Tightrope (1984) Warner Bros./Suspense-Thriller RT: 114 minutes Rated R (strong sexuality/nudity, language, brief violent/bloody content) Director: Richard Tuggle Screenplay: Richard Tuggle Music: Lennie Niehaus Cinematography: Bruce Surtees Release date: August 17, 1984 (US) Cast: Clint Eastwood, Genevieve Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Alison Eastwood, Jenny Beck, Marco St. John, Rebecca Perle, Regina Richardson, Randi Brooks, Jamie Rose, Margaret Howell, Rebecca Clemons, Janet MacLachlan, Graham Paul, Bill Holliday, John Wilmot, Margie O’Dair, Joy N. Houck Jr., Stuart Baker-Bergen, Donald Barber, Robert Harvey, Ron Gural. Box Office: $48.1M (US)
Rating: ****
If memory serves (and it usually does), many Clint Eastwood fans walked into Tightrope expecting another Dirty Harry-style cop movie and were shocked to discover it wasn’t. It’s more like a 40s noir thriller with a detective who wrestles with his own conscience while he tries to solve his case. In this instance, it’s a serial killer going around murdering prostitutes.
Eastwood plays Wes Block, a divorced New Orleans homicide detective raising two young daughters with next to no help from his evil-looking ex-wife. One night, he’s called to the scene of the murder of a young woman who was raped and strangled in her own bedroom. The killer left no fingerprints, but he did pause long enough for a coffee break. He even left behind a brownie with a bite taken out of it. It turns out the woman worked as a prostitute in the city’s red-light district.
Now here’s the rub. Block is known to several of the working girls in the French Quarter as a client as well as a cop. Of course, he can’t reveal this to his superiors. At the very least, it would be a conflict of interest. ANYWAY, as the victims pile up and Block tries to track down the killer, he delves deeply into his own psyche. Man, is it ever dark in there!
In the early stages of his investigation, he’s approached by a woman from a rape prevention program, Beryl (Bujold, Coma), who wants to help. She’s a strong feminist type, the very type of woman Block feels threatened by. He prefers to dominate women by using his handcuffs on them. It’s a means of concealing his fear of intimacy and tenderness. Naturally, he finds himself attracted to Beryl and a relationship starts to form.
With each subsequent murder, it becomes clear the killer is targeting Block, but why? The detective knew the victims. He knew them intimately. If this was known to his superiors, he’d be a suspect. It’s clearly personal for the killer. He makes it personal for Block when he goes after his family.
Directed (mostly) by Richard Tuggle (Out of Bounds), Tightrope is more than a standard police procedural. Sure, it checks all the boxes of the genre. It has the usual scenes of Block examining crime scenes, following leads, talking to medical examiners, interviewing witnesses and potential suspects. In the finale, Block engages in a violent struggle with the killer after a foot chase. We even get a scene of a psychologist explaining to Block how most people walk a tightrope between sanity and insanity (hence the title).
Unlike the usual cop thriller, it gives us a hero with depth. Of course, I use “hero” in the most general sense of the term in that Wes Block is the good guy of the story. He has a close, loving relationship with his girls, Amanda (real-life daughter Alison) and Penny (Beck, Troll). He even takes in stray dogs. It’s never adequately explained why he and wife split. All we know for sure is she resents him for something. It shows in the way she angrily glares at him without ever saying a single word. It could be she’s aware of his dark side, something he doesn’t want to acknowledge until he’s forced to in order to find the killer.
Eastwood delivers a solid performance playing his darkest character since High Plains Drifter. In contrast to the easygoing vibe of the Big Easy, Block is a tightly wound sort who finally explodes after the killer strikes too close to home. What’s interesting is how Tightrope explores his relationship with Bujold’s character. It’s isn’t the man-woman relationship you usually see in cop movies. It’s much more complex. There’s risk on both sides, emotional and physical. Plus, Eastwood’s character has to change in order for it to work. This part of the plot hinges on his willingness to respect a woman as an equal partner. As said woman, Bujold projects strength and vulnerability. It’s a fine line to walk (kind of like a tightrope?), but she manages it well.
Although Tuggle is credited as director, it’s alleged that Eastwood directed most of Tightrope himself because he wasn’t satisfied with Tuggle’s work. It shows. You see the distinctive marks of Eastwood’s style throughout. The movie looks great. Cinematographer Bruce Surtees makes excellent use of light and darkness, often showing Block partially concealed by shadows, a literal display of his dark side. The festive city of New Orleans has never looked seedier. The jazz-infused score by Lennie Niehaus is also an asset.
Some might say that Tightrope moves too slowly, but I’d remind them again it’s not a Dirty Harry flick or anything like it. It’s a taut, stylish noir-thriller with psychological complexity and a kinky side. It’s bolstered by a brave performance from Eastwood. Occasionally, it has a sense of humor like when Block’s youngest asks him to define a term no 8YO girl should know (she heard it from her big sister). In short, it’s a GREAT movie. It’s one of Clint’s best.
TRIVIA TIDBIT: Richard Tuggle seemingly dropped off the face of the earth after his 1986 bomb Out of Bounds. I know it was a bad idea to make an action picture starring geeky Anthony Michael Hall, but surely he could have bounced back. Does anybody know what became of him? If so, do tell!
