When Clint Eastwood was making his Dirty Harry films we never did get to see too much of the private life of Harry Callahan. In Tightrope playing New Orleans detective Wes Block that lack is more than made up for.<br /><br />Clint's a family man in this one raising two small girls one of them played by his real life daughter Alyson on his own. But he's also indulging himself with a lot of prostitutes who can give him a bit of variety in turn-ons. But then these same women keep winding up dead in some terribly gruesome manners and of course Eastwood is starting to think he could be the ultimate target.<br /><br />Director Richard Tuggle kept an even tighter rein on Clint's emotions than normal. Only at a certain dramatic point that I won't reveal do we see Clint revert to a Dirty Harry type character. In the end it's really the minute details found in forensic science that identifies the killer, but even with that the killer does not go down easy. In fact the final struggle between Eastwood and the perpetrator ends quite unforgettably.<br /><br />Clint's leading lady is Genevieve Bujold who plays a rape crisis counselor who believes in a pro-active type of counseling with her victims. It's by no means certain these two will get together in the end though they both spark some interest in each other.<br /><br />In Tightrope the accent is on suspense more than action, though when the action comes it explodes. There is by the way one very good reason for this killer to be so tough for the police to take down, but you'll have to see Tightrope for that. Clint Eastwood's legion of fans should be pleased enough with this film.