THE GAUNTLET (1977)

The story is about as simple as it can get: a honest Phoenix cop (Clint Eastwood) is sent to transport a prisoner (Sondra Locke) from Las Vegas back to Phoenix.  Along the way every cop and mafia hood in the state tries to kill them by shooting tens of thousands of bullets at them. The End.

I would love to know more about the development of this story, not physical making of the movie, just the writing of the story itself cause there's nothing to it.  The entire film is Eastwood/Locke traveling from place to place getting shot at by people who can't hit shit!  There were times (the helicopter scene) when the bad guy had a clear (and I mean fucking clear) shot and totally missed it.  There was a reasonable amount of action, but since the bad guys were so inept I never once thought that Eastwood was in any real danger.

Topless Sondra Locke, ridiculous amount of bullets fired, average pace, really nice poster artwork, mildly boring action scenes, good supporting cast: Bill McKinney, Roy Jensen, Pat Hingle, William Prince.  The films starts out interesting, but the story is beyond belief.  Worth the occasional viewing for Eastwood fans, but the whole thing is kinda silly.

FIREFOX (1982)

Vietnam vet Clint Eastwood is haunted by crippling war flashbacks.  Even all alone on his quiet, private land up in Alaska he still has flashbacks.  So when the government asks if he'd be willing to risk his life sneaking onto a top secret military base in Russia, stealing their most advanced stealth fighter and then flying it out of Russia he understandably says "No."  But he's the best goddamn it! The best!!!  So the next thing you know Eastwood is in Russia under a fake identity as a businessman.  Cloak and dagger shit happens and then he steals the airplane.

Personally, I liked the cloak and dagger second act of the film better than the supposedly exciting airplane stuff in the final act.  Mainly because if it's done right, the sneaking around with the enemy agents hot on your tail stuff never gets old, whereas the special effects in the airplane sequences were seriously dated.  Enjoyable film, especially for Eastwood fans, but the story was too straightforward for my tastes.  A few surprises, more suspense, grittier action...all of these things would have been welcome.  Middle-of-the-road recommendation.