Tightrope

[Gant]

I watched Tightrope again last night and for the first time noticed that at the beginning of the film.. as well as looping Eastwoods voice for the actor playing the killer... It's also (unmistakenly) Eastwoods legs shown walking along following the soon to be victim...

[Philo Beddoe Jr]

What makes you so sure they are Eastwood's legs Gant?  Or his voice?  

Regards,

WKC.

[Gant]

I knew it was his voice cos I read they did that .. I guess as a halfhearted attempt to make the audience think Block was the killer..... as for the walk, I just recognise Eastwoods walk, my wife noticed it too...

Whadya think..?

Interesting how they cut straight to Eastwoods training shoes in the next shot....

[KC]

It IS Eastwood's voice, slightly disguised; Eastwood has said so in interviews, and the match cut to Block's sneaker-clad feet in the next shot is also intentional. I've never heard that it's Eastwood's legs in the opening shot, however.

In a 1984 interview in Film Comment, Eastwood said:

I always liked that aspect: is this guy, or isn’t he? How does he fit in? I even looped the lines of the actor who played the killer at the beginning, though I changed the voice slightly. Not that I wanted to play all the roles, but I just wanted a little bit of the thing, "Is that Eastwood? Is that him?" You can tell it isn’t me, but on the other hand there’s just enough familiarity to tie in with the shoes and just kinda getting it going that way.

(Published in Film Comment, September/October 1984; reprinted in Clint Eastwood: Interviews, p. 84)

[allycat]

I knew it was his voice cos I read they did that .. I guess as a halfhearted attempt to make the audience think Block was the killer..... as for the walk, I just recognise Eastwoods walk, my wife noticed it too...

Whadya think..?

Interesting how they cut straight to Eastwoods training shoes in the next shot....

Yeah, I always thought that was supposed to be the point, that the killer is Wes's doppelganger. When I wrote about this film for my dissertation I think I either included that Film Comment quote or made a reference to it. I certainly remember that the shot of Clint in similar shoes is intentional, as KC said.

Can I just say again that I love this film?!

If time constraints didn't limit me from posting more, I'd go into just why I love it. But certainly the doppelganger aspect makes the film appealing, because it makes the audience question the hero, and wonder if he really is the killer...I love the fact that, far from shying away from this kind of role, Clint wholeheartedly embraces it. There are few actors out there who have such a varied career as Clint does - or who are as good at playing such different characters.

I haven't watched Tightrope for a while so I can't comment on Clint/Wes's walk but in any case the doppelganger theme runs throughout the film.

[Gant]

Well of course I could be mistaken...theres no way to prove it. Just a hunch....

Might be my question for his next Guardian interview...