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The 1972 Gran Torino Sport not only was the car featured in the Clint Eastwood movie Gran Torino, but was also the car bad guy Fenix Rise drives in the Fast and the Furious.
At the risk of completely destroying my indie film crowd credibility, I like the Fast and the Furious movies. My son likes them, also, which is significant, as they are among the few movies with adult themes we have watched together -- as I may have mentioned in previous posts, my wife and I run on the conservative side when it comes to allowing our kids to watch violent movies, and by conservative, I mean we just don't allow it.
Nonetheless, Racer Z and I have watched most of the Fast and the Furious franchise together and even went to see Fast Five at the drive-in (a Father's Day present from my adult son who took the entire family out to the drive-in.) As fun as these movies are, they do confuse my son since the "good" guys are actually criminals, consequently muddying the good guy/bad guy waters.
When I was his age in 1974 I had already been hit with a lot more moral ambiguity of movie heroes. While I didn't watch them first run at the theater, I did watch the television runs of movies like Paper Moon, Papillon, The Getaway, Silent Running, The Godfather, Catch-22, Two Mules for Sister Sara, Bonnie and Clyde (I know that came out in 1967 but I didn't see it until the 70s) and of course the Planet of the Apes movies, all a few years after they came out when they ran, in edited forms, on television. Additionally, there was the slew of 70s made-for-television anti-hero movies. This was a time of good guys and bad guys sharing hats, a time of anti-heroes, and a time when I really didn't understand half the themes in these movies.
I understand the mood of the movies, however, and to this day love the gritty, noir feel of The Getaway or the sultry, sexy melancholy of The Thomas Crowne Affair. I could have enjoyed those movies even if I had been watching them in a foreign language, which, to a certain extent, I was: as a naive kid I didn't fully understand the language of adult themes. Nonetheless, these movies created a sense of love of cinema for me, and I've often wondered if I've shortchanged my son by not allowing him to muddle about in those dark waters.
That's the thing about being a parent -- you make calls and do the best you can to protect your kids from the coarseness of life, hoping you are doing more giving then depriving. I'm fairly comfortable with my choice, but I hope he can access that intangible mood of a good movie -- I just want him to do it as an older teen or adult.
Whatever the case, we have The Fast and the Furious movies, and while no Bullett, it will have to do.
Enjoyable post. I know what you mean about the films, and I see that same delima. I read a book a while back called The film club, about a dad who watched an old movie a week with his son. It was a great idea, and I would like to do something similar as Lukas gets older.
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