Paul Schrader has hit out at Clint Eastwood’s latest film Cry Macho.
The American screenwriter – best known for his work on Martin Scorsese films including Taxi Driver and Raging Bull – commonly shares candid reviews of films on his Facebook page.
Schrader’s latest target is Eastwood’s new western Cry Macho, in which the actor-director also stars.
The film has been received unenthusiastically by many critics.
Schrader concurred with the negative assessments of Cry Macho, writing on Facebook: “I can appreciate the inclination to give Clint Eastwood a pass but has an important American director made a film as bad as Cry Macho since Howard Hawks’ Man’s Favourite Sport?”
Hawks’s romantic comedy was released in 1964 to similarly lukewarm reviews.
Speaking further about Cry Macho, Schrader added: “It fails in every area: screenwriting, lighting, locations, sets, props, wardrobe and casting.
“When, early on, Eastwood employs an under the car shot of a boot hitting the ground I thought, ‘Great, he’s going to riff on the stylisations of macho westerns’ – but that was the last interesting composition in the film.”
“Sure, Clint is given a few cliché-ridden passages about the futility of machismo but these only have value because a shrunken Dirty Harry is giving voice to them. These character insights had value 30 years ago. It was like listening to a criminal apologise to the family of his victims in hopes that the judge will cut him a lesser sentence.”
In contrast to the reviews for Eastwood’s latest film, Schrader’s new release, The Card Counter – which stars Oscar Isaac as a war-veteran-turned-gambler – has been received mostly positively.
The Card Counter is slated for release in the UK on 5 November.
