For "Classic Car", different people gave colorful interpretations, some saw an old tough guy, some saw racism, some saw the separation of families, and some saw "the decline of American unilateral hegemony" . I saw, or thought I saw, a lost American dream.
The American Dream belongs not only to foreign gold diggers, but also to native Americans. Walt Kowaski, played by Eastwood, lived in the Midwest where Native American culture was born. However, he is the only white man in the community, the Hmong people kill chickens next to his lawn to tell fortunes, the black gang and the gang of gangsters of Hmong immigrant descendants scold each other for "go back", as if it was their country originally, and the nurses in the hospital are South Asians, doctors are Chinese.
Judging from the name, Kowaski's ancestors came from Poland, but still belonged to the orthodox American WASP, that is, "Anglo-Saxon White Puritans". Redneck in American English refers to stubborn, conservative, rough-behaved Midwestern tough guys who are decent, warm, unsmiling, masculine men who love endless beers and hard-boiled jokes. Kowaski is one of them. He returned to his hometown with the shadow of the Korean War and a shining medal, and lived a life of simplicity and steadfastness. One day, his wife died, leaving him alone in the world. His son and daughter-in-law miss his house and classic car, and his granddaughter plays with her phone at the funeral. In the face of distant families and immigrants all day long, Kowaski stands alone by his values: freedom, justice, personal struggle, that distant American dream.
His son looked at the Toyota car, and he said angrily: can't you buy Amercian? Hmong gangs were fighting on the lawn of his house, and he pointed a rifle to their forehead: Get off my lawn! He doesn't believe in the police, but in private ownership weapon. He is nosy, but he does not allow others to invade his property.
Gradually, he became friends with Thao, a young Miao nationality, although his understanding of Thao was limited to the fact that this young man recognizes him well and that Asians are good at mathematics, and he insisted on calling Thao Toad, and also mocked Thao as a Zipperhead who did not dare to pick up girls. In the short time together, he taught Thao what he had learned in his life, and passed on the American dream to a stranger. Knowing that his oil lamp was about to run out, Kowaski had nothing to worry about, and decided to die, leaving a bright future for Thao. The country may be theirs, and as long as the American Dream lives on, it doesn't matter whose it is.
From Dirty Harry to the good, the bad, the ugly, to "Classic Cars", Eastwood has grown old all the way.
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