Eastwood's film, while also boasting great acting, is the only one that challenges America's current triumphalist daydream. It does so not because it has any politics or takes a stand on assisted suicide, but because it has the temerity to suggest that fights can have consequences, that some crises do not have black-and-white solutions and that even the pure of heart are not guaranteed a Hollywood ending.

What makes some Americans feel betrayed and angry after seeing Million Dollar Baby is exactly what makes many more stop and think: one of Hollywood's most durable cowboys is saying that it's not always morning in America, and that it may take more than faith to get Americans through the night.

Haven't seen the movie myself. I have noticed that a lot of modern critics seem to think that any movie that makes you feel like slashing your own wrists afterward must be high art.

The attitude of the writer of the article is obvious, even if Clint's is more moderate. There is something about other people's (or nation's) successes and triumphs that make certain kinds of people want to tear their hair out. They're the ones who bust their asses trying to find the clay feet on any hero, and enjoy grim satisfaction at failure and disaster. "See? Life is a bowl of shit, isn't it?" I can tell you without further research that this guy was drunk for a week after Bush won the election, and another week when Iraq had one.

I had my fill of movies like this back in the seventies, when "arty" movies had a tendency to have something pointless and awful happen to the main character at the end, just to show how Futile It All Was.

It was a hoot when Star Wars, something simpleminded, but above all unfailingly positive, blew the doors off all the rest.

Does making this movie make Eastwood a commie? Cripes, no. I've read enough interviews to know that he was much more interested in exploring a human crisis than he was in pushing an agenda. Even a cursory look at the films he has produced and/or directed would show an immensely wide range, from low comedies, upbeat movies, dramas and biographies, and darker films. Good luck pigeonholing Clint Eastwood.

Okay, so my own favorites tend to be movies like "Bronco Billy," or "Josie Wales." So sue me. I just happen to like films with a powerfully positive sense of life.

As for me, I'm damn glad Christopher Reeve didn't kill himself when he found out he was paralyzed. The world ended up a lot better off because he didn't. Glossed over in this article is the fact that a lot of paraplegics took a dim view of this film as well.