Tightrope (1984)

[5]

Clint Eastwood plays a detective (who isn’t Dirty Harry) assigned to a case involving a serial rapist and murderer whose victims begin to include Eastwood’s acquaintances. This is a paint-by-numbers serial killer movie, full of all the old cliches — like the closeups of the killer’s feet, the old ‘close the refrigerator door to reveal the killer’ gag, and bare breasts galore. Eastwood’s performance is more grounded than his more famous ‘man with no name’ portrayals. I’m not saying he deserved an Oscar, but he definitely branched out as an actor. The best parts of this movie are Eastwood’s scenes with the two girls playing his daughters. (“Daddy, what’s a hard-on?” is a nice moment.) In sum, Eastwood delivers, but in a movie that is somewhat unworthy. With Geneviève Bujold and Dan Hedaya. Written and directed by Richard Tuggle.

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