Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.5

Cry Macho 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

New country for old man.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III December 10, 2021

Besides for the fact that it's directed by and starring a 91 year-old living legend who just won't quit, perhaps the most interesting thing about Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho is that he's been sitting on the script for five full decades. This slow, methodical film follows retired cowboy Mike Milo (Eastwood) as he drives to Mexico City on a mission to bring back his former boss's 13 year-old son, Raphael (Eduardo Minett), who now lives with his mother Leta (Fernanda Urrejola). The reason? Mike's exactly the kind of guy that Raphael (or "Rafo") might listen to... and as the parent of a near-teenager, I can certainly understand the notion that, sometimes, your kids just need advice from someone else.

Mike's is a long and languorous journey; one that was only supposed to take a few days on the fistful of cash from Rafo's dad, Howard (Dwight Yoakam), but the job balloons to several weeks after Mike is forced to deal with a few roadblocks along the way. For starters, his first stop at Leta's luxurious home leaves him empty-handed: she flatly informs him that Rafo's turned to crime and spends most of his days cockfighting with a prize rooster named Macho. Once the two finally meet, Rafo surprisingly seems interested in returning to his father and grabs a few belongings (including the rooster, just for fun) but Leta intervenes, threatening Mike and sending a few henchmen to follow them. This makes their return trip to Texas a bit more difficult; that, and Howard's reasons for wanting his son back have changed. Mike and Rafo end up hiding out in a cantina owned by kindly Marta (Natalia Traven), a single grandmother who lets them stay the night. But it's still a long road home, with Mike biding his time while teaching Rafo about life, machismo, and regret, hoping to strengthen the boy into a young man in time to meet his waiting father.

It's a nice sentiment and the journey shared by Mike and Rafo is fitfully entertaining, with episodic breaks that include cattle rustling, an abandoned church, a relaxing evening bonfire, two or three bursts of action, and even a bit of Horse Whisperer-style animal rehab (which the film actually ends up sharing strands of spiritual DNA with). But Cry Macho is mostly thin and frustratingly uneventful, asking a lot of patience with only the bare minimum of emotionally engaging drama to tie everything together. The supporting performances are hit-or-miss, which has plagued more than a few Eastwood-directed films, including Gran Torino, and the editing is just as loose as you'd expect. Even Eastwood, who still gets around amazingly well -- and apparently hadn't hidden a horse since the Unforgiven days -- is more than a few years late to the role, which can't help but strain the credibility of several action and romance-related scenes. Had a 70 or 75 year-old Eastwood hopped back in the saddle, this would have been a more believable ride.

Full disclosure: I'm not the biggest fan of Eastwood's late-late period work (both as an actor and director, although I'm more likely to enjoy his output in the latter department), so I didn't exactly have sky-high expectations going in. Even so, any themes beyond its core narrative just feel too lightweight and familiar for their own good, which never allows Cry Macho to build any kind of lasting emotional momentum. And while it's always good to see the living legend doing what he obviously loves, the 50-year journey from script to screen -- which included a pitch to Eastwood in 1988 (who said he was too young for it, ironically), an unfinished project in 1991 starring Roy Scheider, and another one in 2001 starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, of all people -- just doesn't seem like it was worth the wait. Regardless, Warner Bros. has doubled down on Cry Macho (despite its crushing box-office disappointment) by issuing a Blu-ray and this separate 4K release, even though at least two more deserving films were limited to Blu-ray only earlier this year.

For a similarly lukewarm take on the film, please see Brian Orndorf's theatrical review.

Cry Macho 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Since my initial viewing of Cry Macho was on Blu-ray, I was honestly not anticipating a great deal more out of Warner Bros.' 4K presentation; both come from a 2K source and, for the most part, this isn't a visually ambitious film or even one loaded with bright, eye-catching color. Where this 4K presentation mostly excels is encoding and fine detail, as the superior resolution of its upscaled source image reveals a mostly tighter and more stable image that suffers from no extraneous digital drawbacks like banding and other compression artifacts (which the Blu-ray handled quite well in its own right, to be fair). Nonetheless, this yields more visually impressive results in close-ups and especially wide-shots of the New Mexico landscapes where Cry Macho was shot, from sun-baked canyons to darker moments captured in low natural light. HDR enhancement steps is on several occasions to provide its own brand of support, mainly in the areas of overall saturation and specific color values; again, it's not a night-and- day difference, but subtle improvements pave the way for a richer overall viewing experience. Typical for the studio, it's presented on a dual- layered disc (BD-66) and runs at a consistently high bit rate from start to finish -- roughly double its Blu-ray counterpart.

NOTE: This review's screenshots are sourced from the separate Blu-ray release and obviously do not represent this disc's native image. For more 1080p screenshots, please see my review linked above.

Cry Macho 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix packs a bit more weight than expected: while Cry Macho clearly offers a dialogue-driven story (and a rather subdued one at that), it opens up nicely during different stops on Mike and Rafo's journey. From a few convincing weather-related effects to sporadic bursts of action and even a few outdoor conversations heightened by discrete channel activity, this can be a surprisingly active mix at unexpected moments and one that also benefits from a solid original score by Mark Mancina. While it won't exactly test the limits of your surround system from start to finish, there's little room for improvement here and that's enough to earn it decently high marks.

Optional subtitles, including English (SDH), are included during the film and bonus features.

Cry Macho 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This two-disc release arrives in a standard keepcase with rugged cover art and no slipcover (despite the fact that those deep into 4K collecting are much more likely to care about such things); a Digital Copy redemption slip and promotional insert are also included. The extras are minimal but certainly welcome.

• Back in the Saddle: The Making Of "Cry Macho" (12:17) - A fairly basic but enjoyable behind-the-scenes documentary, this piece includes comments from Eastwood, co-writer Nick Shenk, producer Albert S. Ruddy (also 91!), and all key members of the cast including Dwight Yoakam, Eduardo Minett, Natalia Traven, Fernanda Urrejola, and Horacio Garcia Rojas (as "Aurelio", one of the henchmen pursuing Mike and Rafo).

• Macho and the Mustangs (7:13) - Eastwood and a few returning participants go into a little more detail about Clint's long-time love of animals and the horse-riding scenes in the movie, from learning to ride again to tight camerawork in close, dangerous quarters and even a bit of on-set horseplay (*rim shot*).

Cry Macho 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho is a well-meaning but ultimately flat return to the the actor/director's cowboy years, with a mostly slow and uninvolving story that never builds real momentum aside for a few intermittent highlights. Even so, the living legend's most die-hard fans might find more magic in its framework and, at the very least, it's good to see Eastwood clearly enjoying himself. Warner Bros.' 4K offers a superior picture than its Blu-ray counterpart, although both discs have identical audio mixes and bonus features. The main issue? This one's a lot harder to come by as, like most recent Warner 4K releases, it's available online only and in limited quantities. Try before you buy.