The Gauntlet

(1977)

PLOT | AUDIO | TRIVIA | CAST | CREDITS | PURCHASE

Eastwood is working for the Phoenix, Arizona, police department. His superior, Prince, orders him to Las Vegas to extradite a prisoner, Locke, who is to testify in a trial. Eastwood, an alcoholic cop with little hope for promotion, goes to Las Vegas and picks up Locke. She tells him that they will never get back to Phoenix, that they both will be killed before she gets into court to testify against high-ranking police officials in Eastwood's department. He scoffs at her, but when the police come after them in full force he quickly believes she has a point. They flee by taking a cop hostage and having him drive his squad car toward Phoenix. On a dark road, the couple get out of the squad car, which is then blasted to bits by an army of cops, killing the driver. Hiding out in a desert cave, Eastwood and Locke grow friendly toward each other in a hostile sort of way. He and Locke again proceed to their destination as a machine gun-firing helicopter tries to strafe them. Eastwood then takes over a bus and has it plated with armor, and he and Locke climb aboard, intending to drive into Phoenix and confront Prince, the head of the police department who has set them up and is the person Locke will testify against. Prince, who is told by Eastwood that he is coming, sets up an incredible police gauntlet, hundreds of cops who riddle the bus as it roars into the city.

Listen as Clint Eastwood talks candidly about his thoughts on making this film and what influenced him through the filming.

• Clint bought the script from Barbara Streisand, who first brought it to his attention.
• At $5.5 million this was the most expensive Malpaso film to date. The special effects made up a fifth of this cost, the exploding helicopter and bullet-ridden house accounting for $250,000 each.
• It was on this film that Eastwood's affair with Sondra Locke became evident, although both denied it at the time.

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