Saturday, May 26

Pre-Willennium Tension: Men In Black III Reviewed

Movies & Television We don't know why there's a third Men in Black, but we reviewed it anyway, even though it screened a... More

May 25, 2012 04:35 pm by AP KRYZA | Comments 0

A Little Big Disaster: Battleship Reviewed

Movies & Television Battleship, the gargantuan-budget sci-fi action-adventure based on a Hasbro board game and starring ... More

May 21, 2012 10:47 am by MATTHEW SINGER | Comments 2

Grimm Recap: The Girl with the Dragon Breath

Movies & Television Grimm, Season 1, Episode 14: "Plumed Serpent"Beast of the Week: Damonfeuers, dragon creatures who ca... More

Mar 13, 2012 03:18 pm by MATTHEW SINGER | Comments 0

Grimm Recap: The One with the Hitler Demon

Movies & Television So I took last week off from these recaps (read: I never found time to watch the episode), but lucki... More

Mar 5, 2012 02:26 pm by MATTHEW SINGER | Comments 1

News Music Movies Food&Drink Arts&Books Features

Blogs Columns City Guides WWPresents Classifieds Calendar

Home - Blogs - Staff Blogs

February 6th, 2012 By Aaron Mesh | Movies & Television |

See That Wieden+Kennedy Super Bowl Ad With Clint Eastwood? It Was Directed by David Gordon Green

Plus it was written by Lents poet Matthew Dickman

6 Comments

Tags: Wieden + Kennedy, Super Bowl, david gordon green, clint eastwood, Chrysler

Clint Eastwood pitches Chrysler at halftime - Wieden Kennedy

Another Super Bowl, another PR coup for Wieden+Kennedy. By overwhelming consensus, the ad agency's "Halftime in America" ad for Chrysler—which we've confirmed was produced by the Portland office—was the best commercial during the game. It's probably the most Wieden+Kennedy thing Wieden+Kennedy has ever done, and the most moving thing Clint Eastwood has appeared in since he growled that song he wrote himself at the end of Gran Torino.

But lost in the Monday-morning hullabaloo over whether the ad was not-so-secretly pro-Obama is this fact: "Halftime in America" was directed by David Gordon Green.

Suddenly, a whole lot makes sense: Wieden+Kennedy has long added gravitas to its commercials by hiring first-rate directors (including Errol Morris and Alejandro González Iñárritu), and this Chrysler spot is buoyed by the poetically rusting machinery Gordon Green made a trademark in George Washington and All the Real Girls (yes, my favorite movie of the last decade).

But considering that admirers of Gordon Green have been bemoaning his long, mostly mirthless foray into Apatow stoner comedies, it's fairly amazing (and/or disturbing) that his return to affecting heartland imagery comes in a Chrysler commercial.

Good day's work for Wieden+Kennedy, though. In a year, will we be saying the Portland ad agency saved the careers of Barack Obama and David Gordon Green?

UPDATE, 4:17 pm: There's another local connection. Eastwood's halftime speech was written in part by Lents poet Matthew Dickman, the Tin House poetry editor.

Let's go to the tape:

PRINT COMMENT FONT SIZE RATE

Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
1
2
3
4
5

02.06.2012 at 04:15 Reply

We need more than Clint to save this country, from Obama. You failed to mention this political ad was filmed in New Oreleans. No one wants to go to Detroit.

02.06.2012 at 05:11 Reply

JLucius

I am from Detroit. Kudos to Clint Eastwood and more kudos to President Obama. For all the people out there who have never visited the Detroit area or don't understand what we represent to this nation, you are missing something really special. Those of you who criticize us don't have a clue. Hope you never hit hard times. I love my city and I love that our president fought for us.

02.06.2012 at 05:42 Reply

castro

I thought it was a nice gesture of an ad, but it doesn't solve or address the underlying issues. The US isn't competitive anymore in the manufacturing realm.

The car companies HAD to go bankrupt so they could finally sweep those choking contracts and labor deals away.

Steve Jobs was asked by Obama if they could build the iPhone in the US and Jobs emphatically said no way. Our factories simply won't move fast enough or take the risks other countries that are hungry will. We're too fat and comfy. Sure, they may have poor labor practicies - but Jobs quit making any of his products here years ago for that reason.

And as for Detroit - it has imploded from a population and city standpoint - and will NEVER recover. Witness the streets and streets of burned-out and abandoned homes that'll never get tennats again.

We'll make cars there for a long time, but innovation and real quality (i.e. I want to buy one of your cars vs a Toyota/Honda) are years and years away - if they ever come back at all. I doubt it and don't see that changing because of some ad.

02.07.2012 at 11:31

bigredlie

Complete tripe. Propagandic, lacking any insight or intellegence. Basically telling you to step in line in the wait for the elite to take you behind the woodshed. Garbage. Filth. Screw Weiden-Kennedy, screw Clint Eastwood, and screw David Gordon Green. I will never watch either one of their films again...ever. This commercial isn't so much pro-Obama as it is pro-America/fck everyone-else-when-we-go-bomb-the-shit-out-of-Iran-keep-your-mouth-shut-and-keep-doing-your-job.

02.06.2012 at 06:00 Reply

Tara

Notably, they photo shopped out the union logos and signs in the Wisconsin protest footage. So, no props to Wieden & Kennedy on this, please.

http://www.thenation.com/blog/166082/chrysler-super-bowl-ad-features-wisconsin-union-rally-edits-out-union-signs

02.06.2012 at 07:26 Reply

Chad

Very nice work, Weiden Kennedy. A positive message at a time when we seem to drowning in pessismism, hate, bitterness and defeatism. I'm not going to nitpick tiny faults because it doesn't perfectly match my politics; instead I'll just appreciate it for what it is, a refreshingly optimistic advertisement that, while shilling for cars, communicates a need for determination and teamwork.