Review of Magnum Force (1973) by David B — 12 Feb 2008
Clint Eastwood reprises his role as 'Dirty' Harry Callahan in a rather clumsy riposte to the accusations of fascism that dogged Don Siegel's original movie. This time Harry is fighting to uphold the system against a group of motorcycle cops turned vigilante.
There are some interesting elements to this film: It was written by Michael Cimino (future director of The Deer Hunter) and John Milius (writer of Apocalypse Now and director of the appallingly right-wing Red Dawn), the score by Lalo Schifrin is great, the use of sinister, anonymous traffic cops is handled fairly well at least in the first half of the movie, and Eastwood is always watchable.
The problem really stems from the direction. Ted Post was a television director who had worked with Eastwood on Rawhide; his direction is solid but unremarkable, and he certainly isn't Don Siegel! This is a toned down version of Dirty Harry.
It's watchable, fairly entertaining, and easily the best of the sequels (it's not hard to be better than the supremely distasteful Sudden Impact!), but it's a pale shadow of the great original.
This review of Magnum Force (1973) was written by David B on 12 Feb 2008.
Magnum Force has generally received positive reviews.
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