Tightrope

Tightrope (1984)

Runtime: 114 minutes

Directed by: Richard Tuggle

Starring: Clint Eastwood, Genevieve Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Alison Eastwood

From: Warner Brothers

Here is something different from what I've been watching as of late; this is a pretty sleazy 80's movie (that seems to be a great decade for sleazy films) that I've heard about from some people on a forum as they enjoy it quite a bit. Turns out, they were right.

I'll cut to the chase and get to the plot: Clint plays troubled New Orleans cop Wes Block, who is a single dad that is divorced from his wife and raises two young girls on his own (including his own real-life daughter Alison). He has to deal with a serial killer who goes after streetwalkers, which results in Wes having to dive into the sleaziest part of what can be a pretty sleazy city; suddenly, the killer starts targeting Block...

I've heard this described as an American giallo film with some grindhouse elements and I say that is pretty accurate. You see some wild things in the various nightclubs in New Orleans. While not as wild as the club scenes in One Man Force, you still see the likes of girls hot oil-wrestling with each other with a dwarf as the referee, or a guy in a black Speedo thrusting his crotch about. But it's mostly serious, with Wes being shown as an alcoholic flawed figure; he ends up being friendly with the hookers even before the serial killer murders start. He gets a hummer from one girl during the movie! Not to mention, there's plenty of nudity. You also have quite the conversation about hard-ons, and involving people who you wouldn't expect to hear hard-on talk from.

The New Orleans setting is used well. Besides Clint wearing a tremendous New Orleans Saints t-shirt and hat, there's a scene on the riverboat, there's a scene at a Hollywood carnival, and of course there's some Bourbon Street action. There is also some horror things you see as Wes tries to track down the killer in some spooky locales, and there's a kill that seems straight out of an early 80's horror movie that got remade in the past 10 years. I know, I'm being vague as what I said could apply to a number of movies.

If you want to see Clint Eastwood play a troubled character who ends up being deeply affected by the dark case he's working, then this is worth seeing. Besides, from all I've heard this is the closest he's come to doing an outright horror movie, and it's pretty cool and well-done, with a funky soundtrack that fits the city and time.

I'll be back Wednesday afternoon with a movie that oddly fits the 4^th of July.