Clint Eastwood is known to play law enforcement in his film. In "Tightrope", I hope you got good balance. Eastwood plays Wesley Block, a detective in New Orleans who uncovers the murders of prostitutes. He is divorced, his daughters love him very much. They don't like the mother's new beau that much. He tried his best to be with them, but his work always seem to get in the way. A new partner helps him out a lot in his cases, and the daughters take a liking in her. The killer in the film happened to be an ex cop. Talk about giving law enforcement a bad name. This movie has got a lot of suspense. A lot of darkness surrounding the main character. But there is less gunfire than the Dirty Harry films that I am used to. It could have been been more intriguing. It is a nice film. 2.5 out of 5 stars

Clint Eastwood plays New Orleans policeman Wes Block, who is investigating a series of brutal attacks and murders on women. Wes becomes disturbed because some of the evidence describing the criminal reflects his own fetishes and feelings, though of course disgusted by the killings. He then befriends a rape counselor(played by Genevieve Bujold) who tries to understand Block's feelings, as she helps him understand the killer, so he can stop him.Unusual story for Clint doesn't really work, since his character is somewhat unsympathetic, though he is a father of two daughters, some aspects of the story are just sleazy, and the mystery angle is undistinguished and ultimately anti-climatic. A misfired thriller.

This is NOT the sort of film to show your kids, pastor or mother. The film has a decent amount of nudity and has lots of sexual content. And, unlike Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry films, this leading man is one kinky cop! As I said, it's pretty adult and a bit slimy. The film begins with a murder. The detective sent in to investigate is Eastwood--and at first he seems like a pretty normal sort of fella. However, you soon learn that he's a divorced man with two young girls. This isn't the unusual thing--what's unusual is while he continues investigating a string of prostitute murders, he begins sleeping with these professional girls as well. Pretty odd--but what's even more odd is that soon some of the girls that service him begin showing up dead! While it's never implied that he's committed the murders, it's obvious that there is SOME sort of connection between him and the killer. What it is and why is something you'll have to find out for yourself.As I said above, this is an awfully adult sort of film. While it has some nice tension and suspense, you almost feel like taking a bath when it's all over, as the film is very grim and nasty. If you like grim and nasty, by all means give it a try. I have a couple final observations. While the film is set in New Orleans, I didn't notice a single character with a New Orleans accent!! In addition, it was nice to see that Genevieve Bujold's character is NOT some simpering woman but fights hard and dirty when the killer attacks her. nice seeing a heroine who fights back

"Tightrope" is a story about the classic split between good and bad that exists in all of us, the struggle to keep the "dark side" at bay and the challenges that have to be faced when exposure to certain stimuli make the "dark side" more difficult to control. In the case of New Orleans detective Wes Block (Clint Eastwood), his experience of having been deserted by his wife, left him feeling threatened by women and needing to regain some control. The way that he did this was perverse, as he developed a taste for visiting prostitutes in the French Quarter who were content to be handcuffed.To quote one of the characters in "Tightrope", "there's a darkness in all of us"......."some have it under control, others act it out. The rest of us try to walk on a tightrope between the two". The level of success that can be achieved in walking the tightrope is determined by a number of factors and in Block's case, it's made clear that his many years of dealing with sex crimes had affected him in some way that had contributed to his aberrant behaviour.Detective Block is assigned to investigate the murder of a young woman who'd been raped and strangled and soon after, another victim is found in a hot tub. Both women were prostitutes and both had been killed in the same way. In the course of his investigations, Block visits the victims' co-workers and after questioning them, has sex with them.Block is a troubled character who struggles with profound feelings of guilt and becomes even more uncomfortable when the next victim is a prostitute he'd been with on the night before her death. The killer then goes on to taunt Block in a way which makes it clear that he's aware of the detective's sexual predilections. Block then becomes tormented by similarities that he recognises between himself and the killer and even suffers nightmares as a consequence.Block is divorced but enjoys a happy family life with his two young daughters. During the course of his investigation, he meets Beryl Thibodeaux (Genevieve Bujold), a rape counsellor and self-defence instructor who wants to be involved in the investigation. Gradually their friendship develops and they get to know each other better.The serial killer leaves some evidence behind at a crime scene which indicates that he probably works in a brewery but when this lead is pursued, Beryl and Block's daughters' lives are put in jeopardy before the culprit's reign of terror is finally brought to an end.Block's inherent duality and the journey that he travels as he (through his relationship with Beryl), overcomes his need to use handcuffs, makes him an interesting character and Clint Eastwood's remarkably subtle performance is both impressive and vital to the success of the movie. Genevieve Bujold and Dan Hedaya are also good in their supporting roles."Tightrope" is an intriguing film which is often suspenseful. Lennie Niehaus' score is wonderfully evocative of New Orleans and Bruce Surtees' shadowy cinematography is tremendous as it does so much to enhance the mood of impending danger and psychological darkness that prevails throughout the whole movie.