Fallen Hero

Wraith stumbled on something here - turns out Clint has been playing versions of the same character for decades and has filled in the backstory of Walt from Gran Torino with footage from Heartbreak Ridge 22 years earlier which works surprisingly well. Events in HR inform and mirror the ex-vet's cynicism and makes the character richer and more sympathetic and turns GT into something more grand and meaningful, potential that was there the whole time. Even minor continuity errors that couldn't be masked work in that Highway in HR seems to bounce from commission to commission and his past remains a dark ghost as much as the specifics.

I'm dinging the Video quality a point only because it's SD (you can't have everything) but this isn't to imply there's any sloppy work. Soft dissolves early on turn into hard cuts once you have the lay of the land. Anyone who loves either of these films or Clint owes it to see this. I have a soft spot for HR (having seen it many times on cable way back) and also think THAT film is improved in my mind by this edit.

This mix of two similar films really works.

I finally got round to watching this fanedit and simply brilliant. As echoed with other reviews here, the two movies worked beautifully together and really enhanced the narrative and character of Walt in Gran Torino. I hadn't seen either of the two films but brought the dvds in order to get a fresh experience and as Todd Howard says "it works". The flashbacks were well timed, the editing was smooth, the narrative was strong and compelling. Overall brilliant job Wraith.

This edit is justification for the art of fan editing. It takes great elements from two exceptional movies and makes a whole different experience. The editing is flawless, the audio was great. I was very impressed with the cuts where they may have called him Thomas "Highway" . I know they were in there.

Minor quibble and so minor it doesn't lose any points because I could be convinced as to why it makes sense, but in the Gran Torino section he clearly states that he got his lighter from the First Cavalry (Army), and in Heartbreak Ridge he rejoins the second recon team (Marines) that he was a part of in Korea. Blink and you miss it, though. And if some war buff told me that they worked in tandem... I can't prove them wrong. Just something that stuck out to me.

Altogether incredible enjoyable narrative experience and it truly adds depth to what would n0rmally be a mysterious character.

I previously enjoyed both of the source movies for their own merit, so I was looking forward to this as I started it up on a recent flight across the country.
Wow, it was great. In fact the two stories linked so well I actually wanted more flash backs. This isn't just for Clint fans, it's for fans of story telling and knowing what drives a character to become who he is.
The removal of family background detail allowed the movie to concentrate on the relationship between Walt and his neighbors. The flashbacks are well timed and linked consistently to the current situations that Walt finds himself dealing with.
Excellent work ^_^

Second fanedit, second review, second Wraith movie.

I have not ween either of these two films so I came in cold on this one.

I have to say, yes I can work out what cam from which film, but that's becaise Clint looks younger and I know that one was thematically a boot camp movie and the other not. But heck, what an amazing film. I was so impressed. Did they really not film this as i just viewed it? Completely flawless in every sense from my point of view. Audio, visually, thematically even how the flashbacks corresponded to the scenes preceeding and following each transition. I really thought the handful of hard cuts away from a flashback were very well judged.

In fact, i immediate watched gran Torino after (which I bought with Heartbreak Ridge online) so I could watch this and found the experience to quite light in comparison. That's when I appreciated not just how well some of the scene re-ordering played out, but also how diferent the feel of the film was given the sparse addition of the flashbacks.

But the real shocker for me was the ending. I don't want to spoil that for others but the lame gran Torino song was so depressing. I suppose that was the intent but in Wraiths hands the ending was uplifting and triumphant in a way the original does not even come close to. What an inspired choice of music (I should say no more).

This fanediting stuff is transformational indeed in ways I could not imagine.

I'm hooked and this is now burnt, in an amray case next to my other Cline movies.

I going to check out some other editors next but I want to watch all this editors stuff too and do not have the time. I'll roll the dice. Next time I'm on the homepage I'm watching the third from the right in the featured edits.

This is (as stated below) a must for clint fans!

BRAVO MY MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!