With an iconic image that encompassed the "Man With No Name" persona in the spaghetti western he did for Sergio Leone in the 1960's, and his steely performances as Dirty Harry Callahan in five movies, it is sometimes a bit too easy to overlook how complex a figure Clint Eastwood has shown himself to be over time, both in front of and behind the camera. The tough guy persona has made him a hero of the political Right in America, even though he himself is a more commonsense conservative; and subsequently it has tended to obscure equally valid and more humanistic roles such as the one he essayed in the 1976 western classic THE OUTLAW JOSEY WALES. But throughout his career, he has done roles that a lot of actors would not touch with a ten-foot pole. One such role could be found in the highly underrated 1984 suspense thriller TIGHTROPE, his first venture into this Hitchcock-inspired territory since his own 1971 directorial debut PLAY MISTY FOR ME.
Set in New Orleans, TIGHTROPE puts Eastwood into another cop role, but this one is the more complex role of Wes Block, a New Orleans cop investigating a series of killings involving call girls in the seediest parts of the city's famous French Quarter. As it happens, he has an unavoidable predilection for such women of the night, even though he is also a family man for his two children. The methods the killer uses against these women are roughly the same, and pretty brutal; and what makes things even more disturbing, as time goes on, is the fact that, as more cal girls fall victim, they all share a link with him in that Eastwood is always the last one to have seen them alive. While continuing his investigation of the crimes, he becomes "chummy" with a steely rape counselor (Genevieve Bujold), and they discus the sexual proclivities of this serial killer. It isn't too long, however, before the killer gets awfully close to Eastwood, and suspicion falls on him (he himself even believes at times that its him that's doing all these things). When his own daughter (Alison Eastwood) is almost raped and killed during a break-in at Eastwood's house, it is just a short step before his investigation becomes a quasi-revenge manhunt.
Having just come off doing his fourth turn as Dirty Harry in 1983's SUDDEN IMPACT (which he also directed), Eastwood teamed up with first-time director Richard Tuggle, who had also scripted the 1979 prison drama ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, which he starred in under his mentor Don Siegel's direction. Much like PLAY MISTY FOR ME, and, perhaps on an even greater level, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and THE BEGUILED, the character of Wes Block in TIGHTROPE allowed Eastwood to explore his darker and more vulnerable side, this while also venturing into the seedier areas of sex and violence that used to be starkly defined by those on the Right, both in Hollywood and in America in general during the age of Reagan. The seedy aspects of the story contrast starkly with Eastwood's character's family life, making TIGHTROPE every bit as intriguing and similarly steamy 1980's film like BODY DOUBLE and BODY HEAT. There are also, of course, the unavoidable parallels to Hitchcock's classic films, notably PSYCHO, ROPE, and FRENZY, but Tuggle isn't so brash as to think of himself as another Hitchcock (or even Brian DePalma). The dark and seedy nature of the New Orleans French Quarter is well-conceived by both Tuggle and veteran Eastwood cinematographer Surtees, with Lennie Niehaus, who had helped orchestrate previous film scores for the likes of Lalo Schifrin and Jerry Fielding, making a solid scoring debut here with New Orleans jazz and blues motifs.
Given the notorious anti-feminist stance that long put him in good stead with the Right, Eastwood manages to mix it up well with Bujold, whose realistic character in TIGHTROPE has close parallels with her role in Michael Crichton's 1978 medical thriller COMA. The film's very title, contained in a remark made by Bujold that we often "walk a tightrope" between good and evil, is letter perfect for the plot on hand; and while the subject matter may be distasteful at times, and perhaps a disappointment for Eastwood's more macho male fan base fringe, the end result in TIGHTROPE is one of his best and most underrated films, hugely atmospheric, suspenseful and downright frightening in ways that so many ultra-violent slasher horror films, full as they are of sex and blood and guts, never were and never could be.
TIGHTROPE gets a '10'.
Set in New Orleans, TIGHTROPE puts Eastwood into another cop role, but this one is the more complex role of Wes Block, a New Orleans cop investigating a series of killings involving call girls in the seediest parts of the city's famous French Quarter. As it happens, he has an unavoidable predilection for such women of the night, even though he is also a family man for his two children. The methods the killer uses against these women are roughly the same, and pretty brutal; and what makes things even more disturbing, as time goes on, is the fact that, as more cal girls fall victim, they all share a link with him in that Eastwood is always the last one to have seen them alive. While continuing his investigation of the crimes, he becomes "chummy" with a steely rape counselor (Genevieve Bujold), and they discus the sexual proclivities of this serial killer. It isn't too long, however, before the killer gets awfully close to Eastwood, and suspicion falls on him (he himself even believes at times that its him that's doing all these things). When his own daughter (Alison Eastwood) is almost raped and killed during a break-in at Eastwood's house, it is just a short step before his investigation becomes a quasi-revenge manhunt.
Having just come off doing his fourth turn as Dirty Harry in 1983's SUDDEN IMPACT (which he also directed), Eastwood teamed up with first-time director Richard Tuggle, who had also scripted the 1979 prison drama ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ, which he starred in under his mentor Don Siegel's direction. Much like PLAY MISTY FOR ME, and, perhaps on an even greater level, HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER and THE BEGUILED, the character of Wes Block in TIGHTROPE allowed Eastwood to explore his darker and more vulnerable side, this while also venturing into the seedier areas of sex and violence that used to be starkly defined by those on the Right, both in Hollywood and in America in general during the age of Reagan. The seedy aspects of the story contrast starkly with Eastwood's character's family life, making TIGHTROPE every bit as intriguing and similarly steamy 1980's film like BODY DOUBLE and BODY HEAT. There are also, of course, the unavoidable parallels to Hitchcock's classic films, notably PSYCHO, ROPE, and FRENZY, but Tuggle isn't so brash as to think of himself as another Hitchcock (or even Brian DePalma). The dark and seedy nature of the New Orleans French Quarter is well-conceived by both Tuggle and veteran Eastwood cinematographer Surtees, with Lennie Niehaus, who had helped orchestrate previous film scores for the likes of Lalo Schifrin and Jerry Fielding, making a solid scoring debut here with New Orleans jazz and blues motifs.
Given the notorious anti-feminist stance that long put him in good stead with the Right, Eastwood manages to mix it up well with Bujold, whose realistic character in TIGHTROPE has close parallels with her role in Michael Crichton's 1978 medical thriller COMA. The film's very title, contained in a remark made by Bujold that we often "walk a tightrope" between good and evil, is letter perfect for the plot on hand; and while the subject matter may be distasteful at times, and perhaps a disappointment for Eastwood's more macho male fan base fringe, the end result in TIGHTROPE is one of his best and most underrated films, hugely atmospheric, suspenseful and downright frightening in ways that so many ultra-violent slasher horror films, full as they are of sex and blood and guts, never were and never could be.
TIGHTROPE gets a '10'.