The Gauntlet

Plot synopsis:
Ben Shockley, an alcoholic cop from Phoenix, is well on his way to becoming a down-and-out when he is given the task to escort witness Gus Mally from Las Vegas. His superior, Commissioner Blakelock, says that it's a "nothing witness" for a "nothing trial." Mally protests that they are both set up to be killed in a hit, which a jaded Shockley doubts. Mally soon reveals herself to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties and is in possession of incriminating information concerning a high figure in society.
Her suspicions are confirmed when the transport vehicle is bombed and Mally's house is fired upon. Shockley and Mally are then pursued across the open country with no official assistance and with the police force regarding them as fugitives. They kidnap a local Constable, who they then let go, as Mally knows there'll be another hit. The Constable dies at the hands of several men armed with machine guns. They eventually run into a gang of bikers whom Shockley threatens with his revolver sending them on their way, confiscates one of their modified Harley-Davidson motorcycles and takes off on it with Mally.
It is revealed that Shockley's boss, Commissioner Blakelock, wants both of them dead, because Mally knows about Blakelock's secret life. Assistant District Attorney Feyderspiel is involved with the plot to kill Shockley and Mally. Both of them are also blamed for the death of the Constable.
The two ride the commandeered motorcycle into a town where Shockley and Mally are ambushed by a helicopter filled with cops sent by Blakelock who pursues the two away from the town and onto the open road, firing at them from above. During the high-speed pursuit, the helicopter accidentally crashes and explodes and the two then ditch the damaged motorcycle and hop on a train on which, coincidentally, the same two bikers whose machine they had "borrowed" are riding. The bikers attack and assault Shockley and later attempt to rape Mally, whom they pin to the floor but the wounded Shockley soon grabs hold of his gun and subdues the bikers, roughly knocking them and their girlfriend off the train. Shockley and Mally both realize that going back to Phoenix will be suicide, but it's the only way to prove their innocence.
The two hijack a bus and outfit it with a crude set of armor made from scrap steel, now aware of what awaits them in town. They are about to enter Phoenix when Maynard Josephson, an old friend of Shockley's, warns the two of a gauntlet of armed police officers that Blakelock has set up to "welcome" them. Josephson convinces Shockey to turn himself in to Feyderspiel whom he thinks is an honest broker. As the pair follow Josephson out of the bus, Josephson is shot from a nearby building and falls, presumably dead, and Shockley is hit in the leg.
With no other option, the two return to the bus and enter the town and the bus is shot at as it runs the titular "gauntlet" of hundreds of armed officers lining both sides of the road, firing thousands of rounds into the bus, until the bus reaches the steps of City Hall, finally immobilized. The two emerge from the riddled bus and surrender, but Shockley uses Feyderspiel as a shield, in order to have him confess that Blakelock is corrupt. The enraged Blakelock shoots at both Shockley and Feyderspiel, wounding the former and killing the latter. Blakelock is in return shot dead by Mally. Realizing Blakelock's crime and having witnessed his wanton killing of Feyderspiel, the rest of the assembled officers do nothing to stop the pair as Shockley and Mally walk away safely from the gauntlet.

Tags: cult, revenge, murder, violence

Review:
A rundown cop who's always on the drink named Ben Shockley is assigned to accompany a foul-mouthed prostitute in Las Vegas to a protection program across the country in Phoenix to testify against highly placed authority figure, although first they have to get through a gauntlet of bad cops and the mob who actually want them both dead.
But this reasonably familiar cop / action film delivers what it intended to do by giving us a taut little road movie across baron landscapes with a tremendous amount of brutally fast-paced shootouts and grand chase scenes.
The Gauntlet is the second of six films that Clint Eastwood did with Sondra Locke, an amount that certainly qualifies them as a screen team of note.
More interesting than she realizes because there are some people who want to make very certain she does not reach Phoenix where the Maricopa County District Attorney has her for a witness.Assigned to the case is Clint Eastwood who is characterized by himself as a tired old time server of a cop.
But to the regret of forces who want to see Locke dead and consider him an incompetent and expendable, Clint fools them all.As a film The Gauntlet goes at a good clip and the suspense from the first attack against Eastwood and Locke does not let up for a second.
Either way Prince is absolutely manic about making sure they never get to Phoenix alive.For fans of Clint Eastwood, The Gauntlet is one of his best films, one of my favorites of his, and something not to be missed..
Clint Eastwood stars as Ben Shockley, a gruff, tough maverick cop (natch!) who is given the task of extraditing Las Vegas hooker Gus Malley (Sondra Locke) to Phoenix, where she is to testify at a mob trial.
Unfortunately for Ben, the mob have connections in the police force, and what seems like a simple job at first turns into a fight for survival against the odds.It would be easy to fault The Gauntlet for its incredibly dumb premise—the finale, in which Shockley and Malley must run a gauntlet of heavily armed police in order to reach city hall is preposterous in the extreme—but a lack of credibility is actually the least of this film's problems.
Clint Eastwood's bland action direction is partly to blame, the star failing to generate any sense of excitement despite numerous situations in which certain death seems like the likely outcome for Shockley and Malley; the film's biggest drawback, however, is Sondra Locke, who couldn't act her way out of a paper bag if her life depended on it, and who doesn't even have the looks necessary to excuse such a lack of talent..
STAR RATING: ***** Unmissable **** Very Good *** Okay ** You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead * Avoid At All Costs Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is a washed-up, typically loose cannon (well, he would be played by Eastwood!) detective whose best mate goes by the name of Jack Daniels (if you know what I mean!) who gets assigned to transport a volatile prostitute named Gus (Sondra Locke) across state to testify in a trial.
Cue the typical explosions, gun-fights and general mayhem that you all payed to see...Legendary British film critic Barry Norman once stated that, among his many fallings-out with many famous, high-profile Hollywood stars (including the likes of Robert De Niro and John Wayne!), he actually made friends with Clint Eastwood by providing him with some refreshing frank honesty as opposed to all the pompous butt-kissing he was used to receiving from the publicists and hangers-on around him.
When he asked Norman what his feelings were having just watched a preview of The Gauntlet in his professional capacity as a critic, obviously expecting another delivery of 'yeah, Clint, it was great, you're fantastic', he was instead hit with the blunt truthful opinion: "yeah, it was okay, but it was a bit preposterous." And I can see what he means...Thinking about it, I actually think Eastwood's enduring longitivity has been down to how safe he is.
The big part for Sondra Locke, who plays Augustina "Gus" Malley, was dealing with a very tough cop, Clint Eastwood (who plays Ben Shockley).
Both have to deal with a Phoenix police commissioner who thinks he is going to be good on the outside---but very sneaky and nasty on the inside.Throughout the movie, it seems like Sondra is almost like an "Annie Oakley" of some kind especially when she carries a gun...and it was scary to find out that Gus was targeted for death by several parties around Arizona and Phoenix if she tries to testify in a wasteful trial.This "Gauntlet" flick may not be "Mission Impossible", but Ben accepts an assignment from the commissioner that cannot be revealed at all except by him and the commissioner.
You see the chase on a variety of angles--close up, panoramic, cutting away, and zooming in.The fight scene on the freight train between the crazed bikers, Ben, and Gus reminds me of the phrase "Throw Momma Off The Train"---but even more than that---it reminds me of Clint Eastwood's appearances in spaghetti westerns like "A Fistful of Dollars."The soundtrack in the flick reminded me of Charles Mingus's jazz style..
Although I'm sure it was fine for the 1970s, a lot of stuff has blown up in the last 25 years -- including in some fine Clint Eastwood films such as Unforgiven and In Line of Fire.I'm an action movie guy, so I didn't require a deep drama to enjoy this film, but I just couldn't get through it, primarily thanks to Sondra Locke -- or maybe it was just her character as written.Who should see this film:-- nobody-- feminists under the witness protection program who like to complain constantlyI'll give "The Gauntlet" only a 4 out of 10.
The noisy action, sloppily-staged by director and star Clint Eastwood, consists mainly of thousands of rounds of gunfire decimating a house, a constable's car and a stolen bus (when the police shoot up the car, why doesn't anyone bother to look inside for victims or open the trunk?).
Clint Eastwood directs and stars as alcoholic and undistinguished Phoenix cop Ben Shockley, who is given a seemingly routine assignment of escorting a prisoner(Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas back to Phoenix to stand trial.
Shockley then decides he will bring in his witness, no matter how many attempts on their lives are made(and corruption in the police department is revealed), even if they have to drive an armored-plated bus(and survive the gauntlet of police) by city hall to safety.Though filled with action, and peppered with salty dialogue, this film becomes increasingly preposterous, leading to a truly stupid, heavy handed finale.
Again, in not much stretch of acting ability, Eastwood lowers the ranks of Mr Harry Callahan, playing a drunken loser of a cop, Ben Shockley, who becomes a pawn for murder, while transporting a female prisoner (Locke) who is first thought to be a guy, thanks to a name mix up, or could it be he was given the wrong message on grounds that Shockley may of not accepted the job if it was a guy, as this prisoner is a witness to a mob hit, involving crooked cops.
Nevertheless, for Clint Eastwood fans it probably packs enough in it to make them happy...all others consider twice before watching.Eastwood had just finished making his third Dirty Harry film when he then made "The Gauntlet".
If you like preposterous, over-the-top action movies, Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet may just be for you.
Watch this if....you don't mind a far fetched action film with Clint Eastwood recycling his role as a run-down, fed up cop.
Plenty of over the top action and bullets if that is your thing.Acting/Casting: 6* - You get exactly what you would expect from Eastwood in his lead role as the cop who must get a key witness from Las Vegas to Arizona to testify.
All considered, the action sequences are still pretty impressive considering it was made in 1977.Plot/Characters: 6* - Vegas has bets down on whether Clint Eastwood can get a key witness from Las Vegas to Arizona alive to testify for a trial and the odds aren't in his favor.
In supporting roles, Pat Hingle has nothing much to do as an even remotely realistic character and as Eastwood's persnickety, worried-mother precinct pal, and William Prince sits and stands in some very well turned-out suits as the highly placed overseer of exceedingly well consolidated criminal activity representing the use of lawmaking command by government officials for illicit secret advantages and vice within Eastwood's department.Maybe a more tolerable way to view the movie is as a fun satire of the police, most notable for its set pieces, but I suppose what draws me to Clint Eastwood's work as a director, his explorations of morality and outsider themes, is more than a foolish streamline of worn-out plot and pigeonholed characters.
**SPOILERS** Given the assignment to bring in a witness from Las Vages to testify against Arizona mobster Deluca disheveled and somewhat inebriated Phoenix detective Ben Shockley,Clint Eastwood,at first thinks that it's like what the new police commissioner Blakeock, William Prince, told him.
The person he's bringing back to testify is nothing more then a nothing witness for a nothing case; how wrong that turned out to be.Picking up Agustina, know to everyone in the movie as just plain Gus, Mally (Sandra Locke) at the Las Vages lock-up Shockley is confronted with a scared to death hooker who tells an uninterested and by the books cop that there's a contract out on her.
What he didn't know is that his superior commissioner Blakelock wants him to fail in having his prisoner not make it back to trial because her testimony will end up putting him behind bars for the rest of his life.Obviously made for laughs, you can't take this movie seriously no matter how hard you try, "The Gauntlet" is undoubtedly one of Eastwoods' early attempt at doing comedy and in a way succeeds even beyond Clint's wildest dreams.
By having him and his then girlfriend Sandra Locke run the gauntlet as the entire Phoenix PD and Arizona highway patrol, as well as reinforcements from the neighboring states, try to stop Clint & Sandra or Shockley & Gus. The movie ends with two making it back home and alive to the Phoenix City Hall with the goods, protected witness Gus Mally, on the sleazy corrupt and mobbed up police commissioner Blakelock who by then had, with all the stress and frustration he went through in the film, gone so completely off the wall that he would have easily gotten off with an insanity defense..
If you like Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, and the rest of the cast I've mentioned above and the Dirty Harry series and exciting non-stop action films then I Strongly recommend this film!.
'The Gauntlet' is an action thriller starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke.
In the film, Eastwood – playing an unpopular 'Dirty Harry' kind of police officer – must escort a prostitute (Locke) to a trial, at which she is to be a witness.
Clint Eastwood plays a Phoenix cop sent to Las Vegas to bring a witness back to testify at a mobster's trial.
However, it is still a good movie.Clint Eastwood plays Ben Shockley, a mediocre cop who must transport a witness, a prostitute named Gus Malley (Sondra Locke) to a trial against the mob.
The story, which involves Eastwood's cop and a star witness going on the run from both the police and the mob, seems to have inspired countless other action films from the '70s and '80s, but I didn't find it anything special about it.
But this one "The Gauntlet" was certainly a good one to watch and sure it's not one of Clint's tough guy westerns or his bad ass cop movies, still this movie has plenty of action and excitement and thrills even though his character is flawed.
Sondra Locke was outstanding playing the highly uncooperative Gus.Though this movie contained more violence than any gangster movie I've seen.The best parts of the movie when three things get shot to pieces: The house, which Shockley was barely able to escape, The police car where the constable was blown away by the mob.
The Gauntlet (1977)Plot In A Paragraph: A cop (Eastwood) is assigned to escort a prostitute (Sondra Locke) into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial.
But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive.Assuming joint actor/director responsibilities for a fifth occasion, Clint Eastwood directed himself and Outlaw Josie Wales costar Sondra Locke in what essentially is a screwball comedy masquerading as an action adventure.The pacing of the movie is tight, the dialogue cracking with crude insults and snappy banter and the action is well staged too.
But I certainly enjoyed watching that scene.Clint Eastwood's film is about a rugged alcoholic cop who seems to be going nowhere in life.
We also get some good supporting turns by Pat Hingle and William Prince who was Commissioner Blakelock.Overall, the Gauntlet is an absurd, over-the-top action movie and the film will never let you forget that.
Intended essentially as a piece of slick entertainment rather than a gritty, realistic message movie to be taken seriously, The Gauntlet just about works it's mojo on the level it is pitched at.Obviously, no one could realistically survive the sustained hail of bullets that Eastwood and Locke do throughout it's running time and no law enforcement agency in the civilised world would be allowed to dispense such apocalyptic firestorms at just two people.If you accept that this film is, at its core, a shadowy cop fantasy flick rather than a neo-realistic expose of, say, police corruption, then you may get a fair deal of enjoyment out of it.
The audience even out paces Locke in identifying the villain, while Clint is still on the phone.Eastwood's direction is steady, especially in the action scenes, and the film moves along for a mindlessly diverting two hours.
if only it were that simple for Detective Ben Shockley(Clint Eastwood),who's assigned to escort the witness from Las Vegas to Phoenix.but as it turns out things are not that simple.what follows is a good mixture of action,excitement,good acting,funny one liners and good dialogue,and a well developed story.i enjoyed every moment of it.the ending is especially good.Eastwood not only stars in the film (with Sondra Locke)but also directed as well.overall,this is a very good effort,and well worth the watch.Clint can obviously play a cop whose last name is not Callahan,without reminding you of said cop.for me,The Gauntlet is a 7/10.
Eastwood and then live-in lover Locke make a good team, keeping everything light and breezy.Setting Shockley up as a fall guy, the Phoenix police commissioner sends him to pick up a prisoner in Vegas.
Shockley and Gus jack a bus, empty it of passengers, then Shockley puts armor on it to defy the army of cops lined up on each side of the street to kill him and his prisoner.Sondra Locke, who later seemed to use her romantic ties to Eastwood for self-aggrandizement, does some fine acting in this film.
DVD review.A cop (Eastwood) brings a hooker (Locke) to City Hall but the mob and police are after them.Not as good as the Dirty Harry movies but is watchable.
The Gauntlet is all of these and more, as Shockley and Mally start off as captor and prisoner and soon find themselves allies against implacable enemies.It's full of terrific characters and moments: the Commissioner (a chilling William Prince) telling Shockley that Mally is 'a nothing witness for a nothing trial'; Shockley and Mally's car ride with the lecherous cop (Bill McKinney), a sequence which is practically a short movie in itself; the night-time argument in the cave, Ben and Gus illuminated just by firelight; the encounter with the bikers; the long bus ride towards the final showdown.
THE GAUNTLET stars Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke in a film with a pretty basic plot and some over the top action sequences.
The high points of the film are it has Eastwood in his usual tough guy role which is always great to see, and there are a few good action sequences, including and exciting helicopter/motorcycle chase in the desert.
THE GAUNTLET (1977) *** Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle.
And, there's no orangutang!Eastwood's humor is more subtle (the only thing about the movie that is) here than in some of his later pictures, and I have to disagree with earlier assessments of Locke's performance, as well -- watch her reactions in the scenes with the Vegas cop.Looking back afterward, I more fully saw the humor in the Leone and Dirty harry pieces, as well.
A lot of "dirty" cops were impersonated by Clint Eastwood during his careers, but Shockley is one of the favorites, because its contradictions (violent and funny, desperate and willing to have a better life, though and ironic) make the character the best thing of this movie (rated 7)..
It's difficult to comment on this film without giving away the ending but it seems that a down-on-his-luck cop (Eastwood) is ordered to bring a jailed prostitute (Sondra Locke) to Phoenix because she is needed as a witness at a trial.
In Phoenix, the alcoholic and mediocre detective Ben Shockley (Clint Eastwood) is assigned by the Chief Commissary Blakelock (William Prince) to bring the witness Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas for a minor trial.
In "The Gauntlet", as in a number of his other films, Clint Eastwood plays a tough cop.
Basically Phoenix cop Ben Shockley (Eastwood) is assigned to Las Vegas to escort prostitute Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) who is meant to testify in a mob trial.
Eastwood plays Shockley, a fairly dim-witted detective who must bring witness Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas to Phoenix.