Why so much hype?

People are voting emotionally.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Clint Eastwood's 'Honkytonk Man' remains one of his most underrated works. Critics had rejected it. The film came out at a time when movies about glamour, adventure, boxing and organized crime took over Hollywood and as such, there was little place for a small film like 'Honkytonk Man'. This film is about wanting more than what life currently has to offer. It's about wanting to do something, to become something, that would actually make life worth living. This theme is also echoed in Eastwood's 'The Bridges of Madison County' where young housewife who had been living a monotonous life finds love and passion with a traveller.In a way, 'Honkytonk Man' is a road movie but not the conventional kind. Here the focus is not on the journey the characters make to Nashville but on Red's last chance to reach for the sky and on Hoss's growing up. The bond Red and his nephew is also depicted in an unconventional nature that is both endearing and even arguably abusive.On the technical side, the execution is minimal. The cinematography is adequate and music is efficiently used. The sets, especially the landscapes, are beautiful but they don't dominate or intrude on the scenes. Lighting is underused stressing on the darkness of the main theme.Eastwood sublimely plays one of his most vulnerable characters. He also shows a keen liking towards country music. Kyle Eastwood wonderfully downplays Hoss as the naive teenager who, seduced by his uncle's music and independence, finally sees an opportunity out of cotton picking. Alexa Kenin is vivacious as the talentless aspiring singer who seizes her ticket to independence.'Honyktonk Man' isn't without its share of flaws (the pacing is slow at times and many of the subplots appear contrived) but it works very well as a study of relationships, of characters and of growing up. In the end, it feels like a sad poem but not a hopeless one.

Country singer Clint Eastwood and his real life son, who portrays his nephew, go from Oklahoma and the dust bowl to Tennessee so that Clint can sing up a storm at the Grand Ole Opera.Anyone see the resemblance in this film with "Midnight Cowboy?" Both major characters are trying to get somewhere to fulfill a dream while dying of tuberculosis.The two guys are caught in this coming of age film for the nephew. The nephew part should have been made older since in certain scenes the boy looks just that- a young lad.The adventures they are caught in speak for the times they live in. Clint is teaching his nephew how to be a hustler and the boy is a quick learner.As time ran out for Ratso in "Midnight Cowboy," the end approaches for Clint just as he records some music. The boy and his new found lady love head off to the sunset, that is, California, the place where the boy's family has moved to. Will he join them? After all, after his adventures, he is no longer a boy now.

Clint Eastwood, looking drawn, rumpled and weathered, takes a radical, courageous departure from his usual reliably stalwart tough guy persona in this gently moving, defiantly unheroic and very low-key seriocomic 30's Depression-era set drama as Red Stovall, a boorish, feckless, dissolute, alcoholic drifter, failed would-be country-and-western singer/songwriter and general all-around worthless, ill-tempered and irresponsible rapscallion with an unfortunate knack for getting into trouble, messing things up and making life hell for everyone who gets close to him. Slowly dying from tuberculosis, Red makes a lengthy, arduous pilgrimage from Oklahoma to Tennesse to make his dream of performing at the legendary Grand Ole Opry come true, taking his foolishly awestruck nephew Whit (nicely played by Clint's then 14-year-old son Kyle) and his frisky grandfather (a superb John McIntire) along with him. During their eventful odyssey Whit breaks Red out of jail after Red is arrested by drawling good ol' boy sheriff Jerry Hardin for stealing chickens, Red takes Whit to a whorehouse so the boy can lose his virginity, and the group has colorful encounters with an obnoxious, conniving teenage girl (a perfectly irritating Alexa Kenin) who tries to dupe Red into believing he impregnated her, grubby mechanic Tracey Walter, venal highway patrolman Tim Thomerson, and mean, untrustworthy bar owner Barry Corbin prior to Red arriving in Nashville for his do-or-die audition, only to erupt into a coughing fit in front of the hard-nosed talent scout (a marvelous cameo by John Carpenter movie regular Charles Cyphers) while in the middle of belting out the wonderfully regretful and reflective titular song. Eastwood's subtle direction doesn't in any way force the wry humor or delicately heart-breaking sentiment found in Clancy Carlile's folksy, quietly observant script, allowing the story's considerable poignancy to stem naturally from the characters and the experiences they have. Eastwood furthermore delivers an excellent and convincing performance as Red, an atypical Eastwood lead who's initially quite unappealing and only becomes endearing in the picture's tragic closing sequences in which Red's deep-seated yearning to belatedly realize his potential and subsequently be somebody makes itself touchingly apparent. The rest of the cast, which also includes Verna Bloom and Matt Clark as Red's tolerant, long-suffering relatives, are every bit as fine.The elegant, lyrical cinematography by Bruce Surtees gives the film a misty, lived-in look that's a beguiling blend of warm heartfelt nostalgia (Eastwood was born in 1930 and partially grew up during the Great Depression; he traveled about the country with his itinerant laborer father during this troubled time) and scrappy downcast authenticity. Noted country-and-western producer Snuff Garrett was the music supervisor for the stand-out soundtrack; such famous and revered singing stars as Ray Price, Porter Wagner, Frizzell and West, blues singer Linda Hopkins, and especially Marty Robbins have telling bit parts -- Robbins, who died shortly before the movie opened theatrically, has a lovely moment as a back-up session musician who assumes lead vocal chores when Red becomes too weak and sickly to finish the song himself. Eastwood sings a few numbers with a frayed, raspy, worn-out baritone -- it's a hoarse, yet affecting croak which bespeaks countless years of hard living and heavy drinking with a bracingly matter-of-fact directness. Why, "Honkytonk Man" even comes complete with a provocative philosophical message: Sometimes it's the people you expect the least from who teach us the most about life. Unjustly vilified by most critics and ignored by audiences when it first came out, this tender little gem deserves to be rediscovered as one of Clint Eastwood's most surprising and adventurous as well as thoughtful and underrated change-of-pace cinematic excursions that he has ever made to date.

This film is one of Eastwood´s most compelling and strikes you right at the heart. It tells us a story with such a warmth and compassion about a theme as old as America itself. It is about a man and his love for his nephew, his music and his his desire to make a name for himself before his TB´ll end it all. Though Clint´s voice isn´t the best it does however strengthen our understanding of the motivation of a man that is running against time in a setting that is both harsh and unforgiving. The movie´s depiction of the depression is outstanding and the songs are stupendous. Watch for Marty Robbins who also sings half the theme song. All in all an outstanding movie that will stay in your heart for a long, long time...