1 Clint Eastwood Movie Character Was The Exact Opposite Of Dirty Harry

Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry became one of the defining film characters of the ’70s, but with The Gauntlet, the star set out to play Harry’s total opposite. Following the surprise success of the Dollars trilogy, it took Eastwood a few years to become an A-list actor in America. He sealed the deal with the success of 1971’s Dirty Harry, a tough thriller about a San Francisco cop obsessively chasing after a serial killer. The film connected in a major way with audiences, but also attracted controversy for its perceived endorsement of police brutality. The film was such a hit it spawned four Dirty Harry sequels.

The film also established a template for future Eastwood star vehicles like The Eiger Sanction. One of his biggest successes outside of the Dirty Harry films was 1977’s The Gauntlet. This saw his Detective Ben Shockley escorting a sex worker named “Gus” Mally from Las Vegas to Phoenix so she can testify in a trial. Along the way, they survive numerous assassination attempts and eventually have to drive an armored bus through hundreds of police firing at them to make the trial. The Gauntlet’s main distinction from “Dirty” Harry is Eastwood’s Shockley; instead of being a driven cop, he’s a bitter alcoholic who is essentially forced to rise to the occasion.

The Gauntlet Is A Parody Of Blockbuster Action Movies

This was a big subversion on Eastwood’s part, which is in keeping with The Gauntlet’s tone. While not exactly an Airplane-style spoof, the Clint Eastwood-directed film does have fun poking at the action movies of the time. Shockley and Gus escape increasingly outlandish sequences, including a house being shot to literal pieces, being pursued by a helicopter or the titular gauntlet itself. What makes this humorous is that despite the vast amount of ammunition fired throughout The Gauntlet, these setpieces achieve little in terms of story and the bodycount is quite small.

In fact, it’s the rare Eastwood action movie where he doesn’t actually kill anybody. By the time of The Gauntlet’s 1977 release, Eastwood had staked his career on playing hyper-masculine men of action who speak with actions instead of words. With Shockley, he was clearly having a great time playing a more down-and-out figure, who is the last person anybody – including himself – would expect to play hero. Of course, he saves the day, but Harry Callahan – who lost many partners – would have solved the problem in half the time and in more style. Regardless, the film boasts some of the most impressively mounted action of Eastwood’s directing career

The Gauntlet Almost Co-Starred Barbra Streisand

The Gauntlet was one of six movies where Eastwood co-starred with former partner Sondra Locke, including The Outlaw Josey Wales and Dirty Harry sequel Sudden Impact. The project had an intriguing history before their involvement. The first planned actor pairing was Barbra Streisand and Marlon Brando, in what would have been one of the latter’s few straight action parts. Brando later withdrew and was replaced by Steve McQueen, but reported clashes between him and Streisand saw both actors exit The Gauntlet entirely, paving the way for Eastwood and Locke to take over.