Cry Macho

Clint Eastwood's latest film is a sauntering tale of a broken-down bronco buster sent on a rescue mission to retrieve a friend's (Dwight Yoakum) renegade teenage son (Eduardo Minett), who is running wild in Mexico City with his fighting rooster, Macho. Most of the movie is about the old gringo and the young firebrand busting each other's chops on a circuitous journey to Texas.

Eastwood is a steady and reliable filmmaker, even with material as relatively uninspired as this. He has included some beautiful desert vistas and a sweet romance between Eastwood's aged saddle tramp and the winsome proprietress (Natalia Traven) of a homey cantina in a lonely Mexican village. That may be the picture's saving grace.

Cry Macho, while not up to Eastwood's usual standards, is warm and by-the-numbers, awash in dust and fading sunlight and charm.