The Gauntlet (film)
| The Gauntlet | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster by Frank Frazetta
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| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Produced by | Robert Daley |
| Written by | Michael Butler Dennis Shryack |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Jerry Fielding |
| Cinematography | Rexford L. Metz |
| Edited by |
Joel Cox Ferris Webster |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
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Release date
|
December 21, 1977 |
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Running time
|
109 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $5.5 million |
| Box office | $35.4 million |
| The Gauntlet | |
|---|---|
.jpg) |
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| Soundtrack album by Jerry Fielding | |
| Released | 1978 |
| Recorded | September 13 & 15, 1977 The Burbank Studios Hollywood, California |
| Genre | Film score |
| Length | 31:07 |
| Label |
Warner Bros. BSK 3144 |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
The Gauntlet is a 1977 American action film directed by Clint Eastwood, starring Eastwood and Sondra Locke. The film's supporting cast includes Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, and Mara Corday. Eastwood plays a down-and-out cop who falls in love with a prostitute (Locke) whom he is assigned to escort from Las Vegas to Phoenix in order for her to testify against the mob.
Ben Shockley, an alcoholic cop from Phoenix, is well on his way to becoming a down-and-out when he is given the task to escort witness Gus Mally from Las Vegas. His superior, Commissioner Blakelock, says that it's a "nothing witness" for a "nothing trial." Mally protests that they are both set up to be killed in a hit, which a jaded Shockley doubts. Mally soon reveals herself to be a belligerent prostitute with mob ties and is in possession of incriminating information concerning a high figure in society.
Her suspicions are confirmed when the transport vehicle is bombed and Mally's house is fired upon. Shockley and Mally are then pursued across the open country with no official assistance and with the police force regarding them as fugitives. They kidnap a local Constable, who they then let go, as Mally knows there'll be another hit. The Constable dies at the hands of several men armed with machine guns. They eventually run into a gang of bikers whom Shockley threatens with his revolver sending them on their way, confiscates one of their modified Harley-Davidson motorcycles and takes off on it with Mally.
It is revealed that Shockley's boss, Commissioner Blakelock, wants both of them dead, because Mally knows about Blakelock's secret life. Assistant District Attorney Feyderspiel is involved with the plot to kill Shockley and Mally. Both of them are also blamed for the death of the Constable.
The two ride the commandeered motorcycle into a town where Shockley and Mally are ambushed by a helicopter filled with cops sent by Blakelock who pursues the two away from the town and onto the open road, firing at them from above. During the high-speed pursuit, the helicopter accidentally crashes and explodes and the two then ditch the damaged motorcycle and hop on a train on which, coincidentally, the same two bikers whose machine they had "borrowed" are riding. The bikers attack and assault Shockley and later attempt to rape Mally, whom they pin to the floor but the wounded Shockley soon grabs hold of his gun and subdues the bikers, roughly knocking them and their girlfriend off the train. Shockley and Mally both realize that going back to Phoenix will be suicide, but it's the only way to prove their innocence.
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Wikipedia