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Tightrope (1984)  
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Director:
Richard Tuggle |
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COUNTRY
USA |
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Genre
Crime/Thriller |
NORWEGIAN
TITLE
På
stram line |
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RUNNING
TIME
115
minutes |
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Producer:
Clint Eastwood
Fritz Manes |
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Screenwriter:
Richard Tuggle |
Review
The title alludes to the fine
line between Clint Eastwood's S&M inclined cop character and a faceless
serial killer who scours the brothels and sex clubs of New Orleans. He
is like Michael Myers for adults; since his victims are grown women,
their lewdness is upped accordingly in order for them to be murdered
with some sort of moral justification. Director Richard Tuggle's interest
in them and the killer is like that of a forensic photographer.
There's nothing about either of them which is not two-dimensional, and
the suspense suffers badly for it. But there's another aspect of
Tightrope with a lot more nerve and a fresher angle, namely the
disparity between the Eastwood character's home life as a single father
of two girls on the one hand, and his sexual interests on the other – and his trouble reconciling the
two as the case he is investigating wipes out the line between them. Clint tries to give
his character more depth than usual, mainly by squinting with
one eye, and it makes Wes Block almost authentic at times. But any real
authenticity only shines through in his scenes with real-life daughter
Alison Eastwood, who plays his daughter Amanda here. The final development of
their relation represents the picture's real climax. Whereas the ensuing
end-game between Eastwood and the killer is just going through
the motions.
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