Half a century ago, film critics were taken more seriously than they are today. Even the producers of popular and commercially successful films like Dirty Harry were fearing the negative reviews. And the reviews for that film tended to go very negative, especially among critics infuriated over the protagonist’s disdainful attitude towards civil liberties. Some of them accused the film of promoting vigilante justice and fascism. Such accusation was taken seriously enough that the main plot of its 1973 sequel Magnum Force, directed by Ted Post, explicitly refuted it.
Film begins when liberal court in San Francisco allows notorious mob-connected union leader Carmine Ricca (played by Richard Devon) to walk free despite accusations of murdering a rival and his family. He doesn’t enjoy freedom for too long, because he is gunned down in car together with bodyguards. San Francisco police Inspector Harry Callahan (played by Clint Eastwood) is temporarily removed from Homicide division, but nevertheless takes interest in the case, especially after another notorious gangsters and street criminals end their lives in similarly violent and spectacular fashion. Callahan concludes that the killer is a uniformed policeman who approaches his unsuspecting victims under the guise of routine traffic stop. The most likely suspect is Eastwood’s old friend Charlie McCoy (played by Mitchel Ryan), motorcycle policeman embittered over the way criminals get away with their crime. However, when McCoy gets killed while accidentally witnessing one of assassination, Callahan begins to suspect group of young motorcycle policemen who excel at firearms skills. His boss Lt. Neil Briggs (played by Hal Halbrook) is, however, sceptical towards the idea about vigilante death squad within police ranks.
Script by John Milius and Michael Cimino tries very hard to show that the character of Harry Callahan, despite his disdain for liberal ideas about civil rights and tendency to take care of criminals in simple and violent manner, still operates within the framework of the law and there are some lines he won’t cross. The point is made when he is confronted by small organisation which, in pursuit of vigilante justice, crosses those lines; they not only becomes judge, jury and executioner, but allow that their disregard for the law transforms in disregard for anything else, including the lives of innocent people and even fellow conspirators. When offered opportunity to joins vigilantes, Callahan refuses and later very effectively explains his decision with the notion that certain limits must exist and that otherwise he wouldn’t be much different from the criminal monsters he fights. Authors of Magnum Force also took some effort to humanise Callahan and make him more “politically correct”. Accusations of racism are less convincing after this film, in which Callahan has black partner (played by Felton Perry) and also starts romantic relationship with Asian woman (played by Adele Yoshioka).
Very good and thought-provoking script is accompanied with solid, although rather uninspired direction by Ted Post. Eastwood again plays his role very well, and the rest of cast is very good, especially Halbrook whose character alternates between open hostility and grudging respects for Callahan. Although they appear relatively briefly in the film, some of the actors playing the death squad members – Robert Urich, Tim Matheson and David Soul – make a very good impression and it isn’t surprising that they made successful career afterwards. Lalo Schifrin returns as composer, but his score, although effective, isn’t as memorable and atmospheric as in Dirty Harry.
This film, on the other hand, looks a little bit overlong and pace seems to be quite and issue, especially in the first parts. Although the plot is relatively simple, narration is almost episodic, depicting incidents that only later begin to have connection with it, and some don’t have connection at all, mainly those depicting Callahan regularly dealing with criminals like passenger jet hijackers or liquor store robbers. Those scenes are directed competently and provide quality action, so the audience probably wouldn’t complain too much. Some scenes, on the other hand, go towards exploitation territory, especially assassination scenes that feature gratuitous nudity. Same could be said of the scene in which pimp (played by Albert Popwell) murders prostitute (played by Margaret Avery) by making her drink bottle of drain cleaners. Finale, during which Callahan has to fight death squad members on the abandoned aircraft carrier, is interesting, but it nevertheless lacks the emotional impact of previous film. However, fans of Clint Eastwood and fans of old fashioned action films would probably be thankful to critics that made this very entertaining and thought-provoking film possible.
RATING: 8/10 (+++)
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