A 90 year old horticulturist and Korean War veteran takes a job to transport cocaine from one destination to another for a Mexican drug cartel.
Blaine: Clint Eastwood hasn’t acted in a movie for six years because he keeps saying he’s retired from acting, but if there is ever a part he feels suitable for he jumps back into acting. This new character, Earl Stone, Clint has taken on is based on a real life person named Leo Sharp, who was caught transporting cocaine. Leo Sharp’s story was in the New York Times and screenwriter Nick Schenk (Gran Torino) read it and was amazed that someone at that age would do something illegal. It also made Nick curious to know what Leo was going through. Nick found Leo so fascinating that it gave him the idea to write a story based on him. Nick went to Clint Eastwood and told him about this script he was developing based on Leo Sharp. Like Nick, Clint was curious to know what Leo was going through. It sounded like another interesting project for Clint Eastwood to direct and he decided since he was the same age as Leo Sharp, that he should play the main character. Leo Sharp had been dead for more than a year before the script was put together and there was no one else to talk to that knew him, but Clint Eastwood had ideas of who this guy was and that’s what he brought to his perfjoamcne as Earl Stone. Earl Stone is a very likable person to everyone in the movie, except for his family. Earl was never there for the family because he was always putting work before them. Earl and his wife, Mary, have been divorced for years, but there is times Earl tries to get close to Mary again. Dianne Wiest had always dreamed about being in a movie directed by Clint Eastwood, but an opportunity never came her way. Dianne thought it was impossible to be in a Clint Eastwood film because she was getting old and didn’t think there was anything suitable for her to play in one of his movies. But then her dream finally came true. Dianne got a call from Clint Eastwood offering her the part of Mary and she was speechless. Being in a film directed by Clint Eastwood and acting opposite him was like being in a very popular jazz band for Dianne Wiest. Dianne knows how talented Clint is because he can do a lot of things, act, direct and write music. Any actor would have a huge privilege to work with a legend like Clint Eastwood and that’s what a lot of the actors in “The Mule” felt, especially that they got to act in scenes with him. They didn’t care what the movie was about, they just wanted to work with Clint. It’s a great group of actors to play these small parts in “The Mule”.
“The Mule” focusses on Earl a lot because the movie is all about him and he’s a very interesting character for Clint to play compared to the other characters he has played in the past. Earl has trouble adapting to the world of today with all the technology like cellphones and computers. He’s old fashioned. Earl’s a people person, has a great sense of humor, loves the ladies, is a kind person, but a terrible husband and father. It’s like Earl doesn’t belong in the family at all. Earl’s daughter, Iris, who was played by Clint’s Eastwood’s real life daughter, Alison, can’t stand to be next to Earl or look at him. Earl was never there for Iris’ graduation, birthday parties, or to give her away at her wedding. Makes Iris feel he doesn’t care about her at all. Iris shuts Earl out of her life. The only person in the family who accepts Earl is his granddaughter, Ginny, played by Taissa Farmiga. Ginny has been sticking up for Earl all her life and Earl is there for her wedding and graduation. Earl loses his job as a horticulturist, someone who nurses a garden, because he has gone bankrupt. The real life person, Leo Sharp, loved plants. He believed plants are what cheered people up and were created for a purpose and Earl’s job before being a drug mule was plants. Earl gets offered a job that’s easy to do. Earl doesn’t know what the job is except to transport bags in the back of his truck and he doesn’t care what is in those bags. He just follows orders and does whatever he can do to get payed. It isn’t till Earl's third drive that he begins to get curious to know what he is transporting. Finding out that he is carrying cocaine in the back of his truck is a shocker for Earl, but still he doesn’t care because the pay is very good. While Earl was working with flowers he would bust his ass just to make that money. But now that Earl is making enough money in the drug business he has more time for his family, even though they still don’t want him in their lives. Earl puts the money to good use to provide for the things and people he cares for most in life. Earl is very kind to the people he works for and they love him, but there is one person who doesn’t trust Earl at first. His name is Julio and he has to keep an eye on Earl to make sure he does his job, even though Earl always does a fantastic job and hasn’t proven himself wrong yet. Earl earns Julio’s trust when he helps get a cop off his back. Later, Earl tells Julio that he should do something better in life instead of being in the drug business and find something he is passionate about. Julio doesn’t understand why anyone would say that to him. The drug business then gets run by dangerous people and I think Julio realizes Earl was right that being in the drug business is not worth being killed over. However, Julio knows he can’t turn away and if he wants to survive he’s going to have to cooperate with the drug business.
Whenever Earl has to trick a cop, he just acts like his regular average self because that’s who he is and he is smart about getting his way through cops. Clint Eastwood was reunited with actors he had worked with before to play the agents in the DEA, Bradley Cooper (American Sniper), Michael Pena (Million Dollar Baby) and Laurence Fishburne (Mystic River). Bradley Cooper’s character, Colin Bates you don’t see much of during the first half of the movie. Colin is after the people in the drug business and then he learns there is a drug mule transferring the cocaine and his main objective is to find this mule and he won’t stop till he is caught. Earl meets Colin Bates at a motel he is staying at and even though Earl is aware that Colin is a cop he is not afraid to have a conversation with him while eating breakfast at a restaurant. Colin realizes he has missed his wedding anniversary and Earl gives him advice to not be like him. Someone who misses out on important things in life. Earl has a regretful look on his face for the things he has missed in his life and Colin takes his advice. Everyone who has been involved in making a movie directed by Clint Eastwood has to work fast. Clint wants the actors to rehearse just a few times and everyone has to be prepared on what they are going to do while shooting each scene, like how the actors are going to perform and where the camera is going to be. “The Mule” didn’t take long to make. It was shot during the summer of 2018 and it didn’t take that long to be cut together for it’s December release date. Clint Eastwood works fast for someone at the age of 88.
During his last trip, Earl is informed by Ginny that Mary has cancer and she doesn’t have that long to live. Earl knows he has to finish the job first, but Mary can go at any time and Earl makes the right decision. Earl gives himself a vacation from transporting drugs for something more important, even though he is aware he could get into serious trouble with the drug cartel. Earl finally listens to the message and that is "family comes first". Earl did the right thing because he could look back and regret not being there for the only woman he shared a life with. They may be divorced and Earl has fooled around with a lot of women, but still they never remarried or had children with anyone else or fell in love with anyone else. Earl also becomes closer to his family than he ever has. Earl makes Mary’s last days happy. Their daughter, Iris, is starting to forgive Earl. Earl even attends Mary’s funeral. When Earl gets busted he is followed by a police helicopter, police cars and an ambulance Colin Bates used for undercover. Colin and the police have been on the road checking out every black truck to find this drug mule and now they have a lead. In real life, Leo Sharp got busted after a traffic cop pulled him over during one of his trips. So Leo’s arrest isn’t as big as Earl’s with a lot of cops on his tale. It’s shocking to Colin Bates to see the mule he has been after this whole time is the nice man he met at the restaurant. Bates doesn’t know what to think because it’s hard for him to arrest a man he has grown fond of. Earl goes to court and he pleads himself guilty on all charges which is shocker for everyone in the room, Earl’s family, his lawyer and the officers who caught him. Earl takes full responsibility for what he has done and that is a very brave move. Earl has lived a long life and he’s at a late age so it probably doesn’t matter to him if he gets out of this or not. Plus Earl is happy enough that he did something right and that was be with his wife as she was on her death bed and be accepted by his family. Leo Sharp only spent a year in prison and got an early release due to his poor health. In the end it shows Earl working on plants while he’s in prison.
