Magnum Force (1973)

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (characters) and
Rita M. Fink (characters) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Clint Eastwood is Dirty Harry in Magnum Force

Plot:

Dirty Harry is on the trail of vigilante cops who are not above going beyond the law to kill the city's undesirables.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Police | Homicide | Pimp | Stakeout

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Insp. 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
Hal Holbrook	...	Lt. Neil Briggs
Mitch Ryan	...	Officer Charlie McCoy (as Mitchell Ryan)
David Soul	...	Officer John Davis
Tim Matheson	...	Officer Phil Sweet
Kip Niven	...	Officer Red Astrachan
Robert Urich	...	Officer Mike Grimes
Felton Perry	...	Insp. Early Smith
Maurice Argent	...	Nat Weinstein
Margaret Avery	...	Prostitute
Richard Devon	...	Carmine Ricca
Tony Giorgio	...	Frank Palancio
Jack Kosslyn	...	Walter
Bob March	...	Estabrook
Bob McClurg	...	Cab Driver

Also Known As:

Magnum .44 (Argentina) (Peru) (Venezuela) [es]
Dirty Harry II - Callahan (Austria) (West Germany) [de]
À coups de magnum (Canada: French title) [fr]
Dirty Harry går amok (Denmark) [da]
Ena magnum 44 gia ton epitheoriti Callahan (Greece) [el]
Harry - O Detective em Acção (Portugal) [pt]
Harry el fort (Spain: Catalan title) [ca]
Harry, el fuerte (Spain) [es]
Magnum .44 (Finland) [fi]
Magnum .44 (Finland: Swedish title) [sv]
Silahin gücü (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Una 44 magnum per l'ispettore Callaghan (Italy) [it]

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (1973) (cut) | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (1974) (cut) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Peru:18 | Finland:K-15 (2008) (uncut) (video rating) | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Brazil:14 | Australia:R | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 (cut) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

18th St. Overpass, Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Malpaso Company, The

Trivia:

Directly after the scene in the garage where Callahan is threatened by the motorcycle cops, the cycles drove out and every single one of them crashed. Clint Eastwood said, "I've been threatened by the Keystone Kops."

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: During the final car chase, there are multiple sets of skid marks on the winding road from previous takes.

Quotes:

Harry Callahan: [seeing the three hold-up men come into the store] Well, here's three salty-lookin' dudes!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Starsky and Hutch: Long Walk Down a Short Dirt Road (#2.21)" (1977)

Year Of The Gun

It's all about the man, his politics, and his methods. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is a tough, no-nonsense cop. In this second "Dirty Harry" movie, Callahan is on the trail of a ruthless vigilante gang. The story starts off well enough, with a fair amount of suspense. As the plot moves along, however, it becomes less tight and more drawn out. Suspense fizzles. And the puzzle solution is revealed too soon.

The film conveys an angry tone, especially directed at the American court system. The idea is that the "law" doesn't really protect innocent people. So we need loners like Dirty Harry to hunt down the bad guys. The film glorifies guns, a symbol of "rough justice". As such, Harry is very much a modern representative of the Old West cowboy gunslinger. Right is right; wrong is wrong; there's no in-between. I hate that overly simplistic mentality.

Color cinematography is fine; there's some good overhead camera shots. Many scenes take place on city streets. Way too much time is spent on car chases. Acting is acceptable. I especially liked the performance of the always reliable Hal Holbrook.

The original "Dirty Harry" was quite suspenseful. By contrast, "Magnum Force" is much less so. Still, it's not a bad movie, if you don't mind lots of car chases and the sounds of screeching tires, and if you adhere to a philosophy that a lone tough-guy cop can protect us, with the help of his trusty "44-Magnum", "the most powerful handgun in the world".