{"id":15423,"date":"2011-01-05T13:18:20","date_gmt":"2011-01-05T20:18:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15423"},"modified":"2021-01-01T02:02:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T09:02:41","slug":"tightrope-1984","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15423","title":{"rendered":"Tightrope (1984)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>&#8220;Maybe I&#8217;ll take you up on that sometime.&#8221;<\/strong><\/p>\n<table>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Poster-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Poster-1-200x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"200\" height=\"300\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-47209\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Poster-1-200x300.jpg 200w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Poster-1-85x128.jpg 85w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Poster-1.jpg 666w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>Synopsis:<\/strong><br \/>\nA bitterly divorced detective (Clint Eastwood) with two young daughters (Alison Eastwood and Jenny Beck) delves into the underworld of New Orleans while pursuing a wily, mask-wearing serial killer (Marco St. John).\n<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<p>\n<strong>Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Cat-and-Mouse<\/li>\n<li>Clint Eastwood Films<\/li>\n<li>Detectives and Private Eyes<\/li>\n<li>Genevieve Bujold Films<\/li>\n<li>Serial Killers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Response to Peary\u2019s Review: <\/strong><br \/>\nPeary refers to this &#8220;Clint Eastwood psychological thriller, written and moodily directed by his protege, Richard Tuggle&#8221;, as &#8220;atmospheric and suspenseful&#8221;, noting that it&#8217;s &#8220;a bit overrated but still compelling&#8221;. He points out that this was &#8220;the picture that swayed the critics of America to finally take Eastwood seriously&#8221;, given his attempt to break away from his Dirty Harry persona and delve in murkier psychological waters. Yet Peary argues that this film actually wasn&#8217;t a &#8220;rare attempt&#8221; in this regard, given that &#8220;Eastwood [plays] with his image in all his films&#8221;; Peary posits that far from being a &#8220;variation&#8221; on Dirty Harry, Harry and the character of &#8220;Wes Block&#8221; in <em>Tightrope<\/em> represent &#8220;antithetical attitudes toward law enforcement&#8221;, given that &#8220;Harry is a maverick cop, [while] Block plays it by the book&#8221;, among other reasons. <\/p>\n<p>The in-depth character analysis provided in Peary&#8217;s review of <em>Tightrope<\/em> hints at part of the reason for its inclusion in his book, which is that audiences and critics at the time (including Peary) were understandably intrigued by Eastwood&#8217;s cult of personality, and eager to see what he would come up with next. Unfortunately, viewed years after the fact, this particular entry in Eastwood&#8217;s estimable oeuvre comes up short. While it&#8217;s certainly &#8220;suspenseful&#8221; during key sequences (indeed, there are some genuinely freaky moments that had me glued to the screen), it&#8217;s ultimately too cliched and derivative to be entirely successful as a thriller. The trope of a cop seduced by the underbelly of the city he&#8217;s paid to serve and protect has been handled numerous times on-screen (most recently in Werner Herzog&#8217;s smarmy but effective <em>Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call &#8211; New Orleans<\/em>, taking place in the same city); and while the cat-and-mouse maneuvers between Eastwood and St. John are predictably chilling, they don&#8217;t really offer anything new to the genre. <\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, we don&#8217;t learn enough about Eastwood&#8217;s divorce to understand why he&#8217;s so bitter about women, or what role his own character flaws might have played in the breakup of his marriage. (His ex-wife literally appears as a cipher on-screen, and, if I recall correctly, may not even speak any lines.) If you do decide to check this one out, however, watch for Genevieve Bujold in a &#8220;strong and appealing&#8221; role as a &#8220;rape-crisis therapist who gets [Eastwood] to confront his hostility toward women&#8221;; she&#8217;s one of the film&#8217;s strongest elements. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Redeeming Qualities and Moments: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Genevieve Bujold as Beryl<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold-1024x640.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"400\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-15427\" srcset=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold-1024x640.png 1024w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold-128x80.png 128w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold-300x187.png 300w, https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Tightrope-Bujold.png 1680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Must See? <\/strong><br \/>\nNo, unless you&#8217;re an Eastwood completist. <\/p>\n<p><strong>Links: <\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.imdb.com\/title\/tt0088272\/\">IMDb entry<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/movies.nytimes.com\/movie\/review?_r=1&#038;res=9A02E1D71538F934A2575BC0A962948260\">NY Times Original Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rogerebert.com\/reviews\/tightrope-1984\">Roger Ebert&#8217;s Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.moria.co.nz\/horror\/tightrope.htm\">Moria Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcm.com\/tcmdb\/title\/18349\/tightrope#articles-reviews?articleId=36387\">TCM Article<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.combustiblecelluloid.com\/classic\/tightrope.shtml\">Combustible Celluloid Review<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeout.com\/film\/reviews\/79425\/tightrope.html\">Time Out Capsule Review<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Maybe I&#8217;ll take you up on that sometime.&#8221; Synopsis: A bitterly divorced detective (Clint Eastwood) with two young daughters (Alison Eastwood and Jenny Beck) delves into the underworld of New Orleans while pursuing a wily, mask-wearing serial killer (Marco St. John). Genres, Themes, Actors, and Directors: Cat-and-Mouse Clint Eastwood Films Detectives and Private Eyes Genevieve Bujold Films Serial Killers Response to Peary\u2019s Review: Peary refers to this &#8220;Clint Eastwood psychological thriller, written and moodily directed by his protege, Richard Tuggle&#8221;,&#8230;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"><a class=\"btn btn-default\" href=\"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/?p=15423\"> Read More<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">  Read More<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-responses-to-peary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15423"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60986,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15423\/revisions\/60986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/filmfanatic.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}