Quintin Jardine's blog

I kept a promise to myself and watched Gran Torino last night on Sky; enjoyed it very much. Clint Eastwood says it’s the last movie he’ll appear in. With that in mind, I saw a strong nod towards one of my all time favourite movies, The Shootist.  John Wayne’s swansong, in which he played an old time gunfighter in early 20th century America, dying of cancer and going out in a blaze of glory. In GT, Clint’s character is a Korean War vet in Detroit dying of cancer (Hope he isn’t) and the similarities go on to the end. A further connection; The Shootist was directed by Don Seigel, who did a couple of Clint’s early pieces, including Dirty Harry and Play Misty for Me, and who must have been something of a mentor in his directorial career, although Clint went on to greater success.