Year of Eastwood #39

Tightrope (1984)

Starring: Eastwood
Directed by Richard Tuggle

Lookout, Clint’s a cop on the edge! By day, he’s a caring single father but at night he’s some kind of pervert trolling the dirty streets of N’Orleans looking for cheap hookers. Ok, I don’t know for sure that they’re hookers - because I’m sure Clint has never had to pay for it.

But the fine line (some might say a tightrope) between work and pleasure is blurred when Clint gets assigned to a new case tracking down a serial killer. It seems Clint and this mysterious killer in Sketchers (along with the ominous music) must be hanging out at the same clubs. Crime scene after crime scene, Clint shows up only to find that the dead woman is someone he had only just recently schupted. Is it just a coincidence or (gasp) is Clint the killer?

In the 70’s, Clint was the swinging bachelor. Dirty Harry had the women lining up outside his door. He’d use them up and then toss them aside - but these women knew there was no taming the Clintster. But in the 80’s, attitudes about sex changed and now someone with Clint’s pattern of behavior is perceived as some kind of deprived sicko. Sure he likes to watch naked women wrestle in a tub of oil. And the anonymous sex. And maybe every now and then he likes to use those handcuffs for non-official business. It seems like pretty tame stuff but everyone knows that handcuffs are just a gateway drug…

We know pretty early on that Clint couldn’t be the killer … because, hey, it’s Clint we’re talking about here (plus they show the guy’s face). But like so many of these serial killers in movies, the real killer enjoys the cat and mouse game and begins to torment Clint. He tries to kill Clint’s new girlfriend - but he gets away. He tortures Clint’s two daughters - but he gets away. Finally, Clint chases him down in some funky warehouse full of Mardi Gras floats.

A lot of thought goes into the location of the final showdown. In some of Clint’s previous films, we’ve seen deserted Carnivals, airports, and water treatment plants. It must be tough coming up with a new and original location. Let’s see … how about a tractor pull or a Wiggles concert?

I don’t know who this director guy Richard Tuggle is, but this movie feels like a Clint-directed film. The pace of the film, the use of jazz music, the pan shot of the city as the credits roll. Feels like this Tuggle might just be made up.

Tightrope offers a side of Clint that we hadn’t seen in too many of his cop films. His character is flawed. Lonely, drinking himself silly each night, and banging chicks he doesn’t even know. Again, behavior that might not be that far removed from Dirty Harry, but in the 80’s the euphoria of free love had worn off - and thanks to the likes of Jimmy Swaggart and Senate pages, sex was kinda sleazy.

Clint received a lot of Oscar buzz for his performance, but when the nominations were announced, Clint’s name wasn’t on the list for Best Actor. But Tightrope did signify a turning point in Clint’s career, where his films would be begin to receive critical notice for their accomplishments.

Year of Eastwood #38

The Rookie (1990)

Starring: Eastwood, Charlie Sheen
Directed by Eastwood

Clint’s been getting a lot of press again lately involving internet reports that there’s going to be another Dirty Harry movie. People, let’s put this one to rest. I’ve already discussed the recent stars-of-a-certain-age returning to their previous glory (this just in … Eddie Murphy’s going to make another Beverly Hills Cop movie). But what gets lost in all the speculation is that many of these franchises had been played out years ago. Even the final two Dirty Harry movies weren’t exactly classics. At least Clint has the sense to say he has no interest in making another sequel.

Anyways, there’s lots of other Clint cop movies out there that the public has completely ignored. Take, for example, The Rookie - which is probably one of the crappiest and biggest flops that Clint has ever been involved in. Clint is a cantankerous cop who plays by his own rules. It doesn't really matter his character's name, but it might as well have been Harry Callahan.

Clint’s hunting down car smugglers. Raul Julia is the kingpin who really needs a big payday to pay off some debts of his own - and if he doesn’t get that money soon, he’s going to be in all sorts of trouble. So they load up a semi with all sorts of expensive, foreign cars. Clint and his partner show up for the bust. His partner gets shot - but Clint must have read the title on the script and knew he was getting a new partner anyways, so he chases after the bad guys.

The thieves are now trucking down the expressway. Instead of trying to be the least bit inconspicuous - they’re banging up cars right and left - and when Clint gets too close driving his Oldsmobile, they decide the best way to get away is to drop their cargo (the same thing is what got Han Solo in so much trouble with Jabba the Hut). So $100 grand cars are being dropped all over the interstate and Clint’s weaving and dodging, but there’s always some wise guy in a Winnebago who flips that sucker over and then there’s all sorts of chaos. And the perps get away.

Back at the precinct, Clint gets pulled from the case and teamed up with a new partner fresh out of the academy. Clint never seems to be happy with his new partners - but if he wasn’t always getting them killed, maybe he wouldn’t have to deal with that problem. Charlie seems to have the skills, but in addition to his addiction to hookers and coke, he’s always having dreams about his dead brother and waking up in a cold sweat. And talk about covered in sweat … it must have been worse than going thru withdrawals and being married to Denise Richards all rolled up into one.

Meanwhile … Raul is in a lot of hot water and still needs that money. He and his pleasant girlfriend, Sonia Braga (who has like 2 lines in the whole movie), decide to kidnap Clint and hold him for ransom. Then there’s lots of scenes thrown together involving dog fights, donut jokes, and bar fights. Oh yea, and Charlie’s girlfriend (played by a young Lara Flynn Boyle before she put on all that weight) almost gets killed until Charlie busts his motorcycle thru the house to save her. Then they fight, they laugh, and Charlie heads out to save Clint.

Some other stuff happens - let’s say somehow Charlie saves Clint and then they chase down the bad guys in an airport … I’m sure some innocent people got killed … and the two get chased on foot by a jet. Clint catches up with the bad guy, beats him up, and then shoots him in the head - I’m sure he got a medal for it. So, there’s your Dirty Harry sequel folks…

the Cure at Red Rocks

If I had to make a list of my favorite bands that I hadn't seen in concert - the Cure would be at the top of that list. Well, finally I had a chance to see the Cure at Red Rocks on May 20th. It was an awesome show, 5th row seats, and the band played for nearly 3 hours.

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I have a theory that any of the Cure's peppy songs are perfect for the Peanuts dance ... here's a video I put together: Why Can't I Be You?

Year of Eastwood #37

Space Cowboys (2000)

Starring: Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones,
Donald Sutherland, James Garner
Directed by Eastwood

30 years down the road from Kelly’s Heroes, Clint and Sutherland team up again in Space Cowboys. This time Clint’s a crotchety old man and Sutherland is an aging lothario who re-team with their old comrades, Jones and Garner, to make a flight into space that they were denied back in the beginning days of the space program. I’m sure the idea for this film took off with the real-life adventures of old man in space, John Glenn, who was propped up for a space flight back in 1998 at the ripe age of 77.

Space Cowboys - not to be confused with Spaced Invaders (a 1990 zany comedy about stoned ET’s coming to Earth: wackiness ensues) - begins with a flashback of the young guns, breaking the sound barrier in their jets, only to be passed over for the first American space flights by some monkey … Clyde’s revenge? Years later, the men are now AARP members but still searching for their lost thrill - be it crop dusting, testing roller coasters, or installing garage door openers.

Turns out there’s an old Russian satellite about to crash to Earth and the only guys familiar with the navigation system on the old clunker are these old clunkers, so it’s time for a reunion in outer space. The old men are put thru the rigors and tumbles of the space training program. They also have time to get into some bar fights and chase much younger women.

Space Cowboys is pure movie entertainment. Don’t spend too much time trying to figure out the logistics of the plot - or the plausibility of these old men running 20 miles - because this movie is here for a few laughs, some exciting action, and a whacked-out “Armageddon” style finale. And Clint’s in the director’s chair to make sure everything moves along at a good pace.

Sutherland and Garner are along for the ride as comic relief - I’m not really even sure what their job on the space mission is really. And it’s a little odd to have Jones as the heart-throb heroic role, but Tommy Lee’s entertaining in most things he does. The internet (which never lies) says that originally Jack Nicholson and Sean Connery were considered for roles in Space Cowboys - which would have been an epic teaming, but it’s hard to imagine all those egos would have fit into the cockpit.

Clint is the steady force of the group … a steady, old, cranky, grumpy force. Most of Clint’s roles in the last 20 years of his career involve him griping and complaining most of his lines. Which I guess if you think about it, most old men in movies are cranky (except maybe Hal Holbrook in Into the Wild). Although his roles in younger days weren’t exactly a barrel of monkeys either … so he usually leaves that up to the Donalds and the Burts and the actual monkeys.