“Taxi Driver” / “Raging Bull” screenwriter Paul Schrader denounces “Cry Macho” by Clint Eastwood: “It fails in all areas”

Clint Eastwood has just released his latest film, in which he is once again star and director.

In “Cry Macho,” the 91-year-old Hollywood icon plays Mike Milo, described in the film’s synopsis as “a former rodeo star and stranded horse breeder who, in 1979, takes on the job of an ex-boss. to bring back the young son of man from Mexico. Forced to take side roads to get to Texas, the unlikely couple face an unexpected and difficult journey, during which the world’s weary rider finds unexpected connections and his own sense of redemption.

While the film received mixed reviews and an average score on Rotten tomatoes, screenwriter / director / former film critic Paul Schrader spoke scathingly of himself.

RELATED: Clint Eastwood Makes Macho ‘Overrated’ In First ‘Cry Macho’ Trailer

“I can understand the urge to give Clint Eastwood a pass, but has any prominent American director made a movie as bad as’ Cry Macho ‘from Howard Hawks” Man’s Favorite Spot ‘?” Schrader wrote on Facebook Friday.

“He fails in all areas: scriptwriting, lighting, locations, sets, accessories, wardrobe and casting. When Eastwood at first uses a photo under the car of a boot hitting the ground, I thought, ‘Great, he’s going to riff on the stylizations of macho westerns’ – but that was the last interesting composition in the film. , continued Schrader, who wrote the screenplays for critically acclaimed Oscar winners like “Taxi Driver” and “Raging Bull,” and most recently wrote and directed the acclaimed 2019 drama “First Reformed”.

“Sure, Clint is given a few cliché passages about the futility of machismo, but these only have value because a shrunken ‘Dirty Harry’ gives them voice,” Schrader added. “This character information was valuable 30 years ago. It was like listening to a criminal apologize to the family of his victims in the hope that the judge would reduce his sentence. “