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106 comments in total

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22 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Eastwood is the conventional tough-guy par excellence..., 11 February 2005

Author: ironside (robertfrangie@hotmail.com) from Mexico

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

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...

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28 out of 41 people found the following comment useful :-
Good Movie, 2 January 2005

Author: mrbrigante from Netherlands

I sometimes wonder if "Magnum Force" is a better movie than "Dirty Harry." In the latter, Harry Calahan is up against a psycho causing panic, while in "Magnum Force" Harry opposes a number of enemies: enemies he would not have expected at first. Crime is still on the rise, there is too much corruption and too few 'real' cops, like him. When he meets some young, aspiring cops he is amazed by their qualities. Great acting by Clint Eastwood who is just perfect in playing the old-fashioned Harry Callahan. There is violence, but the strange thing is you support Callahan in 'cleaning' the city. One of the best in the Dirty Harry-series.

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18 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
A sequel with a new story..., 22 July 2005

Author: MonteCarloMan from United States

This sequel to the entertaining "Dirty Harry" stands with few peers when it comes to successful follow-ups. Most don't stand on their own feet but Magnum Force does solidly. Changing the plot but not the style is good formula in movies, rather than playing out what was already done in the original, which is why so many sequels fail. "Magnum Force" is my second favorite film by Eastwood after "High Plains Drifter". Harry still likes to do things his way although rather than focusing his energy on the bad guys, he's focused on some crooked cops in his own department! Follows in the original's footsteps with lots of great views of San Francisco (My Birthplace!) I always feel at home when watching this movie. This is another film that is played a lot on TV because its so good on it's own. Felton Perry does a good job as Harry's partner, comparable to Reni Santoni in the original Dirty Harry. Didn't like any of the sequels that followed this movie with the exception of Dead Pool. Magnum Force is a film that rates highly as watchable again & again.

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17 out of 26 people found the following comment useful :-
Vigilantes and 'Dirty Harry', 14 June 2006
Author: ccthemovieman-1 from Lockport, NY, United States

The first sequel to "Dirty Harry," is an involving story that grabs you right from the start and keeps you interested for the full two hours.

In this one, "Harry" (Clint Eastwood) goes up against cops-turned-vigilantes. It's interesting to see two of those young policemen who went on to stardom on TV: David Soul and Robert Urich. However, I don't recall Urich uttering one line! Hal Holbrook, meanwhile, was convincing as the bad guy-lieutenant.

The climactic scene was a little hokey: all kinds of car chases and shootouts in the streets but no one else around! Where was everyone? Have you ever noticed how many times that happens in movies. All kinds of strange and loud things happen on the road but at that particular time - even in the middle of the day - no one else is on the road. Oh well. All these 'Dirty Harry' movies are entertaining nonetheless.

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3 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
"Magnum force will make your day!", 1 October 2009

Author: Graham Watson from Gibraltar

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

If you were to ask film goer's which character or movie they would associate with Clint Eastwood it would probably be his portrayal of the no-nonsense crime buster inspector Harry Callahan. Of course Eastwood had done some very popular movies prior to this including his spaghetti westerns in the 1960's and even after the Harry Callahan run he has gone on to do some well acclaimed films in front of as well as behind the camera. It's worth mentioning this because despite being well into his seventies he's still in demand as actor and director which is a testament to his movie making abilities and longevity that spans fifty years! All in all an impressive achievement. Be that as it may, when you play the character of Harry Callahan five times over an 18 year period it's hard for fans not to associate him with the part.

MAGNUM FORCE might actually be a tad better than DIRTY HARRY as well as being the best of the sequels. Not only do we learn a bit more about Inspector Callahan but also it's a more interesting and compelling story as well as having a better all round cast. Well, at least it seems that way as time has gone by, because the supporting cast of David Soul, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich who play the easy-going traffic cops would go on to be well known stars in their own right through the 70's, 80's, 90's and 2000's. In addition they are backed up by the brilliant Hal Holbrook playing the impatient and easily irritated lieutenant Briggs.

Tough street wise cops were not a new thing to Hollywood, but because of the civil rights movements in the 1960's and 70's there were a lot of new rules that the police had to adhere to and their methods came under greater judicial scrutiny. If there was a whiff of wrong doing, the judge would instruct that critical testimony should be dismissed and vital evidence rendered inadmissible thus making the DA's prosecution impossible and an acquittal or a dismissal of a case a certainty. They had rights! As a consequence it seemed that the courts became a sanctuary or a get out of jail card for the criminals!

To make matters worse in many cases the police could not be bothered pursuing or following up on assaults. Worried that they would in-flame minority neighbor hoods or face allegations of wrong doing from some civil rights lawyer trying to make a name for themselves, consequently, they would bin it in the unsolved case file and ignore it. Also, rather than having some dopey public defender the criminals gained access to the new breed of wise-guy smarmy lawyers who would use all forms of court room trickery to gain acquittals for their clients. Whether it was organized crime, pimps, murderers, rapists and muggers the system seemed to work in their favor.

Also, politicians became sensitive to the minority communities complaints of police strong armed tactics leaned on local police forces to ease off. All this coincided with an explosion of violent crime in the early 1970's where the public particularly in the big cities became anxious and frustrated at this. Therefore movies such as DIRTY HARRY where Harry used his own methods to get his man and DEATH WISH which encouraged the public to fight back using the same methods as the hoods all captured the public imagination. In the follow up, MAGNUM FORCE explored the possibility of vigilante cops acting as judge, jury and executioner because the system seemed not to be working.

Inspector Callahan is not impressed by these new methods and shrugs off pressure from above. The beginning of the movie sets the tone, from his indifference towards the gunned down thugs as well as the way he tackled the hijacked plane only demonstrated the way he wanted to do his job. When it appears that some one is trying to put the courts out of business as the morgues body bags that are piling up are full of San Francisco's dregs of the earth, Callahan has the unenviable task of finding out who is responsible for this? Harry at first thinks that it is some rouge cop acting out of impulse who might be the one responsible for these revenge killings but as things progress it appears that this is not just a random or a spur of the moment act.

Callahan becomes suspicious towards a well disciplined team of rookie cops who he knows are expert marksman. It appears that they are a highly motivated and are a product of a well organized shadow police force who have support much higher up the chain of command. Although Callahan has no empathy towards the people who are being killed and to a large extent understands why somebody might carry out such a deed, he is much happier catching them in the act and blowing them away in a shoot out. He is uneasy at the blatant execution style of these killings and is way beyond what he thinks is right! As his investigation unfolds, he too becomes a target and when his partner gets rubbed out it seems that he may have crossed more than just the mayor and the chief of police! Now with nobody watching his back, can he get to the bottom of this before he becomes a victim, and more importantly who can he trust?

There are obvious plot holes but it is more than compensated by great cinema photography with great shots of San Francisco, shoot outs, an easy going back ground score and and of course a very smooth Clint Eastwood to boot. The sparing between Briggs and Callahan is entertaining and produces some great dialog, it's well worth a watch and I'd highly recommend this to 70's movie buffs and Clint Eastwood fans!.

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10 out of 17 people found the following comment useful :-
Harry's not the only killer with a badge, 5 May 2002

Author: Mika Pykäläaho (bygis80@hotmail.com) from Järvenpää, Finland

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Detective Harry Callahan throws his badge away at the end of "Dirty Harry" (1971). I guess the sequel wasn't originally in anybody's mind, film was meant to be just one individual police thriller and that's it. Sequel was nevertheless pretty much unavoidable after the unexpected popularity of the movie and two years later somebody had to fish that badge out of the water where it ended up.

I already stated that "Sudden Impact" (1983) is perhaps the very finest sequel of the series but it's a damn hard decision to make because I adore each one of these flicks extremely much. Still, at least I can definitely say that the greatest, cleverest and the most fascinating plot is definitely in "Magnum force" (1973). This time Callahan is not after a traditional serial killer. His own colleagues are the bloodthirsty villains, bunch of young renegade cops who punish criminals with death because the system just lets them walk.

After the release of "Dirty Harry" some people were horrified by Harry's brutality and ethics. He was seen as the cop who didn't care about the law. In "Magnum force" they chosen to make his image just a little bit softer. Naturally Harry hates the system like in the original film but serves it until something better comes along. To make this pure and simple, I love this movie. It's one of the finest thrillers of the 70's. I adore every scene and I cheer to Eastwood's irresistible performance.

Callahan's partner was Mexican in "Dirty Harry", women in "The Enforcer" (1976) and Japanese in "The Dead Pool" (1988). This time he's naturally black. Veteran actor Hal Holbrook played stylishly Lieutenant Briggs. Second chapter in the Dirty Harry -series is an entertaining, exciting, enjoyable, charming and supercool suspense classic. Simple but ingenious masterpiece. "Man's got to know his limitations", that's what I've always been saying! 10/10.

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6 out of 10 people found the following comment useful :-
Clint Eastwood knows his limitations., 20 February 2007

Author: BroadswordCallinDannyBoy from Boston, MA

After a known criminal, with clout over the city, manages to escape the punishment of the law, he and his partners are gunned down by a vigilante dressed as a cop and with a .44 Magnum. Drawn to the case Infamous San Francisco Detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan starts to investigate as the vigilante continues to take out criminals citywide. Soon there are suspicions that the criminals are getting their information from inside the police force.

If there is one actor that can be plainly badass, macho, and tough in the most stereotypical way without making a fool of himself, it's Clint Eastwood. Never has an actor been so plain and stoic, yet so entertaining and funny at the same time. That's because Eastwood knows his limitations and, as a result, never becomes totally ridiculous. Whether he's dropping one liners, shooting his cannon of a revolver, or mysteriously seducing women with no effort whatsoever Clint Eastwood just plays it cool. Steve McQueen also managed the same with his classic "Bullitt" and Dirty Harry uses essentially the same formula, but it does it well with its own unique spin and style. Also Clint Eastwood has lived well past McQueen's early death so his films are more prevalent in the current movie mindset.

The film isn't quite perfect and there is one sequence in particular - at the airport where Harry takes out two hijackers single handedly - that seems to be just there to show that Harry Callahan is a badass who makes his own rules and gets things done. Yet this scene does nothing to advance the plot. With the film clocking in at over two hours this could have easily been dropped. Along with a few trimmings here and there for a slightly brisker film.

That said, the movie remains entertaining and a good part of Eastwood's action era. --- 8/10

Rated R for violence

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11 out of 20 people found the following comment useful :-
Dirty Harry is back, 13 August 2000
Author: action-6 from Froland, Norway

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Magnum Force is the second Dirty Harry-movie and as most sequels this isn`t quite as good as the original. Magnum Force is almost as good as the original Dirty Harry, but not quite. The movie is about some cops who kill criminals because they feel that the judicial system in America just isn`t fair. Now this is a pretty original script for an actionmovie and it makes you think. Once again, Dirty Harry must play dirty to track down the bad guys, and the movie has cool dialogue and actionscenes. But the movie could`ve been better if it`d had more and better action. Still, this is cult-action from the early 1970`s and worth a look for those who`ve seen the first movie. If you haven`t seen Dirty Harry, you should see it first and then return to Magnum Force later. 7,5/10

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4 out of 7 people found the following comment useful :-
Eastwood Force (May contain Spoilers), 19 June 2003

Author: TheFilmConnoisseur

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

****Excellent

***Good

**Fair

*Poor

In my opinion I consider Magnum Force to be the best film in the series. Here what I personally find unique about this film is the quote "Man's Got to have his limitations!" In the original, Dirty Harry was an exceptional homicide detective who used violence and broke the rules to get the criminal.

Here we have an organization within the police force itself which has enlisted a group of rookie cops to murder every single person who breaks the law. And even asked Harry himself to join. His refusal is what makes this a unique action film. In this film we fully understand Dirty Harry and his philosophy that brutality and punishment is the way to capture and treat a criminal BUT killing a criminal is always the last option not the first.

RATING: 4 STARS

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5 out of 9 people found the following comment useful :-
Harry & Hutch (the Best, and most underrated, D.H. flick), 17 January 2005

Author: slapborisday from quebec, california

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

POSSIBLE SPOILERS HEREIN: this is the best of the Dirty Harry movies, but somehow it's been branded as the worst. the bad guys are fantastic, all great actors and also, future classic cult TV (and movie) stars, including, as a group of young hotshot patrol cops, Tim Matheson (Animal House), Robert Urich (Vegas), and the ringleader played by David Soul (Starsky & Hutch). the first half of the movie we see a number of deaths, what seems to be a single rogue cop killing a bunch of notorious, and even "famous", villains the likes of a pimp, a mafioso, and a drug dealer. the second half is Harry on his own private mission, seeking out the people that only he believes are the "bad guys". there are also some great scenes filtered in throughout the story, having nothing to do with the story itself but simply showing Harry at work, one a stakeout of a hold-up about to go down, and thus Harry taking care of the robbers like only he can (BANG BANG!), and there's a classically over-the-top scene in which Harry takes down some terrorists trying to overtake an airplane by posing as a pilot. the incredible over-actor Mitch Ryan co-stars as the red herring, as it were, playing a cop who's been on the beat just a beat too long, and who's the prime suspect of all the deaths that occur in the first half of the movie. and Hal Halbrook also co-stars as the slime-ball police chief who, obviously, hates Harry's guts for being... Harry. and then there's a brief (but memorable!) cameo by Suzanne Somers (to add to the cult TV stars), this being the same year she was featured in "American Graffiti". Ted Post, usually a television director whose directing career has been hasty at best (he also directed the second movie of another franchise, "Beneath the Planet of the Apes", possibly the worst science fiction movie of all time), does a great job at the helm; as do the writers, John Milius ("Apocolypes Now", "Big Wednesday") and Michael Cimino ("The Deer Hunter"). there's some great music too, a classic seventies funk groove soundtrack leading the way. so to sum it up, this movie, "Magnum Force", is the best Harry of all (even better than the first film, which was marred by the overacting of the Scorpio Killer played by Andrew Robinson, who makes William Shatner seem like Marlon Brando). "Magnum Force" works simply because it doesn't take itself too seriously. it's good action/fun and that's all it needs to be!

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