(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / YouTube Still)
Mon 8 September 2025 19:45, UK
Despite what you may think, sequels do have a habit of bringing in the dosh, and Clint Eastwood‘s fourth turn as Dirty Harry would claim the biggest box office takings of the series.
Harry Callahan had become a cultural icon and Eastwood’s no-nonsense portrayal had captivated audiences. A cop on the edge seemed to be a natural fit for Eastwood so when he was presented with another opportunity to deliver a rugged rendition of a man in blue about to blow, he jumped at the chance.
But there were some issues with the writing. A cop chasing a serial killer had been done to death, and often Eastwood was the one holding the weapon. He’d already perfected that kind of film with Dirty Harry, so screenwriter Richard Tuggle had to come up with a new angle.
Thankfully, a conversation with an officer from the Los Angeles Vice Squad unlocked everything for him. This officer revealed that the dark sexual perversions he witnessed on the job made him treat his wife more tenderly in his private life, and suddenly, the story hit Tuggle like a lightning bolt. “I realised that the movie had to be about the connection between the vice squad cop and the serial killer,” he admitted.
So, Tuggle reframed his script, entitled Tightrope, to be about a vice cop with “some of the same sexual weirdness and desires that the killer did.” Throughout the story, the cop and killer would “mirror each other”, blurring the lines between good and evil in a queasy, unnerving way. Eastwood wound up loving the script, with his sole suggestion being moving the setting from San Francisco to New Orleans, as ‘Dirty’ Harry was already so synonymous with the city by the bay.
Before long, Tuggle was installed as director in his feature film debut, and the cast and crew decamped to the Big Easy. However, an issue soon reared its head around casting the female lead in the film, a rape prevention counsellor Eastwood’s cop becomes romantically involved with (obviously). There was one actor who seemed perfect for the role: Jane Fonda.
At the time, Fonda’s acting career seemed to have been dimmed somewhat by her bright and sparkling activisim. She had famously opposed the Vietnam War as well as championing Civil Rights, using her position to levy some positive action. For Tuggle, this made her the perfect casting.
However, he also envisioned a real-life frisson between Fonda and Eastwood, which could play out on-screen, as Eastwood’s politics have always been, shall we say, considerably less liberal. “I thought it would be sort of interesting,” Tuggle told SlashFilm in 2024, “her being sort of left wing and Clint maybe right wing.”
Unfortunately for Tuggle, despite his name being the one on the director’s chair, everyone on the production knew who the buck truly stopped with. Eastwood was the driving creative force on the film, and Tuggle would be expected to fall in line, so when the star baulked at the idea of Fonda being in the film, that was all she wrote. “He didn’t like her,” Tuggle admitted, “so that canceled that idea. He might’ve known her and not liked her politics. He just said, ‘No, I don’t like her.’”
Was Tuggle correct? Was it that Eastwood had bee put of by Fonda’s activisim, or did he simply prefer Geneviève Bujold? Would Fonda have even wanted to be in the movie if Eastwood had given it the go-ahead?
None of these questions has a definitive answer, and to give Eastwood credit where it’s due, he worked with people of opposing political values on more than one occasion. The truth is likely still out there.
Related Topics
The Far Out Clint Eastwood Newsletter
All the latest stories about Clint Eastwood from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.