TIGHTROPE

US, 1984, 109 minutes, Colour.
Clint Eastwood, Genevieve Bujold, Dan Hedaya, Allison Eastwood.
Directed by Richard Tuggle.

Tightrope is an interesting and exciting Clint Eastwood police drama. Coming immediately after his fourth Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact, it shows a change of pace. This policeman, Wes Block, works in New Orleans, has recently been divorced from his wife and is bringing up two daughters. He is no loner. We see him within the context of the police force and in contact with a representative from a rape crisis centre.

The film uses the New Orleans locations, especially the red light district, well. Of interest are the psychological implications of the thriller. Block is tracking a sex killer whose bizarre behaviour in some ways represents his own fantasy life. The implications of the murderer being the law and order enforcement agent's double indicates repression and shadow assertion. There are some psychological statements and an interview with a doctor who points out: 'There's a darkness in all of us. Some act it out, the rest of us try to walk a tightrope

Eastwood is somewhat more genial in this film, especially working with his daughter Alison. Genevieve Bujold is an attractive heroine. A further interesting step in Clint Eastwood's films and exploration of his police persona.

1. Interesting thriller, police thriller? A piece of Americana?

2. Clint Eastwood and the tradition of his films, the Dirty Harry films, tough policeman, law and order stances? A change and a humanising ? reflecting changes in the United States in the 1980s?

3. New Orleans and its atmosphere? Grey, ugly, the red light district, the world of prostitutes. police stations? The contrast with homes? With Beryl's world? The use of the Mardi Gras sequences? Local atmosphere, ordinary citizens, factories etc? Musical score and atmosphere?

4. The quality of the film as a police thriller, the initial murders, the police and their detection detail, clues, investigations, leads, information? The identity of the murderer, pursuit, fights? Effective? Realistic? The attention to detail?

5. The re-working of Clint Eastwood's police persona: the change from the loner to the family man? Marital situation? his wife having left him, photo, his drinking, sexual needs, seeing her, talking on the phone, hospital? His going to visit prostitutes? The effect on him? His stances, personality, morals? His repression and fantasy surfacing? His relationship with his children, playing, outings, his professional life making him have to leave them, the human touches with the dogs in the house? A pleasant man, his ability to communicate with his daughters, his reaction to their sex talk? His dating Beryl, also the human touch?

6. The police efficiency yet the dramatic tension? Beryl and her stances, his avoiding her, clashes, learning from her? The macho policeman being mellowed? Talk, aerobics? Concern? The girls, the carnival? A mellower policeman? Yet; the fascination with the prostitutes, discussions with them liaisons with them, needs and awareness?

7. The significance of the title: shadow life, repression, reality? Acting out fantasies? The tightrope being walked to cope with life? The killer as policeman? The shadow image of the policeman? Needs, use of prostitutes, bizarre sadomasochistic behaviour? Fantasy? Violence and the potential for violence? The policeman close to the edge, close to the killer? The killer following Block? The significance of the murderer's dream and the killing of Beryl? The encounter with the gay man and his being killed? The prostitutes and the tie as evidence? The handcuffs? The contrast with Beryl and his relationship with her, the violence? The finale with the clash and the discovery of the identity of the murderer, the ex-policeman and Block's role in his arrest?

8. How well did the film work on a psychological level: ego, animus and anima, masculine and feminine roles, expectations, repression, the subconscious, dreams? Pressures, surfacing of pressures, needs and dangers, dreams and reality, the acting out of the pursuit of the criminal? integration and peace?

10. The prostitutes and their styles, the girls, the birthday party, the girls at work, the bizarre behaviour? The homosexual and his relationship with the killer, with Block, his death?

11. The killer and his sandshoes and the visual link with Block? The audience knowing his general identity? The violent deaths, the pursuit of the prostitutes, the sexual motivation? Home, sauna, the dumping of the bodies, unseen and seen? The irony of his 'shadowing' the girls? Eating, drinking, prying on Wes Block? The letter? The homosexual? The Mardi Gras and the use of masks? The carnival, the balloon, the beer? Scarlet ribbon? The terrorising of Beryl? The girls? The final chase and the violence, death? The facts about the murderer: his arrest, release, chase, shooting, the dog helping, the work in the factory?

13. Beryl and her work, the concern of the city, the rape centre, men and women and their roles, attacks? Beryl and her mellowing? Attached to Wes's family? Her place in Wes's dream? Her being attacked and saved?

14. The sketch of the girls, the feminine for Wes Block? His gentle touch with them? Their being terrorised, his anger and going berserk, smashing the room, a motivation for pursuing the killer?

15. A glimpse of United States society? Corruption, repression? The police thriller as a way of facing this reality?