Review of Magnum Force (1973) by Rob F — 27 Jun 2009

A worthy follow to Dirty Harry.

This film keeps everything that made Dirty Harry such a great film. The tone, the violence, the dialogue and most importantly the crime story. I'm pretty sure there movies are going to become the greatest crime series I have ever seen. They are nothing like today's movies where people just blow others away just for gratuitous violence, but everything seems to have meaning.

Clint Eastwood was again superb as Harry Callahan and I enjoyed seeing a young Felton Perry pop his head in here as Harry's partner, Early. Even the young rookie cops showed amazing talent, they kept the elusion that they were just trying to make their way in the SFPD, but when all was revealed, you believed them to be those ruthless, kill at any cost cops. The performances in this type of story are everything you need to make the film work, and it paid off.

Another thing I am noticing about most of Clint's movies of old, including this one, is how many times I have seen a movie that has tried to replicate the same kind of story. It seems every few months lately, we've been watching those 'dirty cop' movies like Street Kings or Pride and Glory, but none of them seem to entertain you as much as Clint's.

I don't know how many times I can tell you Clint seems to do no wrong in his movies, but I'm loving everything I see from him.