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| The Gauntlet [Blu-ray] | ![The Gauntlet [Blu-ray]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51tHxP2HqVL._SL160_.jpg)
 enlarge | Actors: Clint Eastwood, Robert Barnett, Teddy Bear, Mildred J. Brion, Don Circle
Studio: Warner Home Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $28.99
Buy New: $12.09
You Save: $16.90 (58%)
New (29) Used (5) from $11.72
Avg. Customer Rating:  52 reviews
Sales Rank: 5989
Format: Color, Widescreen
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: Blu-ray
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 109
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: WARBR40996
UPC: 883929032006
EAN: 0883929032006
ASIN: B001CT876W
Theatrical Release Date: 1977
Release Date: September 2, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 09/02/2008 Rating: R
Amazon.com
Clint Eastwood is a down-and-out cop who is sent on a routine mission to pick up a witness and deliver her to the Phoenix courthouse. Sounds easy until he realizes he's been set up by the man who gave him this simple assignment. The interplay between Eastwood and the witness, a clever prostitute played by the actor's former girlfriend, Sondra Locke, is tough and playful. They obviously had strong chemistry. The story is highly implausible at times, but the action sequences are satisfying. Eastwood directs The Gauntlet very much in the style of his Academy Award-winning Western Unforgiven. Although the body count is surprisingly low for an Eastwood action film, a house, several cars, and a large bus get shot through with more holes than a big wheel of Swiss cheese. For Eastwood fans, this is the laconic hero at his prime. --Richard Natale
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| Customer Reviews: Read 47 more reviews...
 "... and everybody in this godd@mn town is shooting at me, and I'm slightly worried about it, yeah." January 6, 2009
Look at it this way: Eastwood is too intelligent a director to not realize how over-the-top the violence here is, or how silly that final sequence. So it must have been purposeful, yes? 1977's THE GAUNTLET is a neat little piece of hard-boiled cop cinema, done up in that 1970s style, meaning that there's no glitzy CG stuff here, brother. It's strictly blue-collar mayhem, guns and explosions and Clint busting up them villains in that no-nonsense fashion of his.
Eastwood doesn't play "Dirty Harry" Callahan in this one; he plays sort of an inferior version of him. Ben Shockley isn't a supercop. He's a semi-boozy Phoenix badge whose years clocked in at the force have resulted in diddly-squat. In fact, it's his longtime partner who's gotten the cushy promotion. I'm guessing it's Shockley's underachieving career which gets him tasked with flying to Vegas and then escorting home a (to quote the police commissioner) "nothing witness for a nothing trial." The "nothing witness" turns out to be a two-bit hooker, but Shockley soon learns that there's probably a bit more to that "nothing trial." Else, why are gunmen coming out of the woodwork trying to put a bullet in them? Even the Vegas bookmakers are laying down 50 to 1 odds that they don't make it (oops, odds just jumped to 75 to 1).
THE GAUNTLET is fun, man. It's a good old-fashioned police shoot-em-up, with Clint doing his patented flinty, squinting, gravelly-voiced thing. He directs the film as well, and, as mentioned, he must've had his tongue in cheek when he was considering the action set pieces. For sure, he injects some humor in them, the best example of which is probably that poor house that got shot up so much that it finally simply keeled over. And, while I don't know if this qualifies as an action set piece, the most laugh-out-loud scene has to be Clint's rousting out of a motorcycle gang.
- Shockley to the bikesters: "Now if I have a suspicion a felony's been committed, I can just walk right in here anytime I feel like it, 'cause I got this badge, I got this gun, and I've got the love of Jesus right here in my pretty green eyes."
I also think it funny that the dirty cops, on three separate occasions I can recall, pretty much shrug away even the semblance of police protocol and just begin firing away. And, at that house and then at the state line, the dummies don't even bother confirming their kills.
The biggest knock against this film is that crazy "gauntlet" sequence, which is so over-the-top and so far-fetched that, well, I don't quite know what to say about it, other than Clint must have been smoking something. In a way, it's so lacking in verisimilitude that I kind of dug it. And that's pretty much me defending that climactic scene.
Clint and frequent co-star Sondra Locke do their best with their performances to distract you from the sheer what-the-hell!-ness of it all. Clint is Clint, the essence of cool by way of the clenched-jawed slow burn. Sondra Locke comes thru with one of her best performances, as "Gus" Mally, the feisty, smarter-than-average soiled dove. Clint's down-and-out cop isn't much of a thinker; it takes Gus pointing out certain inconsistencies for him to start suspecting the force of shady shenanigans. The two leads' interplay is what really sells me about this film, with their banter being particularly profanity-laced and funny. They don't get along at first, of course (she calls him a "big .45 caliber fruit"). But, eventually, out comes the lovey dovey. Then again, I guess surviving a car bomb and a house getting shot up real good, being chased by a copter, skirmishing in a boxcar, and then steering a bus thru the mother of all bullet storms - well, no question, any of those will put you in a romantic mood.
Okay, this isn't one of Clint's best films; it's no classic. THE GAUNTLET lacks the nuanced heft and drama of some of his Dirty Harry flicks and of, say, classic thrillers like Play Misty for Me and Tightrope. But it's a film that goes down easy. Ben Shockley is a flawed character, and yet he's the same Clint Eastwood type of hero, maybe not so quick with the marbles but he flaunts the same familiar grit. If anyone can make it thru that barrage of bullets on that bus, it's Clint Eastwood, brother. Back then and even now, Clint is a cool cat and a baaaad man. And, hell, you know what, I say THE GAUNTLET is a classic, after all! So there!
 A Trifle Disappointed November 3, 2008
I've loved "The Gauntlet" from the first time I saw it many years ago. I was very happy when it was released on Blu-ray, as I felt that the original DVD released was in need of a few improvements. The picture looks very good, but I was not happy with the audio. For all the bullets that are flying, and for all the noisy destruction that takes place throughout this wonderful movie, the Blu-ray audio doesn't do it justice. I expected more surround and, frankly, more noise and aural mayhem, but the disc just didn't quite have these things, and that's a shame. I'm still happy that I bought it, but I'm a bit disappointed with the sound.
 The Good, The Bad and The Stupid October 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This whole story from start to finish is ludicrous. If the mob wanted to get rid of some key star witness they would have just shot, stabbed or poisoned her and then disposed of the body. The real mob aren't so stupid as to waste a thousand bullets and not hit anything either and probably wouldn't bother with assuming that the witness is no threat because been left in the custody of some drunken cop.
The Gauntlet plays out like some buddy comedy with Sandra and Clint exchanging insult as bullets fly over their head and is often funny, especially the parts where Clint slaps her around.
By the way, has anyone ever noticed that in all of Sandra Locke's co-starring roles with Clint her character always gets raped?
 GREAT! October 3, 2008
This is a great Clint Eastwood movie. There is action from the beginning to end. It's also a great transfer to Blu Ray. If you are a Clint Eastwood fan you will get this movie.
Eastwood Bomb September 25, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
EASTWOOD BOMB
Its hard to imagine Clint Eastwood creating a bad movie, but hey...this was his directing debut. Give the man a break -- punk. The movie has Eastwood as a down and out cop who is easy prey for all the bad cops looking to take him down. Sondra Locke turns in a sucky job as a prostitute seeking witless protection under Eastwood's care. The only good thing about the movie is seeing Class-A Eastwoodian actor Pat Hingle as the only friend this cop has. Warning: This movie is only for die hard Eastwoodians.
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