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:

Actor 'Mitch Ryan' plays a character who gets killed during the film. The day his death scene was scheduled to shoot, Ryan was ill. He brought a doctor's note that read Ryan was "too sick to die" that day.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Harry is killing the hijackers on the plane, he has left his .44 magnum behind to disguise himself as a pilot, and is using a smaller revolver, probably a .38, but when he shoots, the gun makes the loud characteristic .44 magnum report.

Quotes:

Lieutenant Briggs: Suppose they panic and start shooting?
Harry Callahan: Nothing wrong with shooting as long as the right people get shot!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films (1976)

First sequel to the classic

Ted Post directed and John Milius and Michael Cimino wrote this first sequel to Don Siegel's classic gritty police drama, Dirty Harry (1971). Magnum Force (1973) is not as near as effective or powerful as the first and original film, but this sequel is watchable and has its merits, too. Harry is now investigating strange killings of criminals, pimps, dirty politicians and others, so the killer is killing "bad guys" this time. Harry starts to investigate the cases, and he has his doubts about all this. Then the truth is revealed and also, unfortunately, spoilt in most of the reviews and comments I've read.

Harry has again his usual opponents, mostly his colleagues and superiors who don't accept his tough style. Harry wants to do justice, but by using his own ways and moral. If talking doesn't help, then the magnum .44 will. I don't think this or the first film are fascist, but realistic and honest, and extremely bleak depictions of world and society which is more or less collapsing because of its inhabitants. This film manages still to tell something about that, but the next sequel, The Enforcer, is pretty lame in comparison.

Magnum Force has pretty fat plot and many different characters and sub plots, without being too confusing. Towards the end, the film becomes perhaps too predictable and unbelievable, and I think the ending should have needed little tightening. Now it is little unnecessary shoot outs and nothing else. The film runs two hours, which is the longest running time in the "series", but still this manages to interest and even surprise, but if they had finished the film some 20 minutest earlier, this would be even more noteworthy film. Now it has nothing too important to offer during its finale, and so the finale becomes little unnecessary, in my opinion.

As an action film, this is pretty exciting and shot with talent. The action scenes are often fast and full of gunpowder and fire, so director Post can surely direct with skill. The film is pretty brutal and violent at times, and this again shows the fact that films this gritty and violent are not made in Hollywood nowadays, at least not too often. Magnum Force is much more easier and "positive" film than its predecessor, and that's why it hasn't got so many things to offer and give. This is pure action film where the first film was also many other things, too, like social commentary and talking about things many would not want to talk about. Magnum Force gets 7/10, but fortunately still has its positive things and even little bit of the power that made Dirty Harry so immortal.