award).”

Here’s the Spotify link (you may need to have a subscription) https://open.spotify.com/track/4DLSN6f2Cp5eWIa5Vfn9kj?si=efc5588eda5f49b3 and here are the lyrics:

“Don’t let the old man in
I wanna leave this alone
Can’t leave it up to him
He’s knocking on my door

And I knew all of my life
That someday it would end
Get up and go outside
Don’t let the old man in

Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

Try to love on your wife
And stay close to your friends
Toast each sundown with wine
Don’t let the old man in

Many moons I have lived
My body’s weathered and worn
Ask yourself how would you be
If you didn’t know the day you were born

When he rides up on his horse
And you feel that cold bitter wind
Look out your window and smile
Don’t let the old man in

Look out your window and smile
Don’t let the old man in

Source: Musixmatch

Songwriters: Toby Keith”

Both movies and the song are worth your time. Enjoy.