Main Cast: Clint Eastwood, Geneviève Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Alison Eastwood, Jennifer Beck
Release Year: 1984
Country: US
Run Time: 117 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Clint Eastwood plays a New Orleans detective determined to track down a serial killer of prostitutes. Complicating matters is the fact that the unknown culprit is very likely an S&M fetishist....and so is Eastwood. The detective is profoundly disturbed at the likelihood that he and the killer have the same taste in women; this element of the case is equally troublesome for psychologist Genevieve Bujold, who finds herself attracted to Eastwood. The climax involves the killer's attempting to throw Eastwood off the track by kidnapping one of the detective's two daughters (played quite well by Clint's real-life daughter Alison). Despite its reliance on bloodletting, particularly in the final scenes, Tightrope is most effective when probing the hangups and vulnerabilities of Clint Eastwood's character. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
Sort of a lurid variation on a Dirty Harry movie, Tightrope plumbs darker psycho-sexual depths than the usual mainstream detective film. In a particularly challenging role, Clint Eastwood plays the homicide detective who finds that his "deviant" sexual predilections mirror the ones of the serial killer he is chasing. As Dirty Harry, Eastwood helped to blur the lines between cop and criminal, but this sort of examination of perversity is somewhat unique to his career. Written and directed by the little-known Richard Tuggle (Escape from Alcatraz), the film eventually settles into a more standard crime movie scenario, but it's Eastwood work as the tortured policeman that keeps the film compelling. Cinematographer Bruce Surtees' sleazy vision of New Orleans completes the film's effect. Given its subject matter, Tightrope performed surprisingly well at the box-office. ~ Brendon Hanley, All Movie Guide
Rebecca Perle - Becky Jacklin; Regina Richardson - Sarita; Randi Brooks - Jamie Cory; Jamie Rose - Melanie Silber; Margaret Howell - Judy Harper; Stuart Baker-Bergen - Blond Surfer; Donald Barber - Shorty; Rebecca Clemons - Girl with Whip; Lionel Ferbos - Plainclothes Gus; Ron Gural - Coroner Dudley; Robert Harvey - Lonesome Alice; Eliott Keener - Sandoval; Don K. Lutenbacher - Dixie President; Janet MacLachlan - Dr. Yarlofsky; Rod Masterson - Patrolman Gallo; Lloyd Nelson - Patrolman Restic; Margie O'Dair - Mrs. Holstein; Graham Paul - Luther; Marco St. John - Leander Rolfe; John Wilmot - Medical Examiner; Richard Boyle - Dr. Fitzpatrick; Joy N. Houck, Jr. - Swap Meet Owner; Fritz Manes - Valdes; Jonathan Shaw - Quono; David Valdes - Manes; Glenn Wright - Patrolman Redfish; Bill Holliday - Police Chief; Layton Martens - Sgt. Surtees; David Dahlgren - Patrolman Julio; Becki Davis - Nurse; John Schluter - Piazza Cop; Phyllis Huffman; James Borders - Carfano
Credit
Phyllis Huffman - Casting, Deborah Hopper - Costume Designer, Glenn Wright - Costume Designer, David Valdes - First Assistant Director, Richard Tuggle - Director, Joel Cox - Editor, Lennie Niehaus - Composer (Music Score), Edward C. Carfagno - Production Designer, Jack N. Green - Cinematographer, Bruce Surtees - Cinematographer, Clint Eastwood - Producer, Fritz Manes - Producer, Ernie Bishop - Set Designer, William B. Kaplan - Sound/Sound Designer, George Orrison - Stunts, Wayne Van Horn - Stunts, Richard Tuggle - Screenwriter
Tightrope is a suspensethriller starring Clint Eastwood as Wes Block, a detective investigating a string of sexually-related murders in New Orleans. Complicating matters are his struggle to single-handedly raise two young daughters, a growing relationship with a tough rape prevention officer played by Geneviève Bujold, and the troubling thought that the killer shares his own sexual preferences (bondage, masochism, etc.).
