Clint Eastwood has built his image as an archetypal American hero, a man with little words and even less nuances who nevertheless gets the job done. Occasionally, Eastwood tried to stray from that formula and play characters with much more complexities. One such experiment was Tightrope, 1984 crime thriller written and directed by Richard Tuggle, one of the most unusual titles in Eastwood’s long filmography.
Eastwood, who also produced (and according to rumours, also co-directed) the film, plays New Orleans police detective Wes Block. He is recently divorced and lives with two young daughters (the older being played by Eastwood’s real life daughter Allison Eastwood). He tries to be good parent and even takes care of stray dogs, but he also has a dark side that will become apparent when he gets assigned to complicated murder investigation. An unknown person has begun to rape and murder prostitutes who were specialised for or liked sadomasochistic sexual practices. For Block this hits close to home because he also has similar urges and more often than not succumbs to temptations made by prostitutes encountered during investigation. He also encounters very different woman, Beryl Thibodeaux (played by Geneviève Bujold), activist who runs rape prevention program and volunteers to help him with investigation. He befriends her while the killer begins to target prostitutes with whom Block had sex and his apparently personal motives would lead him to target Block’s family.
Tightrope was during initial theatrical run advertised as “Dirty Harry in New Orleans”, but this was quite misleading because Wes Block, apart from being police detective trying to catch vicious serial killer, has very little in common with Harry Callahan. Eastwood plays character who might look like tough macho policeman but he is also a dedicated family man, while at the same time visibly tortured by the inability to keep his sexual urges in check, prevent the killings and feeling of guilt over bringing killer’s attention to his loved ones. Eastwood tries to use this role as a way to dispute decades-long scepticism about his acting abilities and was apparently ready to visit some uncharted waters. Tightrope is one of the rare films where he appears naked and his character in one scene even admits that he experimented with homosexuality during early parts of his life. This transformation of an American icon into flawed anti-hero is rare in history of Hollywood and could be compared with series of 1950s roles that transformed James Stewart from perfect all-American star into serious actor specialised for angry, revenge-obsessed and sexually repressed characters.
However, in order to have such transformation complete, Eastwood needed film with the qualities of classics like Vertigo. Sadly, Tightrope isn’t such film. This is mostly due to Tuggle’s inept direction which reflects in very slow pace and Bruce Surtees’ cinematography which is simply too dark and, instead of creating dark atmosphere, only makes certain scenes confusing. The film is generally unpleasant to watch, despite few exploitation cinema ingredients, like prostitutes being played by physically attractive actresses, some of whom – like Rebecca Perle in the role of Becky – were rumoured to be in real life romantic relationship with Eastwood during the production. All that becomes especially annoying near the end where Tightrope succumbs to genre cliches and have nearly omnipotent serial killer attacking protagonist family. Final showdown, that takes place at the railroad and features villain meeting very gory end, is quite anti-climactic. Tightrope is saved from sinking below mediocrity with the presence of Bujold whose character represents anchor of normalcy and decency in the story filled with darkness and depravity. She helps Block catch the killer just as she helps him confronting his inner demons. Film very wisely, despite good chemistry between Bujold and Eastwood, avoided another annoying cliché and their characters remained friends instead of lovers. Although overlong and perhaps too dark for some viewers, Tightrope can still be recommended as solid crime thriller even to the viewers not that interested in major Hollywood icons experimenting with his image.
RATING: 6/10 (++)
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