Do you consider "Walt" from "Gran Torino" a racist character?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Do you consider "Walt" from "Gran Torino" a racist character? (Page 1 of 2)

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:02:56 AM EDT

Discuss

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:03:28 AM EDT

[#1]

No, next!

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:04:03 AM EDT

[#2]

By today's standards he is considered a racist, but to me he just seemed like a grumpy old man.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:04:24 AM EDT

[#3]

No, he speaks to everyone the exact same. Uncouth maybe, racist? absolutely not.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:04:38 AM EDT

[#4]

No, and Get off my lawn!!!!!

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:06:10 AM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
No, and Get off my lawn!!!!!

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:06:20 AM EDT

[#6]

IF you measure a man by just his words..............yes.

IF you measure a man by his actions...................no.

Aloha, Mark

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:07:01 AM EDT

[#7]

No.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:08:34 AM EDT

[#8]

No, he's just an asshole.

I hope to be like him when I grow up.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:10:40 AM EDT

[#9]

He is just a crusty old fucker that has lived life.

My wife says that I am going to be just like him in another 10 years.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:11:23 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Discuss

Are you bored?

Prejudiced? Perhaps.

Bigoted? Eh, not really as he recognized that the young girl was a really good person and her family were good people as well. A bigot would never admit that his or her prejudices were wrong. (Dictionary.com).

Racist? Where the hell did you get that idea? I don't recall him touting Caucasians as superior to other races in that movie. Were we watching the same movie?

John

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:11:25 AM EDT

[#11]

I think Walt hated everyone equally.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:12:03 AM EDT

[#12]

Just a man who refused to falter to PC bullcrap.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:13:00 AM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:

IF you measure a man by just his words..............yes.

IF you measure a man by his actions...................no.

Aloha, MarkACtio

Actions speak louder than words.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:14:31 AM EDT

[#14]

Quoted:
He is just a crusty old fucker that has lived life.

My wife says that I am going to be just like him in another 10 years.

Ha, mine told me the same thing ! "That's gonna be you in a few years babe"

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:15:40 AM EDT

[#15]

I've been that guy since I was 30

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:16:01 AM EDT

[#16]

Quoted:
Just a man who refused to falter to PC bullcrap.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:19:44 AM EDT

[#17]

Quoted:

Quoted:
He is just a crusty old fucker that has lived life.

My wife says that I am going to be just like him in another 10 years.

Ha, mine told me the same thing ! "That's gonna be you in a few years babe"

And to round it off, my g/f said "Wait, is his name Phil?"

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:20:21 AM EDT

[#18]

No. He talked shit to everyone regardless of race. He might've used racial terms when talking to them, but he'd use racial terms on anyone. He was an equal opportunity curmudgeon. Reminds me a lot of my late grandpa.

A racist man wouldn't have stood still and gotten shot to death to help a family of Asian immigrants.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:24:19 AM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:
No, next!

this

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:25:19 AM EDT

[#20]

Quoted:

A racist man wouldn't have stood still and gotten shot to death to help a family of Asian immigrants.

Yep.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:25:56 AM EDT

[#21]

He was just "Old School".

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:25:59 AM EDT

[#22]

Nope... I'm sure Al Sharpton would disagree

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:29:50 AM EDT

[#23]

Polacks, nips, slopes, gooks, jews, spooks, waps.....did he miss anybody? Nope.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:32:23 AM EDT

[#24]

I did not seen anything in the movie to suggest he was a racist. Of course, 99% of America does not know the definition of a racist.

A name caller maybe, but nothing else. His actions speak louder than his words.

Curmudgeon for sure.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:34:01 AM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

I think Walt hated everyone equally.

Just like that classic line in "Dirty Harry".

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:35:24 AM EDT

[#26]

No.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:39:42 AM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:

Polacks, nips, slopes, gooks, jews, spooks, waps.....did he miss anybody? Nope.

Pretty sure I'm a racist now because I can spot more than a few missed from that list.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:45:48 AM EDT

[#28]

Quoted:
I did not seen anything in the movie to suggest he was a racist. Of course, 99% of America does not know the definition of a racist.

A name caller maybe, but nothing else. His actions speak louder than his words.

Curmudgeon for sure.

Yes......the "definition part" is the key to understanding.

But, today's "popular thinking" has laid down the rules............

Use the N word and you're a "racist."

Own an AR15 and you have an "assault weapon."

Got that?

Mind you........I'm NOT saying that I agree with today's "popular thinking."

Aloha, Mark

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:48:45 AM EDT

[#29]

I was happy my 15 yr old son saw the movie. Racist , NO!!

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:53:46 AM EDT

[#30]

There's a reason they made such a big deal about his relationship w/ his barber.

Posted: 6/17/2009 6:55:25 AM EDT

[#31]

His actions at the end of the movie prove he was not a racist. Just a grumpy old man who saw his neighborhood crumble around him.

Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:00:26 AM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
No, he's just an asshole.

I hope to be like him when I grow up.

Definantly...with an M1 in the middle of the suburbs waving around like its nothing...and a big chew and some brewski's on the porch

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:03:20 AM EDT

[#33]

Quoted:
Nope... I'm sure Al Sharpton would disagree

Well of course, if it got his ass on TV to talk about anything he would do it

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:04:52 AM EDT

[#34]

How do so many of you like this STUPID movie?

God, it was one of the worst films I have seen in a long, long time. How it got so many award nominations is beyond me.

All it consisted of was an awkward, racist old man being a dick to everyone before suddenly having a change of heart, taking the even-more awkward troubled youth under his wing, and then hashing it out with the most homosexual gang members I have ever seen on film...hell, the gang members from West Side Story made those guys in Gran Torino look like pussies.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:06:21 AM EDT

[#35]

No.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:06:59 AM EDT

[#36]

Uh, yeah, I'd say he was a racist.

Oh, and a terribly overrated movie, decent at best. People act like the "Get off my lawn" scene was the greatest moment in cinematic history.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:07:53 AM EDT

[#37]

Yeah...calling someone "gooks" and "niggers" is definitely not racist.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:08:56 AM EDT

[#38]

No. He was a bigot, but his actions spoke louder then words.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:25:59 AM EDT

[#39]

Quoted:

Yeah...calling someone "gooks" and "niggers" is definitely not racist.

Guess you didn't read the part about actions speaking louder than words.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:27:52 AM EDT

[#40]

He was a white male.

All white males are racist.

Your question is silly.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:29:15 AM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:

Quoted:
No, and Get off my lawn!!!!!

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:30:17 AM EDT

[#42]

_MaH

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:30:26 AM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Yeah...calling someone "gooks" and "niggers" is definitely not racist.

Guess you didn't read the part about actions speaking louder than words.

Blah - that's a bullshit answer.

Would your wife be alright with you calling her "bitch", "ho", and "slut", so long as you bought her flowers and vacuumed the living room?

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:36:21 AM EDT

[#44]

I hope to be just like him when I'm that old.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:39:43 AM EDT

[#45]

I consider him prejudice not racist.

The movie shows that.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:39:50 AM EDT

[#46]

I don't think he's racist. His language is the language of pre-PC people.

Like others have said: he doesn't like one type of person better then others. He hates the all equally.

Posted: 6/17/2009 7:40:28 AM EDT

[#47]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Polacks, nips, slopes, gooks, jews, spooks, waps.....did he miss anybody? Nope.

Pretty sure I'm a racist now because I can spot more than a few missed from that list.

Eggroll...

Rob

Posted: 6/17/2009 8:03:04 AM EDT

[#48]

Quoted:
Yeah...calling someone "gooks" and "niggers" is definitely not racist.

Who gives a fuck? It was a movie. Taken in context, it wasn't racism. His own sons and his skank grandaughter were treated as badly, and the common theme was "they all earned it".