Last Updated on October 6, 2020 by rob
Boozy Las Vegas cop Ben Shockley (Eastwood), gets the job of delivering prostitute Augustina ‘Gus’ Mally (Sondra Locke) to her court appearance in Phoenix. According to Ben’s boss, chief of police Blakelock (a brief but memorably repulsive character played by William Prince), it’s ‘a nothing witness for a nothing trial.’ Unsurprisingly then, Mally turns out to have a story that can not only bring down Blakelock, but the assistant DA (Michael Cavanaugh) and various Mob types, if they can make it all the way from Vegas to Phoenix. But Shockley has a plan – hijack a bus, armor plate it, then drive right up to the courthouse with his witness!
A terrifically enjoyable star/director vehicle for Eastwood boasting a winning combination of comedy, action and drama with two leads you get behind and want to see triumph. The Gauntlet is best remembered for its numerous action scenes – dozens of trigger happy cops, car bombs, a Hell’s Angel gang, helicopter assassins and the gauntlet of the title; hundreds of armed to the teeth police officers lined up on the streets and buildings of downtown Phoenix just itching to take out Shockley and his witness – setpieces which in 1977 were regarded as seriously over the top. However time has a way of putting things into perspective and just as the James Bond movies of the 1960’s established the template of big action movies for the next decade so The Gauntlet – with its blue collar hero, outrageous and gleefully exaggerated stunts and action taking place not in some Bondian fantasy land but in contemporary, everyday locations – now looks like a clear precursor of the Willis, Stallone and Schwarzenegger action movies of the 1980’s.
That said, The Gauntlet has a lot more going for it than just its action. Eastwood, as is his way, delights in subverting his own image even as he gives his audience what they want. In this case the star clearly relishes his role as The World’s Thickest Cop, a law enforcement officer so dim that even after two near brushes with death – and the only link being that in both cases he called the same person at the police department immediately beforehand – still can’t put the pieces together without Locke’s help. Speaking of Locke it has to be said that her subsequent appearances in Eastwood movies did became somewhat wearisome for Eastwood fans (although she was never miscast in the way Jill Ireland was in all those Charles Bronson films) but rewatching The Gauntlet is a reminder that not only could Locke actually act but there was once a palpable screen chemistry between her and Eastwood. There’s a lovely scene late in the movie where the two of them are rolling into Phoenix in their armor plated bus and for a moment they simply fantasize about their future life together. It’s so naturally played you get the impression the two actors might have momentarily forgotten the camera was even rolling.
Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack’s script also gets great mileage juxtaposing Locke’s demure appearance with the hilariously profane dialogue that frequently pours from her lips. Physically she also gives just as good as she gets. Following a heated exchange over the threat posed by their pursuers Shockley slaps her across the face to which Gus responds by giving him a kick in the balls, insolently remarking, ‘Sorry, I just had to jog your memory!’ The two are, naturally, equals and born survivors, and the journey to Phoenix is as much about their growing fondness and respect for each other as it is about stuff blowing up. To be sure it’s all nonsense yet Eastwood the director somehow convinces us to suspend our disbelief (and believe me that’s no mean achievement given some of the stuff that happens in this movie). And there are some great one-liners along the way, especially the Hell’s Angelette who asks of Eastwood, ‘You wouldn’t hit a Lady would you?’ with entirely predictable results. In fact even after all these years I can still remember the huge laugh that line got in the cinema where I first saw it.
The Gauntlet is also of note for the way it showcases Eastwood’s growing directorial ambitions. The early scenes introducing us to Shockley, his partner Josephson (Pat Hingle), Blakelock and Gus are tight, lean and economically staged in the familiar Eastwood tradition (good jazz score too) and the movie remains crisply directed throughout. The numerous action set pieces – most notably a helicopter/motorbike desert chase that culminates in the ‘copter crashing into some power cables, as well as the armor plated bus being shot to pieces whilst running the gauntlet of the title – proved to Hollywood, as well as some of the more alert critics, that Eastwood was more than capable of handling action on a scale unlike anything seen in his previous work. Great movie poster too. Kind of the epitome of Eastwood in his prime as the macho hero and tied with The Outlaw Josey Wales and its magnificent ‘An army of one’ tagline as the definitive Eastwood poster image of the 1970’s.
