I am on the horns of a dilemma. On the one hand, I respect and admire Clint Eastwood. From The Good, the Bad and the Ugly to Kelly’s Heroes to Play Misty for Me to Million Dollar Baby, this man has legs and range. He acts, directs, produces and occasionally writes the music for some of the best stuff on film. The man is a giant, a treasure and a living legend!

On the other hand, there is this side of him that I can’t quite get next to. It’s the Dirty Harry part of Clint that gives me pause, and now that side has brought Gran Torino to your local cineplex. Follow me, if you will.

In Gran Torino, Clint plays Walt Kowalski. Described as a cranky, widowed, Korean War vet, Walt, it turns out, is all this and more. Disdaining everyone in his life (save his like-minded barber), Walt is a bigoted, hateful, spiteful bastard. If I could have, I would have shot him myself, if just to have put him out of his misery!

Living in what was once a middle-class suburban (probably Polish-American) neighborhood, Walt is the last of the Mohicans. Keeping his lawn cut and his windows washed, he glares out at the changed world around him with a contempt that borders on comical. So when the kid next door is coerced into stealing Walt’s vintage Gran Torino as part of a gang initiation, the old coot can’t wait to get his rifle and fire away. For the sake of the plotline, the kid (Thao, played by Bee Vang) escapes without harm and the GT remains in Walt’s possession.

It is at this point that the movie warps. Rather than calling the cops and turning the potential thief in, Walt is cajoled by Thao’s sister to accept work from the young boy as repayment. Having quietly seen Thao help another neighbor out of pure kindness, Walt agrees.

All of this makes sense, but what puzzles me is why Clint (as Walt) allows his character to spew such vile, hateful, bigoted remarks in virtually every scene (line!) of the movie. Don’t get me wrong, there is a visceral and guilty pleasure in watching a social dinosaur rumble over the landscape (my 87-year-old Pops loved it), but I still don’t know what purpose such overblown rhetoric serves!

And so Gran Torino veers along its logical path. Thao continues to be plagued by the local thugs who wish to recruit him. Walt keeps him busy with toil and racial insults until, eventually, the whole thing comes to loggerheads.

Which brings me back to my Clint Eastwood dilemma: This movie is clearly geared to the Dirty Harry/Hang ’Em High fans. Yes, there is a message in this movie, but it’s buried beneath a ton of overblown crap. In movies like Million Dollar Baby, we get the point with some subtlety, some nuance. In this latest offering, it’s like buckshot in the behind.

OK, so here’s my question: Do I just accept that Clint is a complex artist, who, despite the fact that he looks like he’s 200 years old, can still be provocative? Or is he untethered, and God only knows what’s going to come out of that hard and glorious skull?

One thing is for sure, folks are going to see Gran Torino. It will be irresistible. So if you do find yourself in the theater, be mindful not charmed. Despite the initial sugar high that such hurtful verbiage and behavior evokes, remember ... in most cases, it’s how we do what we do that matters. Like my mother always says, “It’s not what you say, but how you say it that tells the tale”!

— In addition to being a great movie reviewer, Michael O’Brien Sr. owns and operates a DeLand-based catering service, Michael’s Gourmet to Go. E-mail him at movieman@beacononlinenews.com.