Summary
Another day, Thao washes the Gran Torino while Walt watches and eats on the porch. Sue walks up and says it is ironic that Thao is washing the car he tried to steal. She thanks Walt for being a good role model to Thao. Sue says their father was really hard on them. Sue comments that Walt likes Thao. Walt pretends he doesn’t and tells Sue to get him another beer, calling her “dragon lady.” While gardening, Thao tells Walt he should quit smoking. He asks about the first cavalry emblem on Walt’s Zippo lighter.
When asked, Thao says he wants to work in sales maybe. Walt says his son sells Japanese cars after Walt worked fifty years at the Ford factory. Walt says he put the steering column in his Gran Torino in 1972. Walt tells Thao he could work construction. Thao asks if he has Alzheimer’s. Walt tells Thao he should date “miss yum-yum.” Walt takes Thao to his barber, who is looking at a porno magazine when they walk in. “Oh good,” the barber says, “a Polack and a chink.” Walt calls him a crazy Italian bastard and says Thao is a “pussy kid from next door" that he is trying to “man up a bit.” Walt sends Thao out and asks him to come back in and talk like a man.
Thao re-enters and calls the barber an Italian prick. He picks up a shotgun and points it at Thao. Then he smiles. Walt and the barber criticize Thao for being rude and recommend he speak normally and politely. They tell him to complain about mechanics, or his job, or coworkers, or girlfriend. Thao comes back in and says, “Boy, does my ass hurt from all the guys at my construction job.” The barber laughs. Walt says, “Fuck me.”
In another scene, Walt brings Thao to a construction site to get him a job. He tells Thao to look the construction super straight in the eye. They enter a trailer and Walt addresses the man as “Kennedy, you old drunken Irish goon.” Kennedy asks Thao if he has a car. Thao lies and says he’s taking the bus because his head gasket cracked and the guys at the shop are bending him over for $2,100. Kennedy sympathizes and says he just had to pay $3,200 for his own repair. Walt smiles. Kennedy offers Thao work starting Monday.
Walt takes Thao to the hardware store, saying Thao can’t carry his tools in a “rice bag.” Walt buys him a tape measure and tool belt, saying he can pay Walt back after his first paycheck. Thao thanks Walt. They shake hands. The scene cuts to Thao getting off the bus with his hardhat and tools, coming home from work. Spider and his gang stop Thao in an alley and hassle him. Spider asks why Thao has to make him look bad. The thugs hold him and burn his cheek with a cigarette. A few days later, Walt runs into Thao and Thao tells him what happened. He says they took the tools. Walt asks where Thao’s cousin lives. Thao says not to worry. Walt offers him more tools and tells Thao he can get a roofing hammer from the garage.
The scene cuts to Walt watching from his truck as Spider gets in his white Honda. Walt cocks his gun and goes to the front door of the gang members' house. He pulls the one guy in the house (the same one who burned Thao’s cheek) out on the lawn and kicks him in the face until he bleeds. He holds the gun in his face and tells him and his friends to stay away from Thao. Walt threatens that things will get ugly if Walt has to come back there.
We cut to a barbecue with Thao, Sue, and other Hmong people, including the woman Walt calls “yum-yum.” Thao has asked her out on a date and she has accepted. Walt offers them the Gran Torino for the date. Thao is happy and shocked. Later, Walt sits in his living room watching baseball when the white Honda drives by and shoots up Thao’s house with two machine guns. Walt gets his gun and runs next door to see if everyone is alright. Thao has a wound on his neck but isn’t bleeding much. His grandmother and mother are panicking. Walt tells Thao to call their aunt to see if Sue is okay right away. Thao calls but shakes his head.
The scene cuts to Walt sitting at the table with Thao and his mother and grandmother. He wonders aloud what he’s doing there. Thao says maybe Sue’s friends changed plans. A car drives off. The women get up and let Sue in. She is staggering, her face bloodied and eyes swollen shut. She isn’t speaking from shock. Walt drops his drink. He then goes next door and begins destroying objects in his home, cutting his knuckles. He sits down and a single tear rolls down his face. His dog lies next to him. Sometime later, the priest comes in the darkened house. He says the police finally left and no one’s talking. The priest says the Hmong keep their mouths shut. Walt says he’d noticed that.
Walt says Thao and Sue will never find peace in this world until that gang is gone forever. The priest asks what he is saying. Walt says, “You know what I’m saying.” The priest says he took Sue to the hospital and that she is scared. He says Thao is sitting staring at Walt’s door. The priest says if he was Thao he would want vengeance; he would want to stand shoulder to shoulder with Walt and kill those guys. Walt asks what the priest would do. He says he’d come over and talk to Walt. The priest says this pisses him off too. Walt offers the priest a beer; they each have a Pabst. The priest says it isn’t fair, and then asks him what he’s going to do. Walt says to call him Walt. He says he isn’t sure what he’ll do, but whatever it is, “they won’t have a chance.”
Analysis
Sue reenters the narrative when she comes to Walt’s backyard and comments on the irony of Thao washing the Gran Torino he tried to steal. She tries to goad Walt into admitting that he likes Thao, which Walt’s masculinity prevents him from conceding. As usual, he represses any vulnerability and uses insulting language to sublimate his affection.
Walt’s mentorship of Thao continues as Walt tries to impart lessons on masculine behavior and self-confidence. Thao is smart but he is shy. In his first lesson, Walt brings Thao to the barbershop to learn how to speak to other men. Being led into a trap, Thao makes the mistake of addressing the barber with the same abusive language Walt does, not having understood that he shouldn’t use such language to address an older man. Thao tries again, failing miserably when he accidentally says something that makes it sound as though he has been having gay sex with his construction coworkers. Thao’s failure to emulate masculine speech and “man up a bit” is significant because it reveals the extent to which the masculinity Walt displays is a learned behavior rather than an ingrained characteristic.
Thao’s failure in the barbershop is countered with a moment of redemption when he succeeds in lying to Kennedy, the construction site foreman. Noticing that the man doesn’t like the sound of Thao not owning a car, Thao pretends that his car is in the shop and the bill is unacceptably high. The foreman empathizes with Thao, speaking of his own exorbitant mechanic bills. With his mentorship, Walt succeeds in securing Thao a job, and with his job, Thao will have options to earn money that don’t involve joining a gang.
However, the gang continues to harass Thao, breaking his tools when they find him coming home from work. Thao’s cousin perceives Thao’s reluctance to join the gang to be a personal insult. With his masculine ego bruised, Thao’s cousin escalates his violence against Thao, allowing a member of the gang to burn Thao’s cheek with a cigarette. Thao shamefully avoids Walt for a while after the attack, but Walt doesn’t care that his tools were damaged and encourages Thao to take what he needs from the garage. Again insisting on self-reliance and masculine posturing rather than involving anyone else, Walt takes the matter into his own hands by attacking one of the gang members and warning them to stay away from Thao.
Walt’s plan backfires when the gang retaliates with greater force, shooting up Thao’s house and abducting and raping Sue. The consequences of Walt’s violence sit with him as he realizes he underestimated the gangsters and brought about the trauma Thao and Sue have endured. With the gang’s retaliation, Eastwood introduces the major theme of hubris, a concept from Greek tragedy whereby excessive pride leads to a person’s downfall. Too proud to have sought outside help in addressing the conflict, Walt must confront the shadow of consequence that has fallen across his and his neighbors’ lives.
