The Gauntlet is not one of Clint’s best efforts, but it comes with a fantastic poster illustration by renowned fantasy artist Frank Frazetta.
Frazetta is often referred to as the “Godfather of fantasy art”, and was one of the most renowned illustrators of the 20th century. Much of the time he worked in the sword and sorcery genre, producing iconic paperback book covers for, amongst others, Conan The Barbarian. He also illustrated a number of movie posters and album sleeves.
His work for The Gauntlet is, frankly, better than the movie deserves.
The movie itself involves Clint’s washed up cop having to transport Sondra Locke’s hooker to trial as a witness, whilst being attacked on all sides, both from a biker gang and, not least, the entire police force. It involves a series of set pieces, which climaxes with the duo driving a fortified bus into the city to be shot at by thousands of cops. Dramatically its so-so and the action set pieces are not particularly memorable. Clint directed this, but the whole thing feels like it was tossed off in a hurry.
I have two posters for this for sale – both the UK quad (which I had up on my wall as a kid for many years) and the French grande. You can find them here.