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4
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8 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Supercop
"Dirty" Harry Callahan shoots himself
in the foot —
and since his weapon of choice is a .44 Magnum,
the most powerful handgun in the world, he damn
near blows it clean off. This third entry in the
franchise is stale, watery beer compared to the
coldly satisfying films that preceded it.
This
time Harry (Clint Eastwood) tangles with a gang
of hippy terrorists, the self-styled "People's
Revolutionary Strike Force". (Clearly modeled
on the Symbionese Liberation Army, or SLA, of
Patty Hearst fame, much in the news at the time.)
After murdering two men to get their hands on
a utility truck, the group uses the vehicle to
gain entry to a firearms company warehouse, stealing
crates of M-16 assault rifles and M-72 LAW (light
antitank) rocket launchers. While the robbery
is in progress Harry's partner happens upon the
scene and is killed by the militants, who abscond
with enough weaponry to start a small war. Naturally,
Harry makes it his personal crusade to terminate
the terrorists with extreme prejudice. But what
do these nutjobs want? What do you they plan to
do with all that firepower?
Dirty
Harry couldn't care less. He's focused like a
laser beam on tracking the militants and dispensing
a little .44-caliber justice. Complicating the
hunt is his brown-nosing weenie of a boss, Captain
McKay (Bradford Dillman – Piranha,
The
Bridge At Remagen), a feckless bureaucrat
more concerned with public relations and kissing
political butt than taking down perps. Harry,
to his chagrin, is assigned a new partner —
policewoman Kate Moore (Tyne Daly of Angel
Unchained and TV's Cagney &
Lacey), an Affirmative Action appointment
to the homicide squad with no prior experience
as a detective. When the terrorists kidnap San
Francisco's mayor (John Crawford) for a $5 Million
ransom, Harry is outraged that McKay and the higher-ups
agree to meet their demands. Without authorization,
he decides to mount his own assault on the terrorists'
lair...
Harry is not a happy camper
for the bulk of this movie; odds are you won't
be either. The Enforcer
is a major letdown in virtually all respects,
playing more like Dirty Harry: The Made-for-TV
Movie than a continuation of the first two
films. It completely lacks the gritty suspense
of Don Siegel's masterful 1971 original, nor can
it measure up to the slickly-mounted mayhem of
1973's Magnum Force.
Being that it's lensed like your typical television
cop show of the period, the only elements to remind
one that this is, indeed, a theatrical motion
picture are the widescreen aspect ratio (2.35:1)
and a few sprinkles of cursing and nudity here
and there. Even Jerry Fielding's jazz-flavored
score sounds like the incidental music from a
weekly cop show. (Composer Lalo Schifrin is sorely
missed here.)
Strangely, there's comparatively
little action or bloodshed in the series entry
which sees Harry facing his most heavily-armed
antagonists. The Enforcer's
bad guys are stick figures, complete cyphers,
since the thin script doesn't ascribe them any
political philosophy beyond a general 'down with
the establishment' mentality, and at one point
hints that they're really in it just for the ransom
money — their motivation is never made clear.
Harry's is, of course, but putting him up against
such a colorless gang of wimps doesn't make for
much excitement or tension. (They may be armed
for WWIII, but really don't stand a chance against
the determined Callahan.) Harry Guardino returns
from Dirty Harry
as police lieutenant Bressler, but is given virtually
nothing to do; Dillman, always a pro at playing
weasels, fares better with his 'paperpushing jerk'
character. Daly is spunky and believable as the
newbie female detective who must earn Harry's
respect the hard way — which naturally she does,
ultimately providing a counterweight to his blatantly
sexist comments and wisecracks. As for Clint Eastwood,
the iconic superstar is always watchable, even
when he's just going through the motions.
Which
is all he's doing here.
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Warner's 2008 "Deluxe" edition of The
Enforcer (available in stand-alone form
or as part of the 7-disc Dirty Harry Ultimate
Collection box set) looks and sounds absolutely
fantastic courtesy of a remastered high-def anamorphic
transfer and 5.1 Surround audio mix. With a deep-pocketed
studio behind you able to spring for full-fledged
restorations, what's old can in fact be
brand new again.
Extras consist of two featurettes, a Dirty Harry
trailer gallery, and an audio commentary by director
James Fargo. One
of the featurettes is carried over from the 2000
DVD release of The Enforcer,
a 10-minute promotional puff piece assembled during
the film's production. The other is The Business
End: Violence in Cinema (30 min.), in which
an array of Hollywood figures — only some of which
were involved with the Dirty Harry series — and
an academician or two weigh in on the impact of
movie violence on those exposed to it. (An endless,
age-old debate, nothing new or particularly illuminating
is offered.) Fargo's commentary is more or less
the standard deal, although he does have some
interesting stories to tell. (This was his first
theatrical film as director.)
8/16/08
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