The Gauntlet (film)

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The Gauntlet

Theatrical release poster by Frank Frazetta
Directed by Clint Eastwood
Produced by Robert Daley
Written by Michael Butler
Dennis Shryack
Starring Clint Eastwood
Sondra Locke
Music by Jerry Fielding
Cinematography Rexford L. Metz
Editing by Joel Cox
Ferris Webster
Studio The Malpaso Company
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release dates December 21, 1977
Running time 109 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $5.5 million[1][2]
Box office $35,400,000[3]

The Gauntlet is a 1977 American action film directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Eastwood and Sondra Locke. The film's supporting cast includes Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, and Mara Corday. Eastwood plays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute (Locke) whom he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix in order for her to testify against the mob.

Plot

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 they'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 gun sending them on their way, steals one of their choppers and takes off on it with Mally.

It is revealed that Shockley's boss, Commissioner Blakelock, wants both of them dead, because Mally knows who wants to silence her. 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 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 chopper and hop on a train on which, coincidentally, the same two bikers whose chopper they just stole 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 then prepare to enter the gauntlet of armed police officers that Blakelock has set up to stop Shockley and Mally from entering Phoenix. The two hijack a bus and are about to enter town when Maynard Josephson, an old friend of Shockley's, warns the two of the gauntlet Blakelock has set up for them. While stepping out of the bus to discuss the terms, Josephson is shot dead by shooters from a nearby building and Shockley is hit in the leg.

Now with no other option, the two enter the town and are shot at until the bus can no longer move. The two surrender, but Shockley uses Feyderspiel as a shield, in order to have him confess that Blakelock is corrupt, and Shockley is shot and wounded by Blakelock who in return is shot dead by Mally. Feyderspiel also dies. Shockley and Mally walk away safely from the gauntlet of cops.

Cast

Production

Written by Dennis Shryack and Michal Butler,[1] Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand were originally cast as the film's stars.[4] However, fighting between the two forced them to drop out of the project; Eastwood and Locke replaced them.[4] The Gauntlet was filmed in Phoenix, Arizona and Las Vegas, Nevada, as well as in nearby deserts in both states.[1] For the house scene, it was built at a cost of $250,000 and included 7,000 drilled holes that would include explosive squibs for its demolition.[2] The helicopter chase scene included a helicopter that was built without an engine for the crash sequence.[2] To simulate the gunshots from the gauntlet of officers at the end of the film, the bus was blasted with 8,000 squibs.[2] From the total budget of $5.5 million, $1 million was spent on the various action sequences.[1]

Promotion

Frank Frazetta painted the super-stylized promotional billboard poster for the film. The poster features a "muscled colossus Eastwood, brandishing a pistol, and scantily clad Locke, her clothes teasingly shredded, clinging onto her hero".[5]

Reception

Box office

The Gauntlet grossed $35.4 million at the box office,[3] making it the 14th highest-grossing film of 1977.

Critical response

Although a hit with the public, the critics were mixed about the film.

Judith Crist of the New York Post wrote that the film was "a mindless compendium of stale plot and stereotyped characters varnished with foul language and garnished with violence".[5]

Roger Ebert, on the other hand, gave it three stars and called it "...classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny".[6] David Ansen of Newsweek wrote, "You don't believe a minute of it, but at the end of the quest, it's hard not to chuckle and cheer".[7]

Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 82% based on 17 reviews.[8]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Hughes, p.63
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Munn, p. 161
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "The Gauntlet, Box Office Information". The Numbers. Retrieved January 26, 2012. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 McGilligan (1999), p.279
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Hughes, p.65
  6. ↑ Ebert, Roger (January 1, 1977). "The Gauntlet". Chicago Sun-Times. Archived from the original on December 11, 2010. 
  7. ↑ McGilligan (1999), p.273
  8. ↑ "The Gauntlet, Movie Reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. Retrieved January 8, 2011. 

Bibliography

  • Hughes, Howard (2009). Aim for the Heart. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1-84511-902-7. 
  • McGilligan, Patrick (1999). Clint: The Life and Legend. London: Harper Collins. ISBN 0-00-638354-8. 
  • Munn, Michael (1992). Clint Eastwood: Hollywood's Loner. London: Robson Books. ISBN 0-86051-790-X. 

External links

Films directed by Clint Eastwood
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