The Mule

This one came out in 2018, and I had every intention of seeing it. As fate would have it, I didn’t get to see it until last night via the magic of Amazon Prime. Clint Eastwood has been one of my favorite actors for as long as I can remember. Like so many others, I was a huge fan of his “Spaghetti” westerns. portraying "The Man with No Name," as well as his other cowboys as in The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Unforgiven. Of course, I was equally drawn to his Dirty Harry cop movies, and  who didn’t enjoy the comedies like Every Which Way But Loose?

I have a special love for the movies Eastwood has done as a senior citizen. Gran Torino was an absolute classic and at the tender young age of 89, he turns in another classic performance as both actor and director in The Mule, playing an older, sort of, 90 – year- old professional horticulture expert.

As a man of plants, Earl Stone is an award winner, and a good provider for his family. That is until the economy tanks. His family has nothing to do with him, feeling that he always put his work before them, so he has no one to turn to for help. Broke, alone and facing foreclosure on his property, Stone takes a job as a drug courier for a Mexican cartel. His immediate success leads to easy money and larger shipments that soon puts him on the radar of DEA agent Colin Bates (Bradley Cooper). When Earl's past mistakes start to weigh heavily on his conscience, he must decide whether to right those wrongs before law enforcement and cartel thugs catch up to him.

Dianne Wiest is at her best as his understandably bitter ex-wife, Mary, who obviously still loves the man, regardless of his past actions. Taissa Farmiga, younger sister of actress Vera Farmiga (Bates Motel), plays Earl’s granddaughter, the only person who seems willing to give him an entry point back into the lives of the family.

The film is based on a true story. This is a good one, folks.

Four and One Half Stars

-Michael Buffalo Smith