User Reviews

(Flash Review)

Eastwood's follow up from Dirty Harry is pretty solid. Even with fewer zinging one-liners and less crisp cinematography, this is still a fun movie. After a string of murders of people with criminal pasts go unresolved, Dirty Harry and a by the book partner are reassigned to apprehend the culprit. Will they step on each other's toes or will they find common ground? Early on you learn that the culprits are of the same ilk as those chasing them down; do they feel the justice system is failing or are these cops as bad as those they brutally punish? Full of moderately unique violence and quality action, this is a movie that builds on Eastwood's cinematic persona.

A racketeer, Carmine Ricca, has been cleared of murder, due to the usual and frustrating court technicality... He leaves, a happy and free man... Not for long... A motorcycle cop pulls his car over, seemingly for a traffic violation and ruthlessly slaughters him and the other three occupants...

Harry is soon on the scene, this time with a new black partner, Early Smith (Felton Perry). It transpires that Harry is no longer in the homicide squad, he's been demoted to a stake-out squad by Detective Briggs (Hal Holbrook) because of his previous unconventional methods... Nevertheless he soon demonstrates that he has lost none of his considerable skills... Enjoying a hamburger at San Francisco Airport he becomes involved in a hijack...

Harry meets an old colleague Charlie McCoy (Mitch Ryan) who seems unnaturally upset about the ineffectiveness of the courts and Harry fears that he may be the killer cop...

Later, in the police firing range, he meets four young traffic cops who are more than impressed by his former lethal methods... With a wave of underworld killings on the increase, Harry is eventually told to work with Briggs to solve them... He still suspects the murderer is McCoy until the latter is killed and, by setting a clever trap to check the bullets in the guns of the four young motorcycle cops, Harry finds that they are the guilty persons...

"Magnum .44" is much bloodier than "Dirty Harry." The lack of emotion emerges in Harry's character... He is a powerful and dominating figure who shoots first and asks questions later... Director Ted Post takes him from below to imprint his stature on the piece...

Eastwood is solid enough but not as penetrating as it was in "Dirty Harry." He even have sex... Inevitably, as is usual with his persona, the initiative has to come from the female, unsuccessfully from McCoy's widow and extremely directly from the pretty little Japanese girl who lives downstairs... She gazes up at Eastwood and says: "What does a girl have to do to go to bed with you?" He replies: "Try knocking at the door." They've only known each other for about half a minute, making it one of the swiftest screen seductions on record, and it illustrates the fact that Eastwood's sex appeal is instant and uncomplicated... He is the conventional tough-guy par excellence – handsome, laconic, cynical, determined and independent; clearly a man to be idolized by other men and worshiped by women...

Clint Eastwood reprises his role as San Francisco police detective Harry Callahan in this sequel to the original "Dirty Harry". If you have a taste for criminals getting their due, you'll find a lot to like in this story, as Callahan's instincts put him on the trail of dirty cops who fancy themselves as judge, jury and executioner in their haste to dispatch the city's bad guys. A minor twist you can probably see coming has Harry's boss, Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook), as the leader of the rogue motorcycle cops who pretty much lets them decide on their own targets. The scene in which one of them guns down an entire swimming pool party was probably a wrong headed move in as much as there were probably some innocent guests in attendance, but it didn't seem to concern anyone investigating. Callahan's early statement about a man knowing his limitations is repeated a couple more times throughout the story, and sets up the final curtain for Briggs when Harry sets a timer on a bomb he discovered in his mail box. Oddly, of the four rookie cops who made up the ad hoc assassination team, Harry managed to take out three of them without firing a shot. He ran into one on a motorcycle with a car, pounded the crap out of a second, and managed somehow to have the third one careen off a parking deck into the bay. I found it interesting that three of the rogue policemen wound up portraying good guy lawmen in TV shows during their careers, David Soul in the Seventies series 'Starsky and Hutch', Robert Urich as a member of 'S. W. A. T.' in the Eighties, and Tim Matheson as a sheriff in the 'Wolf Lake' series in 2001-2002.

I saw "Magnum Force" on television decades ago. Imagine my surprise when I watched it again tonight and there were a bunch of stuff that was NOT in the version I saw! Mostly, the gratuitous nudity was cut out of the movie. Now I am not one of these folks who is always against nudity in films...sometimes it has a place. But in this film, it all seems very gratuitous...and one of the MANY folks slaughtered in the pool scene (the topless lady) was a young Suzanne Somers before she became famous.

In this story, someone, or some GROUP of folks, is taking out bad folks all around the San Francisco area. Some of the murdered scum- bags are folks that avoided prosecution, some are just dirt-bags who 'need' killing. Inspector Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is the guy determined to solve this case...and his boss, the Lieutenant (Hal Holbrook) seems to want to coddle criminals and stand in Callahan's way. Who the killer(s) are...well, that you'll have to see when you see the film.

This movie is pretty much what you expect from a Dirty Harry film...lots of shooting*, mayhem, action and sex. The film certainly earns its R rating and is exciting. I still think the original film is much better but it's a worthy follow-up.

*The IMDb trivia says "This is the only film in the "Dirty Harry" series in which Harry doesn't kill any of the villains by shooting them, except the grocery store holdup men.". This is NOT the case, as Harry also shoots a guy in the skyjacking sequence...and he appears quite dead!

Despite being viewed as a classic crime thriller nowadays the original film in the DIRTY HARRY franchise received very verbal complaint from critics two of which were by legendary critics Pauline Kael and Rober Ebert described it as being " Fascist " . Maybe that's going too far but you have to consider that up till that time Hollywood always divided good and evil in absolutes . With the birth of " New Hollywood " in the late 1960s the lines started becoming very blurred . Certainly Harry Callahan doesn't stomp around in jackboots but is torturing confessions out of suspects to be condoned ? Maybe the reason the audience cheered the demise of Scorpio in the original was because it was a good compromise ? Yes shooting suspects caught red handed is certainly justice no matter how rough the liberals may claim it to be

It's obvious the makers of MAGNUM FORCE are mindful of this . It's certainly a tough compelling thriller with an interesting premise of cops forming a death squad to liquidate criminal elements in society but often you get the impression characters become literary devices in order to say " Nope Dirty Harry wasn't a fascist movie and here is the difference ... " There's slight niggling flaws that stops the film becoming a persuasive film in its own right . It would have been very interesting if Lt Briggs had arrested Harry and how it would have stood up in court . It also begs the question at the end if Harry would have to reveal he's killed the vigilante cops or if he's not going to mention anything on the matter . But these are minor flaws in a film that's the only one in the franchise that comes close to the brilliance of the original

'Dirty Harry' was a two-pronged success for Clint Eastwood, as the 1971 thriller broke new ground in police films and earned over $28 million at the box office. With this good fortune, however, came backlash from writers such as Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert who judged the movie as 'fascist' and an endorsement of police brutality. The first Dirty Harry sequel, 1973's 'Magnum Force,' was a direct response to these claims and hoped to build on Harry's already-solid marketing power.

'Magnum Force' opens at City Hall in San Francisco, where mobster Carmine Ricca (Richard Devon) has been acquitted of killing a union leader and his entire family. Ricca is free on a technicality and drawing protests from those already sick of loopholes in the American justice system. When returning home from the trial, Ricca and his legal team are pulled over by a sunglass-wearing motorcycle cop who shoots dead all four men.

San Francisco's felons are dying in mysterious hits and the police have almost no clues. Inspector Harry Callahan (Eastwood), who has been transferred from the homicide division and worked recent months on stakeout, is ordered to investigate. The assignment comes unwillingly from Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook), a by-the-book administrator who is disgusted with Callahan's tactics. Callahan soon realizes that four motorcycle cops (David Soul, Tim Matheson, Kip Niven, and Robert Urich) are members of a sub-organization called Magnum Force that aims to wipe out crime in San Francisco, regardless of the cost to human life. Harry, who is seen as a prototype by Magnum Force, refuses to support it; he believes that any such group would endanger honest citizens rather than protect them.

One can't expect 'Magnum Force' to rival its predecessor, but this follow-up is still a major disappointment. The writing, direction, and technical work of 'Magnum Force' simply don't compare to Don Siegel's original film. Magnum Force's screenplay (by John Milius and Michael Cimino) does not have the tight plotting or razor-sharp dialogue that makes 'Dirty Harry' special. The plot is littered with conveniences such as Callahan eating at an airport snack bar when a hijacking occurs and Harry not being able to start a motorbike, which allows David Soul to catch up with him and engage in a chase. Also featured are an unnecessary love interest (played by Adele Yoshioka) and one-dimensional characters who only exist to be tortured and knocked off (including Margaret Avery as a prostitute who swallows drain cleaner). 'Magnum Force' doesn't build on its premise, yet drifts on crude tangents and is much longer (124 minutes) than it needs to be.

Don Siegel was replaced by Ted Post as director, whose experience is mainly in television. Post's direction is bland and without a clearly defined style; he frequently uses master shots rather than close-ups of actors and vehicles, which ruins the sinister, closed-in atmosphere that Magnum Force's death squad is supposed to generate. The action scenes are very basic in approach when their energy could have been heightened by some imaginative camera work. These sequences have a degree of excitement, but they rarely walk the levels of 'Dirty Harry,' whose action is quite limited. The cinematography by Frank Stanley is also a major jump down from that of Bruce Surtees in 'Dirty Harry.' 'Magnum Force' has a dreary appearance on lower-quality film stock; combined with the violence and trashy situations, 'Magnum Force' has an atmosphere similar to 'B' films by American International Pictures and Crown International. It's almost hard to believe that 'Magnum Force' was released by Warner Brothers and that Eastwood fills the starring role.

Strong performances by Eastwood and Holbrook keep 'Magnum Force' from being a complete disaster. The two veterans play their roles intensely and make the film considerably more entertaining than its script allows for. Supporting roles with Soul, Matheson, Niven, and Urich are effectively played, although their lack of identity in the biker squad makes this whole greater than the sum of its parts. Actors from 'Dirty Harry' such as Albert Popwell and John Mitchum reappear; Felton Perry has a dull turn as Harry's ill-fated partner. Lalo Schifrin is back as composer, which gives the series a further degree of continuity. The brilliant theme song combines his sleek orchestration and wordless vocals. Interestingly, Schifrin's music during the film is mostly background color rather than holding a dominant place.

Warner Brothers has released a snapper case version of its 'Magnum Force' DVD, improving the flimsy cardboard version previously sold. The DVD treats 'Magnum Force' with respect, but is weak on extras. 'Force' is presented in widescreen with Dolby 5.1 stereo enhancement; dubbing and subtitles are offered in five languages. Magnum Force's print is in fairly good condition, although grain is visible and colors look faded. Audio presentation is decent; while Schifrin's score comes across nicely, dialogue is sometimes muffled.

DVD extras include a commentary track with screenwriter John Milius; 'A Moral Right,' WB's 24-minute program on the social implications of Dirty Harry; 'The Hero Cop,' a short program released during Magnum Force's production; and a gallery with all five trailers from the Dirty Harry series. As a person who doesn't especially like John Milius's work, I found his self-righteous commentary grating. To worsen matters, the new program is only a rehash of ideas from Warner's 'Dirty Harry' DVD; I would've rather seen a 'making of' program that examines 'Magnum Force' in depth. On the plus side, its trailer gallery is an excellent look at Dirty Harry's evolution from 1971 into the 1980s. Harry fans will certainly be entertained (as I was), but the film and DVD never live up to their potential.

** ½ out of 4

Roving Reviewer - www.geocities.com/paul_johnr