In the drama written for the screen by author Nash (who died in 2000) with contributions from co-writer Nick Schenk (Eastwood films “Gran Turino” and “The Mule”), Eastwood plays a decorated onetime rodeo star who, after losing his wife and child, spirals into alcohol despair. It’s the late 1970s, and he’s forced to take a job from a former boss to bring that man’s young son home and away from his own alcoholic parent, resulting in a treacherous journey from Mexico back to Texas.

“It’s about a man who has been through some hard times in his life and then unexpectedly another challenge is brought to the foreground,” Eastwood told Entertainment Weekly. “He would normally never do it but he is a man of his word. He follows through. And it starts his life over again.” This is Eastwood’s first film as a director since 2019’s “Richard Jewell,” which he didn’t star in. Eastwood was even attached to star in “Cry Macho” as early as 1988, but he instead opted to reprise his role as Dirty Harry in “The Dead Pool.” The film also stars Eduardo Minett, Dwight Yoakam, and Fernanda Urrejola. Photography on “Cry Macho” kicked off in November 2020 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, before heading off to Belen, New Mexico, with shooting wrapping on December 15, with Eastwood employing a massive cast and crew despite the restrictions of the pandemic at the time. Eastwood last directed himself in 2018’s “The Mule,” playing Leo Sharp, a World War II veteran who becomes a drug courier for a cartel.

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