The Gauntlet (1977)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Clint Eastwood

Writers:

Michael Butler (written by) and
Dennis Shryack (written by)

Release Date:

21 December 1977 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

Clint Eastwood is the man in the middle of The Gauntlet

Plot:

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.

Plot Keywords:

Prostitute | Trial | Betting | Police | Bus

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Ben Shockley
Sondra Locke	...	Gus Mally
Pat Hingle	...	Josephson
William Prince	...	Blakelock
Bill McKinney	...	Constable
Michael Cavanaugh	...	Feyderspiel
Carole Cook	...	Waitress
Mara Corday	...	Jail Matron
Doug McGrath	...	Bookie (as Douglas McGrath)
Jeff Morris	...	Desk Sergeant
Samantha Doane	...	Biker
Roy Jenson	...	Biker
Dan Vadis	...	Biker
Carver Barnes	...	Bus Driver
Robert Barrett	...	Paramedic

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

4-Track Stereo

Certification:

Spain:13 (cut) | Iceland:16 | Netherlands:16 | Finland:K-18 (1978) (cut) | Singapore:NC-16 | Canada:14A (video rating) | Peru:14 | Argentina:16 (original rating) | Argentina:Atp (re-rating) | Australia:MA (DVD rating) | Australia:R (original rating) | Finland:K-16 (DVD rating) (1999) (uncut) | Finland:K-16 (video rating) (1988) (cut) | France:-12 | New Zealand:R16 | Norway:16 (1978) | Spain:(Banned) | Sweden:15 | UK:18 (video rating) (1986) | UK:X (original rating) | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Company:

Malpaso Productions

Trivia:

The yellow passenger jet at McCarran Airport is from the now-defunct airline Hughes Airwest, a.k.a. "The Flying Banana".

Goofs:

Continuity: At the beginning credits Shockley gets into his car and drives off past a Penney's department store. He then gets on a freeway and drives around town. After he stops and breaks the bottle of whiskey, you can see the same Penney' store behind him.

Quotes:

Gus Mally: You probably don't know if I'm good in bed.

Movie Connections:

References Every Which Way But Loose (1978)

An okay movie, but Eastwood could have done better

I am a Phoenix native and I was on location in May of 1977 when they filmed the scene with the bus going east on Adams before it went up the steps of what was shown in the movie as Phoenix "City Hall", it never was city hall, the building was, and still is the Phoenix Civic Plaza.

The movie has a good plot, but the shooting scenes were a little over-done to the point of silliness, especially the one at Gus Malley's house in Vegas when Las Vegas PD officers fire a storm of bullets into the house that tear it down completely. The scene where Shockley was crawling through the house trying to get away from the firestorm of bullets that are flying all around and tearing up everything next to him, and... he never gets hit(???) What are the odds of that happening? There were other scenes they could have done a better job on, like at the end when Malley shoots Blakelock, and all the police officers behind him just stand there as if nothing was happening instead of getting out of the way of the bullet trajectories.

That's why I thought Eastwood could have done a better job with some of those scenes that were a bit far-fetched from reality. But again, this is Hollywood.