Tightrope (1984)

Touches You

Must See Movie...

Great Film overall

good back-story, and good acting

"Tightrope" is indicative of how veteran star Clint Eastwood has so often been willing to take chances with his film vehicles. Here Clint plays Wes Block, a New Orleans detective investigating the case of a sexual predator. The case gets more personal when both cop and killer realize that they're not so different. Wes, you see, does like to frequent after hours joints, and he's a known customer to some French Quarter ladies.While not altogether successful - it lacks the style and tension to make it something truly special - it is, at the least, a fairly interesting character study, of a character who's not squeaky clean. We see Wes' happy home life - he's a single father to two girls, and owner of several dogs - contrasting with the less appealing aspects of his existence. Writer / director Richard Tuggle, who'd scripted the earlier Clint vehicle "Escape from Alcatraz", does his best to give us a film that attempts to take a look at the "dark within all of us". There's even a line to that effect, spoken by a minor character played by Janet MacLachlan.We do see the psycho (character actor Marco St. John, "Friday the 13th: A New Beginning", "Thelma & Louise") in the act of stalking a woman right from the get go, so there's no mystery about what he looks like. That does put a crimp in the suspense.Clint does well in this unconventional hero role, doing solid work as always. He co-stars with his real life daughter Alison, and Jennifer Beck, as his kids, the typically excellent Dan Hedaya as his partner, and Genevieve Bujold as a tough talking counsellor at a rape centre, who naturally places herself in harms' way by becoming involved with Wes.Where the film is its strongest is in its depiction of N.O., capturing the night life in an American city known for its atmosphere.Not a great film by any means, but worth a look for Clint fans.Seven out of 10.

Tightrope is a very dark, seedy, suspense thriller with a noir like atmosphere written and directed by Richard Tuggle. Clint Eastwood plays Wes Block, a divorced New Orleans police officer with two daughters ( the older daughter is Alison Eastwood , Clint 's own daughter ). There is a killer on the loose , preying on various hookers in the red light district of New Orleans and Wes Block is on the case.Tightrope is a very interesting and psychological movie that explores many sides of the Wes Block character .Genevieve Bujold is a woman who runs a rape crisis center and Clint 's love interest. Clint does an excellent job in this by portraying this flawed , but tough detective . The sex and violence is not gratuitous and this murder mystery plays out in a fairly classy fashion . Tightrope is one of Clint 's most different of his cop thrillers , it is also one of his best. Tightrope is a very well made film and one of Clint 's most wild walks on the darkside.

I entered into this expecting to have a Dirty Harry style experience, but what's actually on offer is more like a neo-noir Sleazy Harry. It's a cop on the hunt of a serial killer thriller that plays out like a middling episode of 'The Equalizer', only about sixty minutes longer (yawn). Naturally, Clint or 'Wes Block' as he's called here, is our cop while the killer in question is a mask wearing Scooby Doo escapee who we never really see until the end reel. Now i don't have a problem with that, but some things make the criminal comical when i'm sure that wasn't the intention. Twice in the film we see the murderer mere yards away from Wes, at the crime scene seemingly taunting our hero, but really you just want to shout 'He's behind you!', in true panto spirit. Tonally, writer/director Richard Tuggle goes dark. It's a near humourless, straight up affair that depicts Wes on one hand a devoted father, and on the other an arrogant, sex obsessed womaniser. There's a few light-hearted and amusing moments between him and his two young daughters but none of much really stacks up to a great deal and inevitably it all falls flat with a series of predictable murders, plodding pacing and a laughable finale.

This was produced by the same outfit that did the Dirty Harry movies, but Clint is playing a slightly different character here.Set in New Orleans instead of San Francisco, Clinton plays homicide detective Wes Block, who is investigating the murders of prostitutes. Only one little problem. Wes likes to secure their services himself. The killer soon realizes his adversary's weakness and exploits it.The movie has its good parts, especially Eastwood's performance. But some of the weaknesses.1) The obligatory, "Oh, we are in New Orleans" scenes. So we see Mardi Gras, above ground Cemeteries, a Paddleboat, Oysters. Because this is New Orleans.2) Genieveve Bujold. - She's not pretty and she can't act.3) Lots of chase scenes and other filler. This was about 45 minutes of plot stretched out to two hours. The Harry Movies were much tighter.4) Everything involving his home life. One of the girls was Eastwood's daughter, making it just a bit creepier. Running joke about the younger one using an adult phrase was uncomfortable. I guess the writer needed these scenes to contrast the light part of Block's character to his darker side, but they are just uncomfortable.