Check Out the Trailer

Did you know that you have an outstanding bill of $28,000 and its keeps going up every day? It’s your share of the National Debt. Patrick Creadon’s documentary tries to make an unsexy problem in the U.S. enticing. It may be an uphill battle, but he does a very commendable job. If the U.S. ever looses its leadership position on the world stage, it will be because of this issue. This isn’t a Right or Left issue; it’s an issue of America’s survival.

Through the Bush administration years, the National Debt doubled. This was the first time this had happened in non-World War situation in the nation’s history. How did this happen? It’s simple. The federal government was spending more than it was making. Bill Clinton’s administration had balanced the budget and people thought we were on the road to eliminating the debt. But what many didn’t realize was that we had borrowed so much from the coffers of Social Security that the program is near bankruptcy. In the Bush years, between the Iraq war, a costly new drug program and the rising imbalance in Social Security and Medicare, the problem is only getting worse. There will be a day when your taxes will only be going towards paying part of SS and Medicare and the interest on the National Debt.
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Check Out the Trailer

When I first saw the trailer for this Clint Eastwood film, I thought it looked like an old DIRTY HARRY revenge rehash. But I held out faith that marketers go for the widest audience and Eastwood goes for art. I was right to put my faith in Eastwood. While not one of his very best, it is one of his most entertaining and touching.

Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) gives the term crusty old man a new degree of crunchy edges. His wife has died and he can barely force out a grunt at his kids and spoiled grandkids. He’s a man of a different era and doesn’t seem to fit into the modern world. His neighborhood in Detroit is now filled with Hmong immigrants, who he refers to in some colorful language. One night, a disagreement between the next-door neighbor boy Thao Vang Lor (Bee Vang) and some gang members spills over into his yard. He comes out with a rifle and says the already classic line, “Get off my lawn.”
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