Tightrope

1984 "A cop on the edge."
6.3| 1h55m| R| en| More Info
Released: 17 August 1984 Released
Producted By: Malpaso Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Wes Block is a detective who's put on the case of a serial killer whose victims are young and pretty women. The murders are getting personal when the killer chooses victims who are acquaintances of Block. Even his daughters are threatened.

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Director

Richard Tuggle

Production Companies

Malpaso Productions

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Tightrope Audience Reviews

Borserie it is finally so absorbing because it plays like a lyrical road odyssey that’s also a detective story.
Voxitype Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
SanEat A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."
Rio Hayward All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.
masterblaster1975 A search for a prostitute killer gets tense because of the cops own 'professional' dealings with the victims and his subsequent secrecy against colleagues. Good premise and acting, interesting relationship building , but the pacing slows too much in the wrong places for my taste.
slightlymad22 Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order I come to Tightrope (1984)Plot In A Paragraph: Wes Block (Eastwood) a New Orleans detective, is leading an investigation into a killer who is raping and murdering women. His enquiries lead him into the seedy side of town where he is no stranger off-duty. All this contrasts with his home life as a single parent with two young girls. In this tense thriller, disturbing parallels are drawn between Eastwoods' detective and the massmurderer so that at one stage we wonder if the cop and the killer are in fact the same person. Wes Block is one of Eastwood's most fascinating characters, he is a man of many faces: caring father, hard as nails detective and a sexual deviant. Could he also be the killer?? By 1984 audiences were used to seeing Eastwood play characters with an eye for the ladies and was similarly accustomed to seeing women reciprocate his sexual advances, albeit after a little mutual bickering in some cases. To many, Eastwood represented a certain brand of confident, virile masculinity. Tightrope differs because Eastwood plays a character who is troubled by his own sexuality. Wes Block gets off on the kinky sex games against his better judgement. His investigation leads him to the red light district on a nightly basis, and on each occasion business blends into pleasure. Truthfully there is an air of helplessness in the way he's repeatedly drawn back there. It's even hinted that Block might be gay (The ultimate subversion of Eastwood's persona) on more than one occasion.Of the supporting cast Dan Hadaya (an actor I adore) has a role as a detective, but it's Clint's daughter, Alison Eastwood who stands out, showing Kyle isn't the only talented Eastwood offspring. Most movies set in New Orleans feature a cracking soundtrack and Tightrope is no exception. Opening with Lennie Niehaus's sultry score, the soundtrack is perfect for the movie. Tightrope grossed $48 million at the domestic box office, to end 1984 the 13th highest grossing movie of the year. A drop from Sudden Impact, but still a decent, profitable hit.
FlashCallahan A New Orleans detective is leading an investigation into a killer who is raping and murdering women. His enquiries lead him into the seedy side of town which he is no stranger to, when he is off-duty. All this contrasts with his home life as a single parent with two young girls. Then on the case he meets a counsellor with whom a relationship possibly offering some normality to his darker side.....It's an interesting concept, obviously a huge curiosity piece when released back in the day, because Eastwood was arguably the biggest star on the planet, and this was his Basic Instinct, if you would.It's pretty tame stuff when you watch it now, but one can imagine how many people were shocked by the imagery, and the amount of sex and violence that is on display.For a film with such a dark tone, Eastwood plays such a homely family man, grounded and down to earth, so kudos to his performance for not acting all strange and weird when he delves into his fantasies. He's just as normal as he always is.The red hues obviously indicate the illicit passions in the film, and although the killer is just your perfunctory eighties villain, his motives and actions are pretty macabre.As with all Malpaso movies released in the early eighties, we are treated with a city shot from a helicopter, and a wonderful jazz score.It's an oddity for sure, and Eastwood took a huge gamble. Luckily it paid off, but then he made City Heat, and it went downhill for a couple of years.Would make a great triple bill with Cruising, and 8mm
axlrhodes I entered into this expecting to have a Dirty Harry style experience, but what's actually on offer is more like a neo-noir Sleazy Harry. It's a cop on the hunt of a serial killer thriller that plays out like a middling episode of 'The Equalizer', only about sixty minutes longer (yawn). Naturally, Clint or 'Wes Block' as he's called here, is our cop while the killer in question is a mask wearing Scooby Doo escapee who we never really see until the end reel. Now i don't have a problem with that, but some things make the criminal comical when i'm sure that wasn't the intention. Twice in the film we see the murderer mere yards away from Wes, at the crime scene seemingly taunting our hero, but really you just want to shout 'He's behind you!', in true panto spirit. Tonally, writer/director Richard Tuggle goes dark. It's a near humourless, straight up affair that depicts Wes on one hand a devoted father, and on the other an arrogant, sex obsessed womaniser. There's a few light-hearted and amusing moments between him and his two young daughters but none of much really stacks up to a great deal and inevitably it all falls flat with a series of predictable murders, plodding pacing and a laughable finale.