Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		0.5
Overall		4.0

Tightrope Blu-ray Movie Review

A Cop Who's a Different Kind of Dirty

Reviewed by Michael Reuben June 12, 2014

Writer/director Richard Tuggle reportedly based Tightrope on an actual case in San Francisco, and the script was originally set there, but because star Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry character was so closely associated with the Bay Area (and had just appeared the previous year in Sudden Impact), the location was changed to New Orleans. The Dixieland locale improved the film. Tuggle's tale of a detective lured to the dark side by an especially vicious and increasingly personal string of sex crimes gains added allure (or is it horror?) from the sweaty, licentious atmosphere of the Big Easy. Eastwood was widely praised for his unexpected choice to play a man who repeatedly succumbed to temptation and was often portrayed as barely distinguishable from the criminal he was chasing. The performance foreshadowed nuanced portraits in films yet to come.

Because Tightrope was produced by Eastwood's Malpaso Company, using his regular crew, it's no surprise that it looks and sounds like something that Eastwood directed. Unconfirmed reports indicate that he did direct most of it, although Tuggle retained credit. The writer of Escape from Alcatraz, Tuggle was getting his first shot at directing, but Eastwood's notorious impatience with delay apparently cost Tuggle the chair. Tuggle would go on to direct only one more film, the forgettable 1986 thriller Out of Bounds, but he deserves recognition for writing Tightrope, which is unique among Eastwood's films and a classic in its own right. Tightrope would probably be more popular if not for the queasy ambiguity of its moral stance. It's the rare crime thriller where catching the bad guy doesn't leave you with a feeling of relief.

Wes Block is a New Orleans detective and a single father of two young daughters, Amanda and Penny (Alison Eastwood and Jennifer Beck). As much as he loves his girls, Block is constantly pulled away from them by his job. Currently, Block and his partner, Det. Molinari (Dan Hedaya), are working a series of rape/murders by a killer whose calling card is strangulation with something that leaves traces of red fiber. The killer also seems to prefer victims who work in the sex trade.

As Block investigates the victims, he finds himself succumbing to the charms and temptations of women he encounters in bars, tattoo parlors and anonymous sex clubs. But these are the killer's haunts, and the killer has spotted Block. Or was he waiting for his pursuer all along? Soon enough, the victims are women Block recognizes from his nightly prowls. Eventually, the killer begins communicating directly with Block. Block's chief (Bill Holliday) gives him funny looks, but for whatever reason, a bizarre relationship connects the detective and the deviant he's hunting. It makes the cop's skin crawl, and with good reason. Why him? Why does the killer seem to believe they have something in common? And, of course, Block worries that eventually the killer will target people he truly cares about, a concern that is not unfounded.

The only person who seems to have empathy for Block's predicament is an unlikely one. Her name is Beryl Thibodeaux (Geneviève Bujold), and she's an activist who runs a rape crisis center. Block wants nothing to do with Beryl when she first contacts him seeking information about the case (so that she can warn the community), but he changes his mind after she demonstrates a political savvy and a quietly tough demeanor that he's not used to seeing in a woman (or, for that matter, in a lot of men). As it turns out, the activist has much more in common with Block than the killer. Both been forced to develop a professional preoccupation with violent sex, and it's difficult to keep such "interests" from spilling over into one's private life. The line between repulsion and fascination is easily crossed, as Block has been discovering in his nightly outings in search of the killer (and maybe in search of something else).

Tightrope isn't some twisty mystery. The identity of the killer isn't a major reveal; it isn't even particularly important. The film is about the dark forces that the killer's actions set loose inside Wes Block and how he struggles to contain them while maintaining his balance on the "tightrope" that is daily life. Tightrope takes the time to show Block coping with ordinary challenges of fatherhood, including his daughters' awkward questions about sex and his frustration at his ex-wife's announcement that she wants custody, now that she's landed a rich new husband. Events like these acquire additional baggage in a world where someone like Block can easily indulge himself by flashing a badge, and a killer who knows police procedure can vent his rage against women and avoid capture, as long as he's careful.

Tightrope Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Tightrope was shot by Bruce Surtees, Eastwood's director of photography from Play Misty for Me through Pale Rider, and it is a dark film. Surtees and Eastwood shared a preference for low light, and much of Tightrope takes place at night, either outdoors or inside the kind of night spots where people don't want to see each other too clearly. A cat-and-mouse pursuit through a warehouse filled with Mardi Gras floats (a scene that has become a staple of films shot in New Orleans) is so dimly lit that it becomes almost abstract, like something out of a German Expressionist film.

Warner's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray may be criticized as too dark by some viewers used to the sharp contrasts of contemporary digital photography, but it's an accurate representation of the film's intended look. If your contrast and brightness levels are accurately adjusted, you should be able to see all of the necessary action. The blacks are solid, and different shades of black are well-differentiated. When detail disappears into the darkness, it's because it wasn't there in the first place. In daylit scenes or scenes in Block's home or his well-illuminated police station, the image is reasonably sharp and detailed, with fine and natural-looking grain. In darker scenes, the grain occasionally becomes heavy and pronounced, but this is confined to individual shots; more importantly, it hasn't been reduced. Many of the film's nighttime scenes have been given a distinctly reddish cast, but otherwise the palette remains low-key and naturalistic.

Tightrope runs 114 minutes, and any major studio other than Warner would have place it on a BD-50. Unfortunately, Warner continues to flirt with low bitrates, even when it doesn't have to. Tightrope's average bitrate clocks in at 19.93 Mbps, which is pushing it for a film-originated production, but on my 72" screen, I did not observe any compression-related issues. If anyone projecting the image on a larger screen encounters such problems, please let me know.

Tightrope Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

As far as I have been able to determine, Tightrope was released in Dolby Stereo. Warner's 2003 DVD release listed a "remixed" 5.1 track in Dolby Digital, which is presumably the same mix offered here in lossless DTS-HD MA. The multi-channel remix provides expanded presence to Lennie Niehaus' atmospheric score and also to the local New Orleans jazz music, with opening and end titles performed by James Rivers Movement. A scene on Bourbon Street with Block, his daughters and Beryl Thibodeaux following a live band is a good example of how the remix spreads the original track's stereo separation further around the room. The dynamic range is quite good, although there is little occasion for low bass extension. Fidelity is also surprisingly smooth, and dialogue remains clear at all times.

Tightrope Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Other than a trailer (480i; 1.78:1, enhanced; 1:10), the disc has no extras. Warner's 2003 DVD was similarly featureless.

Tightrope Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

It's unfortunate that no extras were created for Tightrope, but it's also not surprising given the tug-of-war over directing duties. Even without extras, though, the film speaks eloquently and holds up as a solid drama. No one would consider it demo material, but the Blu-ray accurately reproduces the film's look and sound and, on that basis, is highly recommended.