Tightrope Reviews

Wes Block (Clint Eastwood) is a New Orleans police detective on the trail of a vicious killer who has been slaying the prostitutes and massage parlor girls who work the French Quarter. Surprisingly, the murderer and Wes have something in common: they both enjoy the kinky services of the working girls of New Orleans. Deserted by his wife, Wes is raising his daughters by himself. The girls (one played by Eastwood's own daughter) are bright, sharp, and adorable, and Wes loves them deeply, which makes his forays into the seamy side of life all the more startling. As he begins to learn more about the killer, he realizes that there are similarities between himself and his quarry. As an actor and director Clint Eastwood has continually examined his established screen persona. In TIGHTROPE he takes the biggest chance yet with his image, portraying a cop with a perverse and very secret sexuality who is assigned the task of chasing the embodiment of his own diseased id. Eastwood's performance is one of his best, a subtle blend of repression and vulnerability masked with an air of cool professionalism. First-time director Richard Tuggle, an Eastwood protege who wrote the superior ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979), does an imaginative job visualizing his screenplay, toying with the audience by making dozens of visual connections between Eastwood and the killer. Bruce Surtees' dark, moody cinematography is typically masterful, but its translation to video leaves some scenes a bit murky.