Directed by:
Clint EastwoodCinematography:
Rexford L. MetzComposer:
Jerry FieldingCast:
Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bill McKinney, Mara Corday, Doug McGrath, Michael Cavanaugh, Carole Cook, Roy Jenson, William Prince, Al Silvani (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Phoenix cop Ben Shockey's dream of breaking "the big case" has faded through the years. His assignment to escort from Las Vegas "a nothing witness for a nothing trial" seems like just another meaningless exercise. Until the fireworks start. Clint Eastwood runs "The Gauntlet" into an explosive movie embodying its title with a vengeance. The witness is a hardened hooker (Sondra Locke) whom everyone - including Vegas oddsmakers - wants dead. Trapped between both sides of the law, the two must survive an obstacle course of raging gunfire, blazing cars, swooping helicopters, murderous ambushes, crazed bikers and crooked police. Building to a ferocious finale that shoots an armoured bus to smithereens with more than 8,000 bullets, The Gauntlet is a trip you can't miss. Leave the driving to Eastwood: sit back and enjoy the ride. (Warner Bros. AU)
(more)Reviews (1)
Playing a drunkard cop, Clint Eastwood is given the mission to escort an important witness from Las Vegas to Phoenix, and like in other movies of the genre, they immediately become a target for the mafia and corrupt cops. At the time and possibly to this day, the most naive—or dare I say most stupid—Eastwood film I have ever seen, almost falling in the category of overblown high-budget rubbish in which everyone first fires, then asks questions, and where thousands of bullets fly above the central duo as to avoid giving the viewer too much time to think about the screenplay (you still get to decide for yourself if the final scene and the “resolution” of the whole situation is calling for a solid laugh or rather for you to get mad at the TV and smash the remote control—I laughed). For me, Eastwood is charismatic enough to be 100% fun, even in weaker productions, so I enjoyed The Gauntlet and would watch it again anytime.
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