Aedonerre I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

Mehdi Hoffman There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

Alistair Olson After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Brooklynn There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.

gab-14712 If you like preposterous, over-the-top action movies, Clint Eastwood's The Gauntlet may just be for you. Eastwood knows how to direct action, perhaps maybe too well. While the movie is often entertaining, some of the action sequences are so unrealistic that it brings me out of the movie at points. Even though the movie doesn't take the action too seriously, it can be jarring to watch. There are two such sequences that come to mind. The first sequence is when the characters of Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke are at a house. They are on the run from law enforcement, but it seems like the entire police force comes out to shoot the entire house down. The second sequence is perhaps the final twenty minutes of the film. Essentially, these two characters enter town in a bus with seems like the entire police force on the West Coast gunning them down. What makes everything crazy is that these characters are not even fighting back! While all of this was fun to watch, it was very hard to suspend my disbelief. That being said, the action scenes are well-staged and there is enough action to last a lifetime. As I said before, Clint Eastwood knows how to direct an action film.In the desert city of Phoenix, Arizona, Clint Eastwood portrays an alcoholic detective named Ben Shockley. He is given the task by police commissioner Blakelock (William Prince) to escort a witness named Gus Malley (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas for a trial. Shockley travels to Vegas to promptly discover Gus as a college-educated hooker. She warns him that the odds are against him of bringing her to trial because she is going to testify against a very powerful mobster. As they start to travel, the mafia starts to chase them down. When Shockley calls for police help, he realizes that he was betrayed by someone in the police force.One thing that Eastwood does very well in his movies is his portrayal of female characters. He does not seem them as decorations, unlike many directors of the time period. Despite all the mayhem in the movie, there is enough time for characterization of her character. She is a prostitute, but she is intelligent, ferocious, and has a college degree. That is very uncommon for a movie hooker. Sondra Locke performs her role very, very well. No wonder why Eastwood used her in many of his early movies. As for Eastwood himself, he does his normal character portrayal. Grumpy, has his famous scowl, and good at the action. So with all the action and mayhem in the movie, the performances manage to be perhaps the most realistic thing of the movie.So if you are a fan of action movies, The Gauntlet is a good movie. It seems like it was a fun movie for all those involved with making it. I may not like the action being too crazy and over-the-top, I can appreciate the characterization and the story Eastwood and writers Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack created. Eastwood does have a sense of humor, so he applies that to the action and the story to a somewhat successful degree. Look, Clint Eastwood has made far better movies. I wouldn't call this a blip on the radar, but I think it's more of his less interesting movies. It was a kind of entertaining though watching the entire police force shoot down the bus as they made their way back into Phoenix. I guess if you go over-the-top, you must embrace it. That is what Eastwood did.My Grade: B-

slightlymad22 The Gauntlet (1977)Plot In A Paragraph: A cop (Eastwood) is assigned to escort a prostitute (Sondra Locke) into custody from Las Vegas to Phoenix, so that she can testify in a mob trial. But a lot of people are literally betting that they won't make it into town alive.Assuming joint actor/director responsibilities for a fifth occasion, Clint Eastwood directed himself and Outlaw Josie Wales costar Sondra Locke in what essentially is a screwball comedy masquerading as an action adventure.The pacing of the movie is tight, the dialogue cracking with crude insults and snappy banter and the action is well staged too. Ben Shockley is no Harry Callaghan (even if they both share s downbeat sense of humour and a grumpy temperament) as unlike the dynamic and instinctive Harry Callaghan, who is always in control and always ready for action, Shockley is an underachieving Buffoon, slow on his feet and slow on the uptake, and blind to the corruption in the police force. Sondra Locke so cute and vulnerable in The Outlaw Josie Wales, does a complete turn around as Gus Mally is feisty and foul mouthed. Once again her character is the victim of a sexual assault. Like Dirty Harry and Kate Moore in The Enforcer, Shockley and Mally are at odds from the start, but slowly and inevitably they earn to each other during the course of the movie. After a decent sized role in The Outlaw Josey Wales, Malpaso regular Bill McKinney was back to a smaller role as a lewd constable. Pat Hingle also has a small but memorable role as Shockleys former partner and William Prince is fine as Blakelock.Once again Jerry Fielding (his third Eastwood movie in a row) does a great job of composing the score, and I need to add this movie has a great poster. The Gauntlet grossed $35 mill at the domestic Box Office to end 1977 as the 14th highest grossing movie of the year.

marcusbrainard What would happen if Hanna-Barbera's people decided to do their version of The Gauntlet? Don't worry there will be the house & The Constable's car scene & The Bus Ride scene will be intact. Also Scrappy Doo will be there & taking lessons from Hadji from "Jonny Quest". Ruff & Reddy was a cat & dog team that put H-B on the map. Now for the story. Commissioner Blakelock appoints Ruff & Reddy as cops and go to Vegas to get a witness for a trial & if you saw a Ruff & Reddy adventure in the 1950s & 1960s there at home in the story. However Gus Mally, will be portrayed by a cool, black girl who resembles "Edsel" in Matt Wagner's series and dress up like her. The dialogue with The Constable & Gus will be toned down. The ambush at the State Border line will be performed by 10 black women in "Sailor Girl" attire from Anime stories and have high-tech weapons & drive 5 unmarked, 1957 Chevrolet 150 Series, 4-Dr. Sedans which are all black. Also the motorcycle club become fans of Ruff & Reddy & also in the boxcar is some of the relatives of Ruff & Reddy enemies & when Gus comes in the fight she fights like a Japanese warrior and most of the bad guys off the boxcar and the hijacking of the bus goes thru & stopping at a compound where "Professor Butch" a professor resembles a WWE Wrestler and has a animal compound & Scrappy Doo a toned down version rides on the bus & has a clear plastic dome covering the bus during the cross firing & also a father & son police partners are there. The police shows respect when they see Ruff & Reddy, Scrappy Doo, Professor Butch & Gus. Josephson, will be shown as a black character named Charlie Brown who got serious from The Coasters' song "Charlie Brown". When Blakelock tried to fire at Professor Butch & Feyderspiel, the gun has no bullets because Scrappy Doo did a "Hadji" trick which Hadji did in "Double Danger" episode from Jonny Quest. Gus off screen beats the hell out of Blakelock & Scrappy is allowed to use his "Puppy Power" on Blakelock & Feyderspiel. A Sheriff Joe stand-in takes the villains to jail & the group goes to The Courtroom place. That's how The Hanna-Barbera people would have done it & I would have the role of the LVPD Captain that shoots down the house & uses candy instead of a cigarette for himself and a cool rookie cop. That's how H-B would have done Clint Eastwood's Gauntlet story. Ruff & Reddy were used because they never seen action when their series were over & now there back & this time made not come out on top. Ruff & Reddy never loses.

Jonathan Roberts 'The Gauntlet' is an action thriller starring Clint Eastwood and Sondra Locke. In the film, Eastwood – playing an unpopular 'Dirty Harry' kind of police officer – must escort a prostitute (Locke) to a trial, at which she is to be a witness. However, there are high- ranking officials in the police department who'd rather see Locke not make it to her trial, and so the duo soon become the county's most-wanted, and it transpires that the authorities will do anything to keep the cop and the prostitute out of court. They must tackle a number of increasingly deadly obstacles in their path, with police snipers, vengeful bikers, helicopters and drive-by shootings all serving to impede them. With these developments, it becomes apparent that 'The Gauntlet' isn't a film to be taken seriously; once this is acknowledged, the film is quite good. It isn't as nail-biting as 'Dirty Harry' or as solemn as 'In the Line of Fire', but 'The Gauntlet' still manages to entertain, albeit in a lighter, 'Mad Max' way. (I think that Eastwood attempted this with the film 'Coogan's Bluff', but I'd say that 'The Gauntlet' is the superior title.) The film is supported by some enjoyable and opportunistic cinematography, a lovable jazz score, and two surprisingly good performances. 'The Gauntlet' isn't really a title to be remembered, debated or written about, and if you approach it in consideration of what it is – a fun, 'Bullitt'-like action film with mature themes – you're likely to enjoy it.