…while not quite as thunderously epic as that poster suggests, The Gauntlet is some peak Eastwood machismo, all the better because it sets the star against a smart, angry female character…

| Original Score: 4/5 | Sep 5, 2023

Eastwood... blurs the line between law enforcement and the way the Mob conducts its business to provide extra food for thought in a compelling and well-paced tale.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 5, 2020

The subject is the redemption of the pop hero, and Eastwood accomplishes his purgation with wit, intelligence, and a complete disregard for the prevailing standards of realism.

| Aug 5, 2020

There's too little action to let Eastwood show himself to advantage as the fine, stylized screen fighter he is. Instead, there's talk and psychology, which he can handle only by gritting his teeth.

| Aug 5, 2020

The Eastwood formula is predictable but fun; thin plot, lots of action and heroic stoicism above all.

| May 6, 2020

What happens then is so wild and improbable, though not at all exciting, that it can never compensate at its wildest for the sluggishness of the first half.

| Oct 17, 2019

Vicious and hypocritical as it is, "The Gauntlet" remains an entertaining sort of disreputable show, considerably more proficient and interesting than junk melodramas in a dogged vein...

| May 9, 2018

Hokum action pic.

| Original Score: C+ | May 17, 2017

A crime picture in which Clint Eastwood departs quite effectively from his Dirty Harry character

| Original Score: C+ | Apr 12, 2011

It's an absurdly violent tale, but the violence eventually reaches an almost avant-garde, visual dimension.

| Feb 19, 2010

A personal vision, as bold and outrageous as late-Peckinpah's, of Man versus the Cosmos

| Feb 7, 2010

...suffers from a pervasively muted atmosphere that effectively drains its more overtly thrilling interludes of their impact.

| Original Score: 2/4 | Jan 20, 2010

In a major role reversal, Clint Eastwood stars in The Gauntlet as a person who might be on the receiving end of the violence epitomized in his famed Dirty Harry film series.

| Mar 26, 2009

Contrived to the point of ridiculous, but still bizarre enough Eastwood to watch.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Feb 17, 2008

Eastwood good, Locke bad. Good finale though.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Mar 25, 2007

A major source of amusement is watching Eastwood the director leaving Eastwood the actor barely in control throughout. Eastwood's Annie Hall?

| Feb 9, 2006

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 21, 2005

It is a movie without a single thought in its head, but its action sequences are so ferociously staged that it's impossible not to pay attention most of the time.

| May 9, 2005

Classic Clint Eastwood: fast, furious, and funny.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Oct 23, 2004

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 7, 2003