. in a dark and unsettling psychological thriller . direct by clint protégé richard tuggle ( who write the screenplay to the early siegel eastwood classic escape from alcatraz ( 1979 ) and the film first half be uncertain and suffers from clichéd ( albeit well stag and visualise ) new orleans location shady whorehouse dive and red light ting bar and over officious police procedural room and locker room banter . the plot itself be functional but nothing special represent a serial killer with a penchant for young and pretty blonde and be terrorise the city by dispose of prostitute by strangle them and dump the body all over the city . the twist in tightrope be that the killer be also dog the footstep of kinky cop detective wes block ( eastwood ) and a lonely divorcée with two young child . block ease off the shackle of a tough day job by frequent the very same sleazy dive that his thoroughly unpleasant nemesis do . a predictable game of cat and mouse ensues and but the film stock film noir origin be transcend by eastwood continual playing with his own star status and by a very interesting exploration of his character private obsession and genuinely touch relationship with his two young daughter . special mention here for real life daughter alison eastwood and quite superb a the old and more perceptive girl and who clearly suspect her troubled father be up to more than just look for something on his late night travel through new orleans seamy district . the more conventional opening section of tightrope be distinctly misleading and largely because about half way through and the film most interesting character ( play by the truly excellent genevieve bujold ) come much more to the fore . a the feisty and fiercely intelligent rape crisis center head beryl thibodeaux ( nice use of bujold french canadian heritage here for a movie set in new orleans . ) bujold sharp dialogue exchange with ultra macho detective wes block clint eastwood be a constant joy and and and of course and edge u deeper into film noir territory a block kinky sexual practise and fail marriage become the focus of the investigation . tuggle do a generally excellent job of keep the material visually interesting and although he pay less attention to the minor character and waste a great character actor like dan hedaya for the role of block sidekick on the investigation . overall though and this be an underrated film in the eastwood canon and worthy of your attention . it a slick genre piece with a surprising ability to probe the area of eastwood star persona not normally explore in the dirty harry series .