The Gauntlet, filmed in 1977, isn't like any ordinary western. It's a modern western with police cars instead of horses. And police officers instead of cowboys. Clint Eastwood stars as Ben Shockley an upcoming derelict who is assigned to escort a prostitute who is linked in a mob trail to court in Pheonix, Arizona. Gus Mally, played by Sondra Locke, who is also in real life for 15 years his girlfriend, is the prostitute who Ben must take to court. She is afraid of going with this man because she think she's dead meat if she goes with him. "To make things a little worse, Ben thinks that he can get this job done. Not according to his boss, he thinks that Ben Shockley is an unreliable drunk who cannot get things done. Sondra as soon as Sondra found this out, she tries her best to tell Ben the truth. Now Ben will try his hardest to get to Pheonix alive... his boss's plot is to kill him before he gets there. Unwillingly she goes just to get the trial over with but she has every intention of stopping Ben in his tracks and leaving him in the dust. That is until the police get word from Ben to send officials to come escort Gus themselves. Gus has locked the bathroom door and police are impatiently awaiting the witness. They hear a gunshot and think that someone is shooting at them. Thus begins the first gauntlet. Men open fire at the prostitute's house until it shatters down and appears that no one is alive. Ben and Gus get out safely and set to go to Pheonix. That is only one of the gauntlets Blakelock sets up. Ben and Gus run every moment together, running away from the boss's evil plan and along the way Gus falls in love with the opposite Dirty Harry then in the end they're in the most dangerous gauntlet anybody could think of. This unbreakable barrier consisted of police officers lining the streets of Pheoix all the way down to the court house. This truely epic scene will never repeat itself because the bus was destroyed to the bone. Gus and Ben were smart enough to protect themselves with metal plates resistant to bullets. I believe that idea came from Gus, she is college educated you know.
Even though this film didn't win any award or Oscars, it's just another classic on Clint Eastwood's list of westerns. In the bundle of films I've seen of Eastwood's, it's a nice change from his favorable genre of depressing themes and gunfighting, now police are shooting at him and he has hardly any ammo. The editing style of this movie fits very well into the drama comedy thrill ride. Quick cuts and the sly humor of Gus and Ben's opposite star power of Dirty Harry, actually the making fun of that role, make this film ride very smooth. Another fun fact, Clint Eastwood loves jazz. I love how in the helicoptor chase scene the background fills with faint quick jazz music. The arrangement of the music makes the audience have the feeling of a high paced lifestyle. And that's exactly what Gus and Ben's life is, well, at the moment.
The Gauntlet is also the most continuable film in the bunch. Clint's movies don't really move back and forthe between flash back and juxtapostioning scenes. The focus was on Ben and Gus the whole time. Except for those couple sequences of the boss's office plotting his plan to his assistant. The look of the film is smooth within itself and it's high paced at the same time. Sondra Locke's charater perfectly clashes with arrogant Ben. What's also relevant is that you can see the real life relationship of Clint and Sondra, not fully commited and tolerable.
