Tightrope

Plot synopsis:
The film opens with a young woman, Melanie Silber (Jamie Rose), walking home late one night in New Orleans down a deserted street. A sound startles her and she drops her packages. A man approaches her. She relaxes when she sees he is wearing a police uniform. He watches her enter her house, then the camera pans down and we see the man isn't wearing regulation police boots, but sneakers.The next day Silber's body is found naked across her bed. She has been raped and strangled. It looks like one in a series of murders so it is passed to a task force headed by Detective Wes Block (Clint Eastwood). Block is recovering from a recent divorce and is trying to put his life back together while caring for his two daughters: 11 year-old Amanda (Alison Eastwood) and 9 year-old Penny (Jenny Beck).Block's partner, Det. Molinari (Dan Hedaya) notes that while the girl was apparently attacked at about 9:15PM, she wasnt killed until after mid-night and wonders about the delay. Block notes that the killer left a half-eaten brownie and an empty coffee cup and comments that the killer was taking his time because he was enjoying what he was doing to the victim.The lab reports that the killer wore sneakers and left traces of barley and tiny glass fragments behind. His blood type is "O." Marks on her wrists suggest that the Silber was handcuffed.Back at the office Block's boss, (Bill Holliday) is annoyed at him for the lack of progress on these cases. Block is also being pursued by rape prevention worker Beryl Thibodeaux (Geneviève Bujold) who wants to talk to him about the case. She finally catches up with him, but he doesn't want to divulge any information to her that might compromise the investigation. She tells him they should put up posters warning women of the danger, but Block states that would only terrify the city's female population. Thibodeaux replies that given the circumstances, maybe they should be terrified.The victim was prostitute and Block goes to interview a Sarita (Regina Richardson) a woman Silber sometimes partnered with. Sarita tells Block that the Silber had a client who was into handcuffs, but she doesnt know his name. When the interview is finished she slips off Block's tie. Block playfully wraps it around her neck as she prepares to make love to him orally. When Block finally leaves he forgets his tie.The next development in the case occurs when prostitute Jamie Cory (Randi Brooks) goes to meet a client at a rented room with a hot tub. The next day her strangled body is found in the bottom of the tub. Block notices a recent tattoo with the words "Looking for Love" and a red heart. He tracks down the tattoo artist and interviews him while the man works on a new tattoo on the inner thigh of a pretty young blond named Becky Jacklin (Rebecca Perle). Sucking on a popsicle, she flirts with Block while the artist is out of the room.The artist denies knowing anything about the murder, so that night Block visits a seedy nightclub where Cory occasionally worked as a bikini-clad baby-oil wrestler. The referee (Donald Barber) greets Block and recommends he talk to the blond currently on the mat if he wants more information about Cory. Block is surprised when he sees that the girl is Jacklin.When she is done work they go back to her apartment where he interviews Jacklin about Cory. She tells him that she knows Cory had a client that liked to use handcuffs on her. She thinks he was a cop and coos, "Maybe it was you?" Later we see Block and Jacklin laying together on the bed after making love. As the camera pans up their naked bodies we see that Jacklin is attached to the head of the bed with Block's handcuffs. Later as they leave the apartment Jacklin tosses away one of her ever present popsicle sticks. We see it picked up by the man wearing sneakers.The next day Amanda is making breakfast. Before her father comes into the room, her curiosity temps her to open an envelope he was carrying. Inside she finds explicit photos of the murdered women. She stuffs the pictures back inside before he can see what she has done. During breakfast she asks her father why he stays out late every night. He replies he is working on solving the murders and that there are some people he can only talk to at night, because they work at night.Block has a change of heart and visits Thibodeaux at the Rape Prevention Center. He gives her some details about the suspect so she can disseminate it to potential victims.When Block gets home that night he can see that Amanda and Penny are upset. Their mother has called to tell them she is getting remarried. Later Block leaves them in the care of a babysitter, Mrs. Holstein (Margie O'Dair) and decides to checkout a seedy bathhouse were people go for anonymous relations. He shows Cory's picture to one woman there, Judy Harper (Margaret Howell). She does not recognize the victim, but invites Block into the room and they have make love. Block does not realize it, but the killer has been trailing him and sees the two of them together.Late that night Amanda leaves her room and finds her father is back home on the sofa. He has drunk himself to sleep holding a wedding picture of himself and his ex-wife. Amanda climbs up on top of Block, tenderly puts her arms around him and falls asleep.The next morning a woman's strangled body is found in the river. When Block arrives at the scene he is shocked to find it is Harper.Block goes by Thibodeaux's gym and sees her there. They talk about the case and he then asks her out to lunch. It is clear a relationship is starting to develop.A fetish doll with an attached riddle arrives at police headquarters. Block thinks it is from the killer. The message also had an invitation for him to visit "Sams." Sams is an club where the killer has arranged for Block to have a S&M session with a girl (Rebecca Clemons). She hands him a whip. He asks what it is for and she replies, "To use on me." Block declines the invitation and she gives him a black rose telling him that she does not know the name of the man who paid her, but her instructions were to send Block on to a local gay bar.At the bar Block meets a gay prostitute (Robert Harvey) wearing a similar black rose. Block declines his services and sends him across the street to a warehouse where he was supposed to meet the man who was paying him. Block follows hoping to catch the killer, but when he arrives he finds the prostitute strangled and hanging from one of the mardi gras floats housed there.Back at headquarters Block solves the riddle and discovers one of Jacklin's broken popsicle sticks inside the doll. Meanwhile she has been kidnapped and her roommate discovers her missing. Soon after Jacklin is found strangled, lying in a fountain. Nearby the tie Block left behind is found around one of the fountain's statues.Disturbed, Block calls Thibodeaux. Together they take Block's daughters out in costume to a street celebration. As the girls watch some street performers, Block talks with Thibodeaux about the case and his misgivings about the direction of his life. Penny buys a balloon from a clown/balloon vender and the camera pans down to show us he is wearing the killer's sneakers. The balloon he gives her is tied with the same type of red ribbon he used to strangle the women, perhaps as a threat to Block, but Penny accidently let's the balloon go and it drifts off before the detective can see it.That night after the girls go to bed, Thibodeaux asks if Block likes to use handcuffs on his dates because is scared of strong women. He admits this may be true. Thibodeaux offers to let him use them on her, but he decides not to and they go to bed. That night he has a dream of Thibodeaux being attacked by a man wearing a ski mask. When the mask is pulled off, Block's face is underneath. He wakes up in a cold sweat.The next day the lab finds the same barley and glass traces found in Silber's apartment on some of the money paid to Cory. Since the serial numbers can be traced to cash sent to the payroll office of "Dixie Brewery" it seems likely that the killer works there. Block and Molinari pay the president of the Brewery (Don Lutenbacher) a visit. He informs them that there are over 1,000 men working at the Brewery. Block suggests the try to eliminate some of the possibilities based on schedule and blood type.While Block did not see the killer at the Brewery, the killer saw him. That night when Block gets home from work he finds the house in disarray and the babysitter missing. Rushing to the girls' room he finds Penny there, but Amanda gone. He instructs Penny to hide in the closet until he comes back. When she opens the door one of the household dogs who was sleeping in there jumps out.Block finds Amanda lying deadly still on his own bed. Fearing the worst he turns her over. She is alive, but has been handcuffed and gagged. Not even taking the time to remove the cuffs, he carries her back to the girls' closet to hide with Penny, then starts searching the house. He finds all the household dogs (except the one Penny let loose) killed. Mrs. Holstein has also been murdered and stuffed in the dryer. The killer sneaks up on Block and tires to strangle him, but Block is saved when the last dog alive attacks the killer, distracting him.In the closet the girls quake with fear as they hear two gunshots. A minute later the door opens and they see a figure with a red ribbon dangling from one hand, as if prepared to strangle them. When the figure bends down, however, they see that it is their father and they jump into his arms.The police arrive, but the killer has escaped. Amanda only has minor injuries, but is taken to the hospital for observation.The next day Block notices a clipping from a former case: a cop who raped two teenagers. Acting on a hunch he asks Molinari to check to see if the perpetrator, Leander Rolfe (Marco St. John) might work at Dixie. Not only does Rolfe work at Dixie, but he got out of prison just before the first murder occurred. He also has a beef with Block since Block originally arrested him more than a decade ago. That night Block and Molinari stake out Rolfe's apartment.Penny is safe as she is staying overnight with Amanda at the hospital, but Block arranges for protection for Thibodeaux: two policemen outside her house and one in the living room. When Block can't get them on the radio, however, he races over to her house. The cops are dead and he arrives just in time to prevent Thibodeaux from being strangled by the killer, Rolfe.Block chases Rolfe through a cemetery while the rest of the police force try to catch up with them. The chase then moves to a railroad yard where Block and Rolfe play cat and mouse among the moving trains. They finally wind up wrestling lying across a track as a freight train approaches. Block rolls off the track at the last second and finds his throat still gripped by Rolfe's hand, which has been severed at the arm from the rest of his body by the train's wheels.The rest of the force arrives and starts to look for Rolfe's body which was apparently dragged away by the train. Meanwhile Block starts walking up the tracks to where a police car pulls up and Thibodeaux jumps out. They embrace and the picture ends.

Tags: suspenseful, neo noir, murder, violence, cult, revenge

Review:
Here is a very, very tense thriller about a New Orleans cop (Clint Eastwood) finding a serial killer.....and vice-versa.This is a very dark (literally) film with a big film-noir look and feel.
Directed by Clint's protégé Richard Tuggle (who wrote the screenplay to the earlier Siegel-Eastwood classic ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ (1979), the film's first half is uncertain and suffers from clichéd (albeit well staged and visualised) New Orleans locations - shady whorehouse dives, red light tinged bars and over officious police procedural rooms and locker-room banter.The plot itself is functional but nothing special: a serial killer with a penchant for young, pretty blondes, is terrorising the city by disposing of prostitutes by strangling them and dumping the bodies all over the city.
The twist in TIGHTROPE is that the killer is also dogging the footsteps of kinky cop Detective Wes Block (Eastwood), a lonely divorcée with two young children.
Block eases off the shackles of a tough day job by frequenting the very same sleazy dives that his thoroughly unpleasant nemesis does.A predictable game of cat and mouse ensues, but the film's stock film noir origins are transcended by Eastwood's continual playing with his own star status and by a very interesting exploration of his character's private obsessions and genuinely touching relationship with his two young daughters.
Special mention here for real-life daughter Alison Eastwood, quite superb as the older and more perceptive girl, who clearly suspects her troubled father is up to more than just "looking for something" on his late night travels through New Orleans's seamier districts.The more conventional opening section of TIGHTROPE is distinctly misleading, largely because about half way through, the film's most interesting character (played by the truly excellent GENEVIEVE BUJOLD) comes much more to the fore.
As the feisty and fiercely intelligent Rape Crisis Center head Beryl Thibodeaux (nice use of Bujold's French-Canadian heritage here for a movie set in New Orleans!) Bujold's sharp dialogue exchanges with ultra macho Detective Wes Block-Clint Eastwood are a constant joy, and, of course, edge us deeper into film noir territory as Block's kinky sexual practise and failed marriage become the focus of the investigation.Tuggle does a generally excellent job of keeping the material visually interesting, although he pays less attention to the minor characters, wasting a great character actor like Dan Hedaya for the role of Block's sidekick on the investigation.
The killer has a penchant for strangling his victims with ribbons which I guess is another meaning for "tight rope".Eastwood's character is very well fleshed out and his desire to provide a safe and normal home life for his daughters and later to establish a relationship with a rape defence adviser he is attracted to, is very believable.
I do not think I give anything away in saying this, since the clunking villain is seen stalking Eastwood from quite early on, hovering behind him or looking in the skylight, so much so that you feel like shouting "He's behind you!" in a pantomime sort of way.Other details do not ring true, such as Eastwood telling a young male hooker to go to a warehouse to be paid by the killer then going there himself to find (surprise!
His real life daughter Allison plays his daughter in this movie and does a fine job, just like his son Kyle did in Honkeytonk Man. Genevieve Bujold gives a wonderful performance as the rape counselor that he falls for.
She was in my favorite Disney film The Last Flight Of Noah's Ark. Eastwood usually directs himself on screen, but in this case Richard Tuggle (who worked with Clint in Escape From Alcatraz) does a commendable job with the direction and the screenplay.
The ending of the film is like Dirty Harry where he finally gets the bad guy, I guess they cop out in the end, but Eastwood showed a lot of daring and guts when he took on this challenging role and he really rose to the occasion in my view.
he's trying real hard to be a good father, as well as a good cop, that is until this killer comes along and threatens all he's been fighting for to preserve.Here we get to know a guy who's extremely vulnerable, hurt, un-self confident, haunted and whose relationship with women remains ambiguous, based on control, kind of as if he was afraid of them, of what they could do to him, seeing them as a threat ...
Clint Eastwood plays New Orleans policeman Wes Block, who is investigating a series of brutal attacks and murders on women.
He then befriends a rape counselor(played by Genevieve Bujold) who tries to understand Block's feelings, as she helps him understand the killer, so he can stop him.Unusual story for Clint doesn't really work, since his character is somewhat unsympathetic, though he is a father of two daughters, some aspects of the story are just sleazy, and the mystery angle is undistinguished and ultimately anti-climatic.
Clint Eastwood plays a stoic cop who's divorced and can't take his daughters to the New Orleans Saints game because he keeps getting a beep about a new murder case.
Unlike the "Dirty Harry" pictures or "The Gauntlet", in which Eastwood only suggested the existence of human weakness, here that weakness is interwoven with the plot (in which the psychopath knows and manipulates the detective's weakness for deviant sex), heightening the tension.What makes the film all the more impressive is that it doesn't dwell exclusively on the deviant side of Eastwood's personality.
Taut and disturbing psychological thriller with Clint in a challenging variation on Dirty Harry-like character, Wes Block, a recently divorced New Orleans cop investigating a serial killer with some parallel sexual inclinations that makes him examine his own perversions.
Music is by Lennie Niehaus and cinematography by Bruce Surtees.New Orleans and Detective Wes Block is plunged into a hunt for a rapist serial killer that brings out his own deviant peccadilloes.One of Eastwood's best movies also happens to be one of his most under appreciated, the actor challenging himself to explore a darker characterisation than the iconographic ones he was most famed for.
He's afraid of affection, to be touched in a gentle manner by a member of the opposite sex, preferring to indulge in seamy sex by way of prostitutes who frequent the dark abodes of Orleans' French Quarter.If you knew what's aheadEnter the doppelganger effect, as a mysterious serial killer is at large murdering the ladies of the night that Wes takes his pleasure with, the guilt factor hanging heavy on his haunted shoulders.
As Wes tries to bring down the killer, he is battling to realign his mindset about the female sex, his daughters and also Beryl Thibodeaux (Bujold), the latter the rape counsellor who was once his sparring adversary, but is now a potential lover if Wes can put everything back on an even keel.Tuggle, Eastwood and Surtees bring plenty of film noir touches to their picture.
This was produced by the same outfit that did the Dirty Harry movies, but Clint is playing a slightly different character here.Set in New Orleans instead of San Francisco, Clinton plays homicide detective Wes Block, who is investigating the murders of prostitutes.
In Tightrope playing New Orleans detective Wes Block that lack is more than made up for.Clint's a family man in this one raising two small girls one of them played by his real life daughter Alyson on his own.
In fact the final struggle between Eastwood and the perpetrator ends quite unforgettably.Clint's leading lady is Genevieve Bujold who plays a rape crisis counselor who believes in a pro-active type of counseling with her victims.
How often have we seen the good guy and the bad guy mano a mano, and one of them has a pistol, and the second guy grabs the first guy's wrist and manages to keep the pistol from being pointed in his direction, and then the gun is knocked out of the first guy's hand and there's an insert of it skittering across the floor, to be followed after a few more tumbles by a shot the Western version of which Vladimir Nabokov referred to as "the pinned hand groping for the Bowie knife." It's night time and Block is searching his house for a hidden murderer, creeping through dark rooms, boards creaking underfoot, danger around every corner -- and he does not TURN ON THE LIGHTS.
Here Clint plays Wes Block, a New Orleans detective investigating the case of a sexual predator.
He co-stars with his real life daughter Alison, and Jennifer Beck, as his kids, the typically excellent Dan Hedaya as his partner, and Genevieve Bujold as a tough talking counsellor at a rape centre, who naturally places herself in harms' way by becoming involved with Wes.Where the film is its strongest is in its depiction of N.O., capturing the night life in an American city known for its atmosphere.Not a great film by any means, but worth a look for Clint fans.Seven out of 10..
His character in "Tightrope", Wes Block, is quite different not only from Harry but also from Walt Coogan, Eastwood's "cool dude" cop in "Coogan's Bluff" or from Ben Shockley, the washed-up alcoholic he played in "The Gauntlet".
It is one of the unwritten rules of Hollywood that in any police procedural involving a serial killer the villain must have a personal grudge against the detective, or take a sadistic pleasure in playing psychological mind-games with him, or both).The film is perhaps overlong, and the plot is occasionally obscure, making it difficult to work out exactly what is going on.
Continuing my plan to watch every Clint Eastwood movie in order I come to Tightrope (1984)Plot In A Paragraph: Wes Block (Eastwood) a New Orleans detective, is leading an investigation into a killer who is raping and murdering women.
Wes Block is one of Eastwood's most fascinating characters, he is a man of many faces: caring father, hard as nails detective and a sexual deviant.
And, unlike Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films, this leading man is one kinky cop!
A divorced detective in New Orleans (Clint Eastwood) juggles raising two daughters, pursing a serial rapist/killer, cultivating a romantic relationship (Geneviève Bujold) and dealing with his own dark side, which he realizes is too close for comfort to the killer."Tightrope" (1984) is another Eastwood detective flick, but it's not as entertaining and compelling as his Dirty Harry films or "The Gauntlet" (1977).
This may bring to mind the original "Dirty Harry" (1971), but the subdued tone is closer to "Blood Work" (2002).The title refers to a person walking the tightrope between his/her good side and bad side.The movie runs 1 hour, 54 minutes and was shot entirely in New Orleans.GRADE: C+/B-.
Clint stars as a hard-nosed detective (does he play any other kind?) trying to figure out who's behind a string of murders in New Orleans.
Clint stars as a hard-nosed detective (does he play any other kind?) trying to figure out who's behind a string of murders in New Orleans.
Eastwood plays Wesley Block, a detective in New Orleans who uncovers the murders of prostitutes.
Clint Eastwood stars as Wes Block a police officer who hunts a serial killer who targets prostitutes who he handcuffs.
Police detective Wes Block (Clint Eastwood) investigates the murder of a young woman.
There is a killer on the loose , preying on various hookers in the red light district of New Orleans and Wes Block is on the case.Tightrope is a very interesting and psychological movie that explores many sides of the Wes Block character .Genevieve Bujold is a woman who runs a rape crisis center and Clint 's love interest.
It's a forgotten or perhaps not known very well Eastwood gem, not a dirty harry shoot em up though, a more dark, personal film involving Clints life orientating between father to his girls and his seedy sexual desires in the night of New Orleans, to his non stop crusade to bring a dark and mysterious stalker to justice.
I will give a brief view of the plot-serial killer,nude women,swearing,smartass one liners,Clint Eastwood blah blah blah.Thats all you need to know because you have seen it all before with Dirty Harry.The movie is set in the 1980s but looks like the 1970s and is very boring; you wait in vain for something to happen.Clints relationship with his kids is a joke-at one point he wishes them goodnight with his trademark "well do ya punk?" scowl!
The movie features Clint Eastwood as New Orleans homicide investigator Wes Block, who is poles apart from Dirty Harry Callahan.
Tightrope takes place in New Orleans, where Eastwood plays a detective who is on a murder case, when a dead woman is found in her apartment.
What Tightrope has that really makes it look like a thriller is the scenes involving Eastwood alone and in the dark looking for the killer.
Tightrope (1984)*** (out of 4) Intense, sleazy and rather creepy thriller has Clint Eastwood playing New Orleans Detective Wes Block who is investigating a string of murders that appear to have been committed by the same man.
There's a portion of the film where a rape-victim worker (Geneveve Hegaya) asks if working this sex/rape cases has made his opinion change on women and the screenplay does a nice job mixing this in and we also have a subplot dealing with Block's relationship with his two daughters and especially the oldest (played by Alison Eastwood).
Along the way, Clint comes to the unpleasant realisation that he has more in common with the killer than he at first realises, and indeed the actor plays one of his sleaziest roles to date while at the same time remaining the usual just, commendable hero type he plays in virtually every film.Like de Palma's BODY DOUBLE, this '80s movie feels saturated with grim and grimy sex, a world in which most guys are perverts and women exist to be used at their will.
He tries to mix around maybe too much in his way of making a dark psychological thriller for his star, Clint Eastwood, but there's at least some very interesting set-ups he puts together in the middle of all the constant "crime scene" scenes (and there are MANY in this film, probably too much unless a fan of CSI).
Wes Block (Clint Eastwood) is a New Orleans Homicide detective who's investigating a series of sex murders involving prostitutes and the further he delves into this seedy world.
This is when the killer starts to play around with Wes and he starts to believe he is his own chief suspect in these murders.Totally different territory for Eastwood in this very slow and sordidly, dark thriller.
Clint Eastwood plays the typical tough cop this time around in New Orleans but has secrets.
TIGHTROPE may add a new dimension to the typical Clint Eastwood character, but it is anything but beneficial.A girl from the red light district is murdered.
Suspense builds around the prospects of Eastwood's daughter being kidnapped by the killer.A not particularly memorable film, but it got him to New Orleans..
Suspense builds around the prospects of Eastwood's daughter being kidnapped by the killer.A not particularly memorable film, but it got him to New Orleans..
They should have examined more the relationship between Block and the killer who he arrested years before for 2 rapes as stated in the later part of the movie.Good acting by Alison Eastwood.
The killer is not only likely to be a former cop familiar with police procedure, but he also knows Wes Block.Clint Eastwood gives a very fine performance as a man troubled on many fronts and trying to come to grips with it all.
In the case of New Orleans detective Wes Block (Clint Eastwood), his experience of having been deserted by his wife, left him feeling threatened by women and needing to regain some control.
Gradually their friendship develops and they get to know each other better.The serial killer leaves some evidence behind at a crime scene which indicates that he probably works in a brewery but when this lead is pursued, Beryl and Block's daughters' lives are put in jeopardy before the culprit's reign of terror is finally brought to an end.Block's inherent duality and the journey that he travels as he (through his relationship with Beryl), overcomes his need to use handcuffs, makes him an interesting character and Clint Eastwood's remarkably subtle performance is both impressive and vital to the success of the movie.
***SPOILERS*** Interesting psychological film-noir thriller with Clint Eastwood playing New Orleans police detective Wes Block who's attraction for what's weird and strange in women that he occasionally picks up in the city's red light district, to have a romp in the hey with.
So, film starts with rape and murder of a girl and Clint Eastwood is in charge of the case.
Another major success of the film is the location, New Orleans beats not with life, but with death as the Mardi Gras takes a back seat and Tuggle explores the dark and seamy nightlife of this soulful and mysterious town.A must see for Eastwood fans and people who like strange movies alike.Overall rating: 7 out of 10..
Wes Block (Clint Eastwood) is the detective investigating.
Eastwood plays Wes Block, a homicide detective on the case who finds he may have a lot in common with this killer.
Troubled divorced Detective Wes Block (a bold and impressive performance by Clint Eastwood) investigates a brutal series of hooker murders in New Orleans.
If you're in the mood to watch something dark and suspenseful, I'd suggest checking out "Tightrope" starring Clint Eastwood and real life daughter, Alison.I just watched it for the first time tonight on Netflix instant stream and I was really into it.I consider myself to be a big fan of Clint Eastwood, and I think this is one of his best films.What's interesting about Clint's character in this movie is he has two completely different sides to him: The loving father and the wayward detective with a penchant for prostitutes.