No, really. Clint Eastwood sings on the titular “Gran Torino” song. Warner Bros. has put up a For Your Consideration site that includes most of the music and score of the film (Eastwood is an accomplished musician and has been scoring his own films for years now).
So yeah, it’s Eastwood’s music (actually his son Kyle composed the score this time), he stars, he directs, big deal, right? It’s just par for the course on his movies. Well, now he sings and he kind of sounds like a warbling toad that was once Tom Waits. It’s kind of hilarious to hear. We’re not sure who the other voice is (sounds vaguely Bono-ish), but the song is written by Eastwood, Jamie Cullum, Kyle Eastwood and Michael Stevens (we’re pretty sure it’s the cult teen keyboard idol Jamie Cullum). The song is the last track on the WB site, presumably that means it plays in the closing credits.
Our thoughts on “Gran Torino” changed when we read the Nick Schenk-penned script which is so surprisingly decent it might even get nominated for an Oscar. The film screens this week so we’ll all know if its actually Oscar-worthy or not soon enough. Chud points to a song that Eastwood sang in the 1969 western, “Paint Your Wagon.”