(2013-05-20 03:23:46)

A forgotten gem

One of Clint Eastwood's biggest flops and least-known films, Honky Tonk Man is one of his best 'small' films, casting the star as a country and Western singer dying of consumption while on his way to grab a last chance of fame by cutting a record in Nashville with his estranged son (Kyle Eastwood) tagging along. A character-driven low-key road movie with a well-realised Depression era setting, it veers from the redneck comedy of his orangutan outings to the darker undercurrents of Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, with the characters gradually working their way into your affections to make the underplayed ending genuinely touching.

Derek Adams

(2013-05-19 03:46:09)

The whole thing veers wildly in quality, and no Eastwood-hater should go within a mile of it; but few lovers of American cinema could fail to be moved by a venture conceived so recklessly against the spirit of its times.

(2013-05-19 04:07:14)

Clint went too far...

Let me say, right off the bat...Clint Eastwood is one of my top 3 favorite actors (Pacino and DeNiro are the other 2). You just can't beat the Dirty Harry movies! After a few successful Dirty Harry films, Clint decided to try comedy country music-tinged movies in the form of "Every Which Way But Loose" and "Any Which Way You Can"--and struck gold. I also enjoy those two movies for what they are. But then I guess he figured he could do no wrong--lol--and thought, "Well, I'd like to make a film about a country singer, and I CAN BE THE SINGER!" OK, that's crossing the line...Clint's singing voice sounds too much like his speaking voice--too whispery. His singing just plain doesn't cut it, sorry. He looks the part--looks a lot like pictures of the legendary Hank Williams--but he's not much of a singer. I know he's a musician, and I think it might be that he actually plays his piano parts in the movie (not sure, but some of his "piano acting" looked pretty real), kind of doubt he did his own guitar playing. But anyway, I know he is quite the music buff, and the songs in the movie are pretty good...not great, but good.Some non-musical aspects of the movie are lacking, too. I thought the stowaway girl was a fairly expendable character--she was mildly funny, but I don't think her character added much to the plot. The movie was just weak, overall. Kind of funny in some parts, but overall corny and cheesy. The cop scenes were dumb, too.So I can just hear the suits at Warner Bros. chewing Clint out after making this movie..."OK, Clint, you're mojo is wearing off on these folksy comedies...it's time for another Dirty Harry, movie...OK??"--haha. And lo and behold, one year later...Sudden Impact! With the all-time greatest movie catchphrase..."Go ahead, make my day!" Now THAT'S Clint Eastwood in top form! :-)So I consider Honky Tonk Man one of Clint's career low points. There are much better movies like this one from that time period...Urban Cowboy, The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia, and Honeysuckle Rose come to mind. I recommend those way over Honky Tonk Man.

dgpdolphin

(2013-05-18 16:09:48)

Definitely worth seeing again

I was Totally impressed with the realism which was magnificentlycaptured and depicted throughout this movie! I found many occasionsthroughout the entire movie to laugh and thrilling times of holding tothe arms of my chair intensely sitting on the edge of my seat.. and yesdefinite moments of genuine sadness!The young lad who played Hoss impressed me with how well he portrayed alad of the time! I believe this young man has fabulous qualities. ISure am looking forward to seeing more movies with Him. I applaud ClintEastwood who portrays realistically a trueness of his characterrole.... But enough before I give it away ... Definitely worth Seeingagain! Personally I would like to see on Screen most of these actorsand actresses again in the near future! Definite Congratulations also for the choice of songs and to all thesingers and writers with thanks also for all those who are off screenmaking a movie such as this possible to be viewed!

steve-214

(2013-05-16 16:27:46)

Honkytonk Man Has A Few Moments But Not Enough Of Them!

Clint Eastwood plays Red Stovall, a country music singer trying to get toNashville before he dies of Tuberculosis. Kyle Eastwood co-stars and doespretty well, but Honkytonk man fails on many levels.Kyle Eastwood'scharacter Whit see a movie poster advertising a film made in 1934 butEastwood drives a classic 1937 Lincoln throughout the entire film. A 1939Chevy can also been seen in the one scene of a jail break. There are somebrief cameos of country music legends including Marty Robbins who diedbefore the picture was released. Guitar,Singer Songwriter Merle Travis isseen as one of the Texas Playboys.

gridoon

(2013-05-16 07:09:11)

Uneven effort from Clint.

"Honkytonk Man" is one of Clint Eastwood's most offbeat and atypical films;unfortunately, for the first hour, it is also one of his dullest. The storyjust doesn't seem to move forward or to lead anywhere. But then some briefamusing moments start redeeming it somewhat, and in the last 30 minutes itturns into a full-blooded (but never aggressive) weepie and getsconsiderably better. Eastwood de-emphasizes his usual facial expressions andone-liners here, and he isn't much fun to watch, but in the end he handleshis difficult dramatic moments (like the scene where he tries to keepsinging even though his disease has clearly worn him out) surprisingly well.As a whole, this personal effort from Eastwood is uneven, often tiresome butfitfully very interesting.

nitratestock35

(2013-05-14 12:48:32)

the story of many a musician

...and for that matter any human being.Clint Eastwood's little masterpiece is filled with insights of humannature and our dreams and how futile but nonetheless honorablethey are in most cases.Watch out for many keys to understand low(er) class white Americansand how music is one of the very best ways to bring them togetherwith, or at least closer to, African Americans. Without gospel, bluesand jazz - three styles developed by black people in the US duringthe early 20th century - there would (arguably) be no country music andofcourse no pop music (as it is today).I am a musician and this little masterpiece certainly means a lot tome and my colleagues all over the world. This movie definitely is a metaphor of life and Clint Eastwood uses hissecond passion after cinema, music, as thebase but it contains so much more deep philosophy and homagethat I do not hesitate calling it a small masterpiece.IMHO Honkytonk Man is for Clint Eastwood what Little Man Tate(1991) is for Jodie Foster - only better, much better. Just thinkabout the fact that Clint went back (explained in a monologue) forhis skinny girl. After all he did love her. It takes cojones to make a movie like that. Great work Mr.Eastwood.

Paul Emmons

(2013-05-14 01:09:38)

Verismo!

The critics didn't like this film, but I beg to differ. Perhaps I'mnaive and gullible, but to me it rings true in its local color and thecoping of poor people in the Depression amidst the aspirations of youngand old alike.My father, a published author in a small way, once mused to me that ifhe were to write a novel, it would be about someone trying to come toterms with his own mediocrity. Such is the theme of this movie, andhardly typical a consideration it is in a time when the media bombardus coast to coast, for our adulation, with the glamorous images of amere handful of individuals who happen to have landed vast fame andfortune. What does any of this have to do with most of us? On the onehand, we live day to day. On the other, a recurring dream whispers"maybe..."Knowing that he is living on borrowed time, Red, humble andhand-to-mouth but respected more than he knows by a few somewhat moresuccessful colleagues (and an unusually fallible and vulnerablecharacter for Eastwood, which he plays well) is granted, in extremis,an apparent opportunity to reach for the stars. More down-to-earth, heis also fortuitously blessed/burdened with not just one but two youngproteges: first his nephew, then also a girl at loose ends. Perhapsneither is particularly talented; nevertheless both have a claim on hisattention which he reluctantly fulfills in his own unassuming way,while making no exalted pretenses as to their prospects. When on hisdeathbed he can do no more for them, he commends them to each other."You take care of her, now" he rasps to Whit. "She's okay. Help herwith her singing." While they may never reach celebrity, the texture oflife can sustain them if they face it together.As, dying and perhaps delirious, he gazes up into Marlene's face, hesees the "raw-boned Okie woman" he had loved for several years as amistress, and whom he later had regretted leaving. She had borne a girlwhom he had never met. Marlene was a fatherless waif of about the rightage. Did he recognize at the last moment his long-lost daughter? It isa question which the film leaves hanging in the air. Does genealogymatter? In practical terms, that is what she became almost too late.For my money, it's a raw-boned, American Okie "La Boheme."

(2013-05-13 19:02:31)

If your baby leaves you, and you've got no place to go, call me up sweet baby, & bring along some dough, & we'll go honky tonkin

In 1982 Clint Eastwood released Honkytonk Man. It was clearly a labor of love, of the music, and a chance for him to make a movie with his son, Kyle, who looks to be about 13 or 14 years old. The story resembles The Grapes of Wrath--Oklahoma farmers escape the dust and tornadoes and The Great Depression. But instead of California, Red Stovall (Clint Eastwood) wants to go to Nashville and audition at The Grand Ole Opry. The rest of the family goes to California, but his nephew, Whit (Kyle Eastwood) somehow persuades mom and dad to let him go with drunk uncle Red. He is fascinated by Uncle Red: his hat, his car, but most of all his guitar and music. His Uncle has two problems, though. He is a raging alcoholic, and he is dying of TB. Whit is the designated driver for the rest of the journey, and what a journey it is. I happened to glance at some other reviews that were heavily critical of the music, saying some of it wasn't authentic for the time period. I say that he might have stretched it a bit here and there, but the music was so good, that minor quibbles like that are quickly quashed. Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, or at least a very reasonable facsimile, as well as a blues singer in the vein of Bessie Smith, are a few of the many musical highlights. The story is great, too, as Uncle Red shows his nephew how to tune a guitar, steal chickens, and even takes him to a brothel. If you weren't so caught up in the story, you might realize that the parallel story was Clint showing his son Kyle how to act in a movie, and introducing him to the Honkytonk life. Kyle Eastwood has grown up to be a musician, and he plays bass for his own big jazz band. Perhaps his fascination with the guitar wasn't acting at all. The story, based on a novel by Clancy Carlile, who also wrote the screenplay, never gives in to easy sentimentality, but it tugs at the heartstrings, and is gritty where it needs to be. Clarence Lawson Carlile's father was half Cherokee, and he was born on a Choctaw Indian reservation. He worked in Texas picking cotton until his sharecropper family moved to California to pick fruit. He began writing while in the Army during the Korean War and later received a Master's degree from San Francisco State University (my alma mater, by the way). His first novel, "As I Was Young and Easy" (1958), was written in 17 days. Red's struggle with tuberculosis was a harsh reality in those days, and TB also took the life of Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman. Like Rodgers, Red Stovall knows he is dying, but he just wants to record some songs, do something that matters, before he dies. Honkytonk Man matters, and I recommend it wholeheartedly, it is one of Clint Eastwood's neglected masterpieces. 10 Films Starring and/or Directed by Clint Eastwood. Million Dollar Baby (Two-Disc Widescreen Edition) (2004) .... Frankie Dunn, Director The Bridges of Madison County (Deluxe Widescreen Edition) (1995) .... Robert Kincaid, Director Unforgiven (1992) .... William 'Bill' Munny, Director Bird (1988) .... Director High Plains Drifter (1973) .... The Stranger, Director Dirty Harry (1971) .... Insp. Harry Callahan Play Misty for Me (1971) .... Dave, Director Paint Your Wagon (1969) .... Pardner Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966) .... Blondie ... aka The Good, the Bad and the Ugly(USA) Per qualche dollaro in piГѓВ№ (1965) .... Monco ... aka For A Few Dollars More(UK) (USA)

(2013-05-13 04:25:40)

Excellent Depression-Era Depiction.

I like Clint Eastwood movies and last night I watched "Honkytonk Man." It's a big change of pace for Eastwood, that's for certain. He plays a loser among losers in depression-era America and a wannabe country singer headed for Nashville and the big chance of a Grand Ol' Opry appearance. He's with his nephew (played ably by his son). Although billed as a comedy, it's really a rather dreary story and there aren't any winners. I think it might be best viewed as a period piece and the movie does a rather good job of depicting people and their environments in the Great American Depression. Most of the movie looks like it was filmed in Nevada rather than in the route from Oklahoma to Nashville, and the modern stripes on some of the roads are a dead giveaway that it's just a movie and that someone was not careful enough with the little details.In playing a country singer, Eastwood sings his own songs and my advice would be not to give up his day job. It's a rather good cast and I'm wondering how they could find such a dreary, beat-down group of people, but they fit the depression era setting perfectly. Kudos to the makeup people! Make no mistake, this is a good movie. It's not one of Eastwood's best movies, but is well worth watching especially for the depression era depiction.Gary Peterson

brendans

(2013-05-10 22:24:46)

Honkytonk Man

I liked this movie.I thought it was good.It had good acting.It had some good music.It had a gun.It had a police car.

(2013-05-10 10:08:17)

Clint can't sing, well anyway, but that is OK.

This review is from: Honkytonk Man (DVD) Eastwood will never hit the music charts But the acting by all those involved was great. Surprised that it good a PG RATING since Eastwood's son experienced a brothel--no bare bodies--but the story line was realistic and held my attention.There is a stand-in vocalist for some of the songs, which is unmistakable even though they sound alike.The movie is certainly like no other Clint has done but I thought it worth watching and added it to my collection.

D.W. Debtor

(2013-05-10 16:02:47)

Underappreciated

I guess your mood and your audience determine how this movie hits you. Today they drown out the candy crunchers and cellophane rattlers by turning up the explosions, but if your audience is making all kinds of racket during this quiet gem, I'm afraid you're lost, love.

psagray

(2013-05-09 22:03:27)

"Honkytonk Man" is one of the best performances of Eastwood.

We consider "Honkytonk Man" as a minor film and Eastwood's personal,however, and suggest the outlines of a great film director who knowswhat kind of movie you want and interests you do. Throughout the filmit is clear, not only by history tells us, but because the narrativeused as Eastwood goes to the models of the great classics, the film mayget an irregular, but by no means devoid of interest, and we anticipatethe Eastwood of future masterpieces."Honkytonk Man" is a bitter and deeply sad film, falls somewhat in thetypical pattern of "road movies" with an uneven script, but with goodhits for not being slighted, and some decent performances, which makeit advisable, see this film.Probably the most atypical film by Clint Eastwood, away completely fromthe picture we had used. This unusual road movie tells the decline of aman desperately seeking one last chance to give meaning to their lives.The film does not impose any moral message, is limited to displayingyour images through the portrait of a harsh society, a film chaired byunhappiness and pessimism. Another example of the talent that longbefore this film and Eastwood had recently was recognized.As an actor, Clint produced one of his best works.

(2013-05-03 23:44:14)

The Eastwood Team

I enjoyed the film very much over all.The acting was well done,which showed the skill of the Director in bring out the talent of each individual actor. I am not sure if the singing and guitar playing of Mr Eastwood was actually done by him or a professional country Western musician. I do think Marty Robbins contributed a great deal to the ending and perhaps it was in some part his sing and playing that inhanced Mr Eastwood in his partI did wish that more scenes could have involved the radio stations of that error but that was not any detraction from the picture.I am sure it is difficult for a parent to capture the attention of a son or daughter in a work setting for long periods of time. The very fact of how this film turned out is of special significance to the sucess of the relationship between father and son. Well done gentlemen!

Rob Gonsalves

(2013-05-03 06:11:45)

One of the unnoticed treasures of the '80s.

dbdumonteil

(2013-05-02 00:04:19)

Anti hero.

It took a lot of nerve in the early eighties,in the days ofRocky,Indiana Jones and "fame" to portray such a human wreck.Eastwood'scharacter recalls Hank Williams,one of the few country singers whosesongs experimented tragedy ("I'll never get out of this world alive").The difference lies in the fact that the singer here will remain anobscure artist.A road movie,it features an interesting boy character who learns theharsh realities of life.In the short space of a couple of days,he willhave experimented love (first in a brothel,then probably later with thegirl they met along the road) and death (he'll have to cope with aburial).The young female "singer" they -reluctantly-take with themprovides the movie with the comic relief it does need:you should hearher sing "My bonnie" in a shrill voice.The ballads Eastwood sings are moving and tuneful(I don't know if he isdubbed for them,but anyway it's made with taste and respect for theaudience).The audition is the highlight of the movie,Eastwood seems tosing as if it were a matter of life and death(and it is anyway).Theactor/director avoids pathos and melodrama.Once again,it was a veryrisky move to play such a character at a time when success story wasthe golden rule.The movie was bound to be a flop,but it deserves to berestored to favor now.

Eric Henderson

(2013-05-01 10:19:16)

Clint Eastwood's dust bowl drama Honkytonk Man is a sensitive road picture about a mostly luckless aspiring country music singer.

Strider_1978

(2013-05-01 21:22:35)

Truly an under rated gem.

I think I know what I'm doing wrong these days with films. With certainexceptions, I'm looking for a good time at the movies when many of thefilms that are produced lack so much of the quality that can be seen inthe films that do not gain as much of a reputation. I would havenormally over looked this film. The only reason I viewed it was becauseit is part of a movie trilogy with Clint and Clyde. Honky Tonk is avery honest portrayal of the life of a stricken county singer and hisfamily.It is well shot, well scripted and well acted. It's not attempting toentertain it's audience with anything flashy because really it doesn'tneed to. Sometimes a film must be viewed for it's story and how well itis made, and not for the fireworks that many of todays films feel theneed to incorporate because of audience attention span. Another one ofmy all time favourites, No Country for Old Men managed to do somethingsimilar, in that it gave you the 'feel' of a part of a hard world wherethe characters felt and seemed real. It didn't need to try to be flashwith anything because we were so involved with the characters and thephotography that we didn't care about the fancy trimmings.As far as character driven, well made films go this is is definitelysomething to watch. It is sometimes hard hitting, and won't win anypopularity contests save with those of a discerning, approving eye forgood pictures.Recommended.

Alan Evans

(2013-05-01 09:10:51)

Makes the characters come to life.

As soon as I saw this movie I knew that the critics wouldn't like it.The characters are too real and don't have issues like creating greatart. Instead they are all slightly offbeat in an ordinary sort of way.What appealed to me was how they survived in the Depression. There is amental toughness in the characters that I couldn't help but admire.They don't have any sophistication but above all they come across asvery real.The film has a real sensitivity and shows the ups and downs of ordinarypeople.For me it was a real winner.