Absolute Power (DVD)

I remember being disappointed with this film when it went on cinema release, I’m still not entirely sure why. Maybe I was expecting another gun-slinging performance by Clint Eastwood, but ‘Absolute Power’ is a very different proposition to Eastwood films such as ‘Hang ‘Em High’ and ‘Dirty Harry’. The pace is quite slow, although this does not necessarily have to be a bad thing, and the subject matter requires a lot more thought than the black and white, good versus bad plots of his earlier movies. The plot, which has been criticised in many quarters for stretching the bounds of audience belief, is basically as ...

Luther Whitney (Clint Eastwood) is a professional thief. We are first introduced to him sitting in an art gallery sketching, so when he then breaks into a huge house, it seems obvious that his prime targets will be the expensive paintings. However, he happens across a walk in vault, and finds more lucrative pickings in jewellery and cash. However, his theft is not going to prove to be a simple affair. After a minute in the vault, Luther finds that the window in the vault is made of one way glass, and while he can see a man and woman enter the room, they cannot see him. The woman in Christy Sullivan (Melora Hardin), who is married to a well known stockbroker ...

Absolute Power stars Clint Eastwood as a professional thief who happens to witness a murder in which the US president is heavily involved. It then follows the aftermath of the murder, as Clint goes on the run from the President's hitmen and tries to bring them to justice. The film opens with Luther Whitney (Eastwood) breaking the elaborate security of a rich man's home, in order to steal his valuables. He is interrupted in his task by the President, Alan Richmond (played well by Gene Hackman) who arrives drunk, along with Christy, the wife of the owner of the house. What starts out as foreplay becomes increasingly violent, leading to an attempted attack ...