Even though he has taken relatively few acting roles in the last decade, Clint Eastwood has never stopped directing movies. In fact, as a director, he’s as strong as ever. The latter half of his filmmaking career includes SULLY, AMERICAN SNIPER, MILLION DOLLAR BABY, MYSTIC RIVER, and RICHARD JEWELL, all of which add up to a strong run!

All that said, it takes something special for Clint Eastwood to get in front of the camera lately. His only two dramatic leading roles in the last decade are in his own THE MULE, and TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE, directed by Eastwood's longtime producer Taylor Lorenz.

Now Eastwood returns as director and actor with CRY MACHO. That's cause for celebration for any Eastwood fan. Let’s take a closer look at what makes CRY MACHO so special.

You can start crying - macho or not - on September 17. That's a release date that functionally kicks off this year’s award season. By the time it's all said and done, the awards landscape will almost certainly include CRY MACHO, given Eastwood’s track record.

Yes there is, and it features all the grizzled Clint Eastwood greatness you can handle. You can see the trailer just above. It's got jokes! Sadness! Punching! Chickens! What more do you want from a movie? CRY MACHO has it all.

Clint Eastwood plays Mike Milo, a retired rodeo star. Down on his luck and filled with regrets, Mike’s old boss tasks him with one last job: Traveling to Mexico to bring back the boss's wayward son, who has fallen in with some tough customers. It’s not going to be easy. Mike and the kid don’t exactly hit it off right away. But if anyone can do it, Clint’s the guy.

The film is a modern Western... but not that modern, as it takes place in the late 1970s. That means that tough guys are actually tough guys and vehicles still look cool and no one has their noses buried in cell phones all day long. It’s a perfect time for a grizzled cowboy and a young whippersnapper to bond around campfires while tending to an ornery rooster.

Will the kid find a new father figure to admire? Will the old cowboy find redemption after a lifetime of mistakes? We’ll have to see CRY MACHO in order to find out!

At this point, it goes without saying that Clint Eastwood is in CRY MACHO. He's the movie's number-one draw. Eastwood has been a unique screen presence for over half a century, and his old age doesn’t seem to be affecting his charisma and technique yet. When he punches a guy in the trailer, you still believe it. And when he makes a joke, you can’t help but wish you were there laughing at it with him.

But there are other folks in the film too. A lot of them are relative unknowns — and Eastwood has a great track record of finding just the right talents for important roles. Newcomer Eduardo Minett plays Rafo, while Natalia Traven (COLLATERAL DAMAGE) appears as Marta. The cast also includes Fernanda Urrejola ("Narcos: Mexico") as Leta and Horacio Garcia-Rojas (also from "Narcos: Mexico") as Aurelio.

Finally, Dwight Yoakam appears in the film as Eastwood’s old boss. Yoakam automatically improves every film he’s been in, so it’s great to see him here.

Clint Eastwood directed CRY MACHO! Eastwood is great at setting up situations so that actors can do their thing. He doesn’t throw in big stylistic embellishments or artistic flourishes. And that’s exactly why so many people respond to his work. He gets in there, gets it done, and gets out of the way. His films are simple and effective. Based on the trailer, CRY MACHO looks to offer more of that same, dependable quality we expect from all Clint Eastwood films.

And CRY MACHO is scripted by Nick Schenk and N. Richard Nash based on Nash's own novel. Schenk also wrote the last two Eastwood movies in which the director also starred: THE MULE and GRAN TORINO. That should tell you quite a lot about the likely tone of this third collaboration.

CRY MACHO opens on September 17!

All images courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.