Magnum Force (1973)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

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

Release Date:

25 December 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | 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) | 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:

Two deleted scenes help explain why Harry grows to suspect John Davis and his pals with the killings of Charlie McCoy and the mobsters. One occurs between the funeral flight for McCoy and the combat championship; after the flight Harry and Davis drive from the airport to a bowling alley for a few drinks; a black youth is suddenly chased outside and assaulted by four toughs; Davis attacks the toughs while Harry dispatches one with his beer mug. After subduing the robbers Davis harangues a group of eyewitnesses for letting such crimes take place; Harry witnesses Davis' harangue and sees in it his own approach to crime fighting, albeit far more severe. Later, after examining the bullet from Davis' gun at the combat championship range, Harry checks on old issues of a police magazine, in which are articles condemning the revolving door justice allowed by liberal politics - articles authored by the four rookie cops. These scenes were deleted presumably because they were judged to be "padding" and not necessary to establishing Harry's suspicion of the four rookie cops.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: Reflected in the mirrored sunglasses.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Briggs: People are guilty until proven... I mean... God damn it, you know what I mean!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Blue Steel (1989)

A man's Got To Know his limitations!

It seems that between "Dirty Harry" and "Magnum Force" Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan had learned the value of the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. Unlike the first "Dirty Harry" movie where Harry was the judge jury and executioner of all those that he deemed were guilty of crimes against the people of the city of San Francisco. In "Magnum Force" Harry actually believes in letting the system do it's job and not take the law into your, or Harry's,own hands.

A number of the top criminals in San Francisco from corrupt labor leaders to sadistic street pimps have been done away with by what seems to be a rouge element of the SF Police Department and Harry's boss lieut. Briggs wants to find out just who's responsible.

Harry, between shooting plane hijackers and convenient store hold up men, is also interested in stopping these criminals in uniform since their breaking the law, like average criminals, and and the thought of breaking the law just gets Harry's Irish up. Inspector Harry Callahan is assigned to take part in the bust of a mob hideout and when the police operation is put into full gear something goes wrong, the mobsters are tipped off, and a policeman and a number of mobsters, most of the by Harry, are killed in the shoot-out that follows. Harry realizes that there's someone in the police force that's behind all those vigilant killings, and tipped off the gangsters in order to have them killed in the shoot-out instead of having them arrested and and brought to trial. It's decided there and then by "Dirty Harry" Callahan that not only is he going to put a stop to those killings but also to those who are doing them.

By far the best of the "Dirty Harry" movies with Clint Eastwood never better in his role as "Dirty Harry" Callahan in the most action-packed and exciting "Dirty Harry" film ever made. Eastwood is much freer and less constraint then he was in the first "Dirty Harry" film. Which makes the action go faster and also make it far more exciting with a great cast and a much better action director, Ted Post. Post keep things moving when it comes to keeping the tempo of the action in the movie up and the talking and explaining down, by Harry and his fellow police officers and friends, as to why Harry is called "Dirty Harry" every ten minutes in the film, like in the first "Dirty Harry" movie.

Great ending sequence at the San Francisco Navy Yard with Harry taking care of business by doing in the bad guys and making the city safe again until the next "Dirty Harry" film.