In an indirect homage to Ronald Reagan's famous "Morning in America" political ads from the early 1980s, actor and Republican stalwart Clint Eastwood stole the Super Bowl show Sunday night with Chrysler's "Halftime in America" commercial.

"This country can't be knocked out with one punch," Eastwood growls. "We get right back up agan and when we do the world's going to hear the roar of our engines. It's halftime, America."

The commercial, as posted on YouTube, although Chrysler and the NFL have been pulling it off and on over copyright issues:

"It was superb," Kelly O'Keefe, professor of brand strategy at Virginia Commonwealth University, told CNN immediately after Chrysler's "It's Halftime in America" spot aired during the Super Bowl on Sunday. "They had the courage to take the power of emotions. I got goosebumps."

Damon Lindelof, one of the creators of ABC's "Lost," tweeted immediately after the commercial ran: "That settles it. I'm voting for Eastwood in November."

The lengthy Chrysler spot featured Eastwood, who starred in and directed the acclaimed Detroit-centric film "Gran Torino," as he extols the hardscrabble virtues of Motor City and America.

The spot was reminiscent of last year's Chrysler commercial, which featured the Detroit rapper Eminem and celebrated the battered city's scrappy, all-American can-do attitude, CNN said in its report.

Here is Ronald Reagan's famous "It's Morning in America Again" ad: