Right at the top of his game in the late 70s and a Hollywood icon already, star and director Clint Eastwood plays Ben Shockley, a Phoenix police officer who joined the force for all the right reasons but he's been beaten down over the years as he waited for that big case to break. Then one day when it seems things can't get much worse Commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) sends Shockley to Las Vegas to extradite a prisoner named Gus Mally who's going to testify in a low-level trial, a nothing witness for a nothing case he'd told.
Nothing goes smoothly though as several surprises are thrown Shockley's way. For one, Mally is Augustina "Gus" Mally (Sondra Locke), a prostitute scheduled to testify in a mob trial. And two, the Vegas bookies have 50-1 odds she'll ever make it to Phoenix and those odds keep going up. What was a simple return flight with a low-level prisoner turns into a crosscountry chase as Shockley and Gus desperately attempt to get back to Phoenix with the mob and possibly even some crooked cops gunning for them.
With the Shockley character, Eastwood looks to be having some fun with his image, specifically Detective Harry Callahan. Shockley's introduction has him pulling up to City Hall and having an empty bottle of Jack Daniels fall from his lap. He's told he's been given the job because his superiors know "he will get the job done." It's only through Gus's help Ben realizes that he has been set up to fail and be the scapegoat.
The Gauntlet also gets points for having a strong, smart female character as a lead. Locke gives maybe her best performance as Mally, a less than typical hooker. She's not some drug-addict on a street corner looking for money for her next fix. Gus is college-educated and can put a man in his place in the blink of an eye. This character allows for some great exchanges with Shockley as the duo realizes they're not so different.
While Eastwood and Locke are the two leads and dominate much of the screen time, the supporting cast has several names worth mentioning. Pat Hingle reunites with Eastwood for the first time since Hang 'Em High as Josephson, Shockley's former partner who may be the only cop he can trust. Typically a villain, Bill McKinney plays a country sheriff who becomes an unlikely hostage. McKinney's part delivers much of the line's dirtier conversations as he questions Gus about what her job as a hooker entails. Michael Cavanaugh joins Prince as the men in charge as Feyderspiel, the crooked assistant D.A.
Slim on action other than an exciting motorcycle vs. helicopter chase, the movie is nonetheless entertaining, especially as certain twists in the storyline are revealed. The basic storyline has been used in other movies, like Midnight Run and 16 Blocks, but this one has some nice touches. It all builds to an absolutely ludicrous ending as Ben and Gus drive through a gauntlet of armed police officers set on stopping them. But it is in this craziness that makes the movie a lot of fun.
With a good but not great widescreen presentation, the DVD includes cast and crew information that's limited to an Eastwood filmography and a trailer narrated by Shaggy from Scooby Doo, Casey Kasem. Amazon has it for under $10 so buying it won't break the bank.
The Gauntlet (1977): ***/****
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