X
- 1977
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 49 m
- 1977
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 49 m
Summary A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute 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.
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Written By: Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack
- 1977
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 49 m
- 1977
- R
- Warner Bros.
- 1 h 49 m
The Gauntlet
59
7.5
Where to Watch
Summary A hard but mediocre cop is assigned to escort a prostitute 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.
Directed By: Clint Eastwood
Written By: Michael Butler, Dennis Shryack
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
59
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 10 Critic Reviews
59
50% Positive
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
50% Mixed
5 Reviews
5 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
The Gauntlet is classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny. It tells a cheerfully preposterous story with great energy and a lot of style, and nobody seems more at home in this sort of action movie than Eastwood.
The well paced script is an effective mixture of worldliness and naïveté: despite the couple's graphic sparring scenes, in which Eastwood more than meets his match, their relationship remains curiously innocent; a kind of fugitive romanticism pervades.
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
7.5
50% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 User Ratings
7.5
50% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
50% Mixed
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Almost loved it.
The opening chunk of 'The Gauntlet' is promising, I liked what I was seeing and what was being crafted together. It never quite reaches the heights I thought it might have, though that doesn't stop the fact that this 1977 film is still very good.
Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke team up yet again, as seen in many other productions from around this era. Of the five I've currently seen with those two, this is the most I've enjoyed them as a pair - especially Locke. Pat Hingle and William Prince are the most noteworthy of the rest.
I found the two leads to be entertaining and the plot to be strong fun, there are a lot of neat practical set pieces used which are pleasing. As for things that stopped me from loving this release, one would be the ending - which is good, but could've perhaps been greater - and the villains - who are a little meh, character-wise anyway.
All in all, a film that is very much worth watching in my opinion.
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As slow as Eastwood appears onscreen, he's learned a thing or two about fast pacing as a director. The action is frequent, occasionally inventive, and, aided by some searing trumpet playing on the soundtrack by Art Pepper, fairly tense. Unfortunately, he overdoes it. [23 Dec 1977]
In a major role reversal, Clint Eastwood stars in The Gauntlet as a person who might be on the receiving end of the violence epitomized in his famed Dirty Harry film series.
It is a movie without a single thought in its head, but its action sequences are so ferociously staged that it's impossible not to pay attention most of the time.
The violence is bloody, nonstop, and as pointless as the script.
It's telling that the film is still only truly memorable for the closing five minute bulletfest, which turns Clint's bus into the only thing with more holes in it than the screenplay.
The Gauntlet, the movie's got a weird plot, some decent acting but there's not enough fight scenes throughout this movie, which honestly takes you out and it's the same with the plot. Overall, it's not an amazing movie which Clint Eastwood has directed and also starred in but more of it being a let down to what Clint's previously been in.
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This sixth directorial from Clint Eastwood definitely amps things up in terms of the set-pieces and stunts. From a screenwriting and character standpoint, however, there's a whole lot left to be desired. This feels like a pantomimed version of what Eastwood detractors think all his movies are really like, with Eastwood as the distant, lumbering blunt instrument and Sondra Locke as the mouthy, ultimately incapable love interest. Any chances of chemistry between these two leads is kneecapped from the start, with their largely transactional — even coincidental — relationship making the ill-advised heel turn towards the romantic about two-thirds of the way through. It's just all so hokey and contrived. Even the overall conspiracy behind everything is telegraphed far too early on for the audience. Again, the action is to be noted, but beyond that, I can't say this is anywhere near the actor/director's best. Not even close really.
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Awards
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films, USA
• 1 Nomination
