Tightrope: It was 42 Years ago this week

Tightrope: It was 42 Years ago this week

I was somewhat surprised when our friend Olly Peden dropped me one of his regular updates in regards to Tightrope’s release – which was (rather shockingly) 42 years ago this week. I remember seeing this like it was yesterday, and the waiting outside my local ABC cinema. Actually, it was a rather good period for Clint movies, in the February of 1984 UK audiences welcomed the return of Harry Callahan in the fourth film of the series Sudden Impact. Six months on and we were treated to a second new cop film n the shape of the excellent Tightrope. 

Yes, it was this week on (August 17thth) that Tightrope hit the screens. Tightrope is a film that really tends to divide opinion. I know some fans are really bored by it – but I’ve always really enjoyed it. It was welcoming (imo) to explore the vulnerability of a hard-nosed Eastwood character and in many ways signified a general change in attitudes. Most critics agreed too. 

Roger Ebert praised the film for taking chances by exploring the idea of a hard-nosed cop learning to respect a woman. He cites the film as "a lot more ambitious" than the Dirty Harry movies. Ebert's colleague Gene Siskel also praised the film during their on-air review of the film on At the Movies, crediting the performance of the villain, the relationship between Eastwood and Geneviève Bujold, and Eastwood doing "a terrific job risking his star charisma playing a louse" and also "taking us inside to see what it's really like to abuse women". Janet Maslin concluded that the film "isn't quite top-level Eastwood, but it's close." David Denby stated that as an actor Eastwood "gave his most complex and forceful performance to date." 

I would agree with most of that, in fact I probably enjoy it a great deal more than Sudden Impact – which I saw as simply ‘routine’ and designed just to cash in on the then current trend of vicious filmmaking with films such as Scarface and the cold-blooded killing machine which was The Terminator. 1984 was a monumental turning point for cinematic violence, directly triggering the creation of the PG-13 rating by the Motion Picture Association of America. 

Tightrope was filmed in New Orleans in the fall of 1983. Filming locations include the French Quarter, the Piazza d'Italia, the Dixie Beer Brewery, the Crescent City Connection (the second span of which is seen under construction), and the Creole Queen riverboat.

While Richard Tuggle retained the director's credit, Eastwood reportedly directed much of the film himself after finding Tuggle too indecisive. It eventually grossed $48 million at the United States box office. In its opening weekend Tightrope was number 1, taking in $9,156,545, an average $5,965 per theatre.

My thanks to Olly for the reminder.