This Clint Eastwood Action Epic Is Easily The Actor's Most Overlooked '70s Movie

Warner Bros.

If the 1960s were when Clint Eastwood came to prominence, the 1970s were when he solidified his status as a screen legend. Interestingly enough, he did so often by playing against type and subverting his towering screen persona. He demonstrated a more empathetic side to his archetypal Western hero by becoming the head of a surrogate family in 1976's "The Outlaw Josey Wales" and also undermined his maverick cop persona — so emphatically established with 1971's "Dirty Harry" — when he played a bumbling detective in 1977's "The Gauntlet." Far from destroying his standing as a big screen hero, however, the film remains arguably his most fun and overlooked of the 70s.

Over on Letterboxd, a list of Eastwood's most popular films shows "The Gauntlet" is pretty low in the rankings (though his barely talked-about 1973 film "Breezy" is even lower). That's a bit of a shame as "The Gauntlet" is a heck of a lot of fun, allowing Eastwood to embrace mindless action in a movie that sees him navigate a perilous cat-and-mouse adventure from Las Vegas to Phoenix. 

The action thriller, which Eastwood also directed, was a solid hit, making $35.4 million on a $5.5 million budget. Critics weren't exactly floored by the picture, but you would expect as much given this was basically an excuse for Eastwood to look cool as he blew things up and dodged things his enemies had blown up. It made for some of the best Eastwood movie moments and a film that almost certainly deserves more attention than it receives.

Warner Bros.

"The Gauntlet" is like the famous "Do I feel lucky" scene from "Dirty Harry" turned into an entire movie. Unlike Clint Eastwood's debut outing as Harry Callahan, his treacherous Vegas-to-Phoenix run isn't concerned with deeper questions about when or if morality trumps the law. It's just Eastwood talking tough and backing it up. 

The film sees his burnt out, boozy detective Ben Shockley charged with transporting a witness from Las Vegas to Phoenix in order for her to stand trial. Initially, he's told that this witness is "nothing" and that this is all just routine. But when he meets sex worker Augustina Mally (Sondra Locke) he quickly learns that her association with, and knowledge of the mob makes her a significant target. When it transpires she also has compromising information about detective Shockley's superior, Commissioner Edgar A. Blakelock (William Prince), Shockley begins to realize he's been set up. 

What follows is basically a montage of over-the-top action sequences as Shockley and Mally fight their way back to Phoenix to assert their innocence. On their journey, the pair evade sniper fire from a helicopter while hurtling across the desert on a stolen motorbike, battle two disgruntled bikers aboard a train, and drive an armor-plated bus through a gauntlet of sharpshooters with a seemingly endless supply of ammo. It's ridiculous but it makes for arguably one of the best action movies of the '70s.

Warner Bros.

"The Gauntlet" was a decent enough hit for Clint Eastwood, who had already proved his directorial ability with more thoughtful efforts such as his debut "Play Misty for Me" and the aforementioned "Breezy." His 1977 actioner was nothing of the sort, but Eastwood knew as much and was clearly playing up the parodic elements. What's more, the film demonstrated his flair for staging the heck out of an action scene.

As you might expect, critics were not quite as impressed with "The Gauntlet" as some other Eastwood-helmed pictures. But they weren't dismissive of it either. Roger Ebert bestowed a very respectable three out of four stars on the film, which he evidently considered to be "classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny." Similarly seduced by the action was Vincent Canby of The New York Times, who while fully aware of the film's vacuousness, described the action sequences as "so ferociously staged that it's impossible not to pay attention most of the time."

More modern appraisals over on Letterboxd are similarly positive. Users described the "The Gauntlet" as "an excellent pedal to the metal action film" and a "kinetic comedy about how law enforcement sucks and Sondra Locke is awesome." One even described the movie as "hardboiled to hell and back and then some, this whole thing stinks of cigarettes and gunsmoke, it's f****** awesome." Sure, Ben Shockley isn't one of Eastwood's best roles. But his dangerous desert odyssey is a great time.