The Gauntlet (1977)

Clint Eastwood plays an alcoholic, dim-witted cop, Ben Shockley, who has to escort an irate prostitute, Gus Mally (Sondra Locke), from Las Vegas to Phoenix so she can testify in a mob trial. Gus immediately warns Ben of the danger that they're in, but he doesn't believe her. He eventually figures out that his superiors want Gus dead and chose him for the job because they thought he'd fail. The two spend most of the film eluding the trigger-happy cops. The banter between Ben and Gus, who initially despise each other, is just as brutal and entertaining as the action set pieces. And when the two finally warm to each...
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other, it's surprisingly effective. Eastwood and Locke made many films together, but THE GAUNTLET features what may be their strongest collaboration. Literal-minded critics may malign the film for its over-the-top explosive action, but it's clear that Eastwood was aware of how outrageous and preposterous the action in the film is. As Jan De Bont would later do with another wildly entertaining and implausible film involving a bus, SPEED, Eastwood here has stripped down the action movie to its bare essence. THE GAUNTLET is a fun ride.
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Playing police stooge Ben Shockley, Clint Eastwood sends up his Dirty Harry-ness in this 1977 cop film-action movie-romantic comedy. Ben is assigned to escort tough Vegas hooker Gus Mally (Sondra Locke) to Phoenix for a Mob trial because, he thinks, he always "gets the job done." But corrupt commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) chose alcoholic Ben precisely because Ben does not get much done at all, and Blakelock has no intention of letting them get to Phoenix alive. Once Gus figures this out and makes Ben see the truth, Ben resolves to prove Blakelock wrong, even if it means surviving car bombs, a house shot ...
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to pieces, a helicopter-motorcycle chase, and finally driving an armored bus through a gauntlet formed by scores of shooting cops. Amidst the mayhem, Ben falls in love with the smart-mouthed, college-educated Gus, and she insists on riding out the gauntlet with her Ben. An obedient cop who is not as clever as his female charge, Ben Shockley is the opposite of Eastwood's ultra-capable loner Harry Callahan from the Dirty Harry series, allowing Eastwood to poke fun at his image even as Shockley eventually does get the job done. While the exaggerated action set pieces also parody the Eastwood cop hero's usual invincibility, their efficient, energetic staging still makes them effective; The Gauntlet was another popular success for Eastwood as director as well as star.
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De uit Phoenix afkomstige agent Ben Shockley is op weg om een naam op te bouwen als lastpost wanneer hij een getuige, Gus Malloy, moet transporteren naar Las Vegas. Het blijkt dat ze connectie heeft met de maffia en belangrijke informatie heeft. Shockley krijgt het dan ook niet makkelijk onderweg en moet veel gevaar ontwijken.

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