Pink Cadillac (1989) starring Clint Eastwood, Bernadette Peters, Timothy Carhart, John Dennis Johnston, Michael Des Barres, Geoffrey Lewis directed by Buddy Van Horn Movie Review

Pink Cadillac (1989)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Bernadette Peters and Clint Eastwood in Pink Cadillac

Eastwood's Tickled Pink

To say that Clint Eastwood can't do comedy would be over stating things, but for me it is often his more comical roles which end up being the less impressive. And sadly that is the case when it comes to "Pink Cadillac" as whilst watch-able and kind of amusing it is one of Eastwood's weaker movies. In fact whilst we have Eastwood playing a lighter version of his tough guy he is out shone by co-star Bernadette Peters who is a complete delight from start to finish, sexy, comical and well let's be honest simply beautiful. Eastwood isn't really helped by the fact that much of "Pink Cadillac" is simply nonsense with a lot of dross filling in the gaps between a variety of cliche scenes. But as I said for all its issues "Pink Cadillac" still ends up entertaining and to be frank it is because it stars Eastwood that it ends up still average.

After being arrested for having counterfeit money which belonged to her husband Roy (Timothy Carhart) and his neo-Nazi friends, Lou Ann McGuinn (Bernadette Peters - Annie) skips town and heads off with his Pink Cadillac and more money which belongs to his friends, with a plan to get to Reno and see her baby daughter. But having broken terms of her bail, skip tracer Tommy Nowak (Clint Eastwood - Heartbreak Ridge) is sent to bring her back and it doesn't take him long to track her down. But not only does Tommy find himself falling for Lou Ann he also finds himself getting involved in her mess as Roy and his friends want her, the car and the money back and when they kidnap her baby Tommy promises he will rescue her.

Clint Eastwood as Tommy Nowak in Pink Cadillac

Now in "The Gauntlet" Clint Eastwood played a cop sent to escort a criminal back and here he plays a skip tracer, basically a bounty hunter, and "Pink Cadillac" does end up feeling very similar. As such the storyline is simple as we watch Tommy track down Lou Ann, during their brief time together fall for each other and then end up not only helping her try to get her baby but also battling some neo-Nazi types. Everything about this storyline is for the most obvious, you know Tommy will end up falling for Lou Ann and ending up in bed together, you know that he will end up doing battle with the neo-Nazi's because not only is this a text book story but everything is signposted long before it arrives. As such there is not one surprise to any of this and it is the sort of movie you can miss great chunks of and not become lost by what has happened.

But the thing about "Pink Cadillac" is that it is one of Eastwood's more light-hearted movies, calling it a comedy would be a push, but it does veer towards being a screwball comedy. And because of this it does end up feeling like a movie built on characters and various set pieces with the first of these being Eastwood as Tommy Nowak. Are introduction to Tommy is amusing, fake calling a man he is after, setting him up so he thinks he's won a radio competition only to handcuff him when he shows up in a Limo. And we get more with a fleeting rodeo clown scene as well as one which sees Tommy in a gold blazer masquerading as a casino owner. None of these do much to establish Tommy's character but are there to make us laugh as it is Clint Eastwood being comical.

The other character is that of Lou Ann McGuinn who Tommy tracks down and as already mentioned it is Bernadette Peters as Lou Ann who steals every single scene. It's just simply a fun character and Peters plays her so she is cute, quirky, sexy, clever and a complete equal to Tommy. You simply can't but help fall for her, enjoy when she teases Tommy by being flirtatious, gets one up on him in the Casino and so on. And to be honest because Peters is so good she brings something extra out of Eastwood and so their comedy moments they share together are genuinely amusing. Not only that you get a real sense of warmth between them as if Peters fell for Eastwood whilst he was protective towards her.

Aside from this there isn't really much more to say, there is the expected quota of action with a few fights, some gun fire and of course car chases. Plus of course there is the Pink Cadillac although to be honest not enough is done with the car to make it a star of the movie. There is one other thing and that is a fun brief cameo from Jim Carrey as a comedian doing an Elvis Impersonation at a Reno casino.

What this all boils down to is that "Pink Cadillac" is a fun movie but also one of Clint Eastwood's weaker movies with little about it which hasn't been done before. It is a movie which really trades on Eastwood delivering some light hearted moments which are fun but he ends up being outshone by co-star Bernadette Peters who to put it simply is wonderful as Lou Ann.


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