Despite its unsettling and disturbing screenplay one of my favourite movies of the 80`s, keeping in mind that i was really only into comedies and feel good dramas growing up as a kid, was the 1984 thriller TIGHTROPE, starring legendary hardnosed action man CLINT EASTWOOD, whose always been as much an outlaw amongst the real life and leftist dominated HOLLYWOOD establishment as he has with the fictitious scumbags he so often exterminated with his 44 magnum, the brand of gun he made famous in the five DIRTY HARRY films he made between 1971 and 1988. TIGHTROPE for me was always the DIRTY HARRY sequel which should have been but wasn't to be, set in New Orleans instead of San Francisco, the backdrop of the Dirty Harry movies, instead of Harry Callahan Eastwood plays a diffrent but not altogether diffrent cop named WES BLOCK in TIGHTROPE, a somewhat more fragile one who has a few skeletons in the closet, who unlike Harry Callahan questions his own worth as a cop, even his own sexuality. WES BLOCK is definitely not an alpha macho male character like HARRY CALLAHAN. Without outlining the movie's overall plot minus Eastwood's own characterizations, which bears an uncanny similarity to the seedy noir atmosphere created in the DIRTY HARRY sequel from the same year, SUDDEN IMPACT, Eastwood starring as Wes Block is on the heals of a serial killer stalking out women around the French Quarter, with much of the cinematography in the film dedicated to displaying the sneakers of the killer as he sneaks around the dark alleyways and footpaths of New Orleans looking for his next victim. As time goes on and the killer ramains at large, the divorced Wes Block begins to question his own state of mind and level of morality, knowing he slept with a prostitute who becomes one of the victims and knowing he regularly hangs out at the same seedy New Orleans nightspots where the killer is targeting his next one. It's a pity EASTWOOD didn't hang five on TIGHTROPE for a few years and use it's screenplay as a coming of age DIRTY HARRY sequel instead of the lacklustre DIRTY HARRY movie THE DEAD POOL, which i have to say as a massive Clint fan is an absolute shocker of a film and in a way tarnished the Dirty Harry legacy. The main obstacle for that would have obviously been exchanging the backdrop of New Orleans for San Francisco, no reason why an ageing Harry Callahan could not have exhibited the same human flaws as what Eastwood brought to life playing Wes Block. TIGHTROPE should have been the fifth and last Dirty Harry movie and THE DEAD POOL should not have even be made. However, what was done was done and Clint Eastwood put on one of the best performances of his career in TIGHTROPE, i just like Harry Callahan more than Wes Block.
Despite its unsettling and disturbing screenplay one of my favourite movies of the 80`s, keeping in mind that i was really only into comedies and feel good dramas growing up as a kid, was the 1984 thriller TIGHTROPE, starring legendary hardnosed action man CLINT EASTWOOD, whose always been as much an outlaw amongst the real life and leftist dominated HOLLYWOOD establishment as he has with the fictitious scumbags he so often exterminated with his 44 magnum, the brand of gun he made famous in the five DIRTY HARRY films he made between 1971 and 1988. TIGHTROPE for me was always the DIRTY HARRY sequel which should have been but wasn't to be, set in New Orleans instead of San Francisco, the backdrop of the Dirty Harry movies, instead of Harry Callahan Eastwood plays a diffrent but not altogether diffrent cop named WES BLOCK in TIGHTROPE, a somewhat more fragile one who has a few skeletons in the closet, who unlike Harry Callahan questions his own worth as a cop, even his own sexuality. WES BLOCK is definitely not an alpha macho male character like HARRY CALLAHAN. Without outlining the movie's overall plot minus Eastwood's own characterizations, which bears an uncanny similarity to the seedy noir atmosphere created in the DIRTY HARRY sequel from the same year, SUDDEN IMPACT, Eastwood starring as Wes Block is on the heals of a serial killer stalking out women around the French Quarter, with much of the cinematography in the film dedicated to displaying the sneakers of the killer as he sneaks around the dark alleyways and footpaths of New Orleans looking for his next victim. As time goes on and the killer ramains at large, the divorced Wes Block begins to question his own state of mind and level of morality, knowing he slept with a prostitute who becomes one of the victims and knowing he regularly hangs out at the same seedy New Orleans nightspots where the killer is targeting his next one. It's a pity EASTWOOD didn't hang five on TIGHTROPE for a few years and use it's screenplay as a coming of age DIRTY HARRY sequel instead of the lacklustre DIRTY HARRY movie THE DEAD POOL, which i have to say as a massive Clint fan is an absolute shocker of a film and in a way tarnished the Dirty Harry legacy. The main obstacle for that would have obviously been exchanging the backdrop of New Orleans for San Francisco, no reason why an ageing Harry Callahan could not have exhibited the same human flaws as what Eastwood brought to life playing Wes Block. TIGHTROPE should have been the fifth and last Dirty Harry movie and THE DEAD POOL should not have even be made. However, what was done was done and Clint Eastwood put on one of the best performances of his career in TIGHTROPE, i just like Harry Callahan more than Wes Block.
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