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This film was to be Dirty Harry's last outing in the seventies (do not worry though, he had two comebacks in the eighties). It is easy to compare this film, with the two previous Dirty Harry movies, because there some things have (still) not changed. First of all, Harry (obviously) kept his cheeky mouth, which again provides the viewer with the necessary laughs and his boss with the necessary headaches. This is not the only thing that has stayed the same though. Again some of the scenes could have been shorter, thus (theoretically) making The Enforcer a much tighter package. A perfect example of that is the scene in which Harry chases a bad guy to the rooftop of a building. Not only could this scene have been shorter, but it could also have been much more exciting had there been adequate use of music and cinematography. There is however one upside to this installment in the Dirty Harry series, which is, that it is far more stable than it's predecessors. It is not a decent or good film film, but it gets very close, mainly because of the good acting and the fact that the film remained interesting for the despite it's downsides. Best Dirty Harry film until then. If you want to know if it is the best in the series, check my comment for Sudden Impact

The Enforcer (1976)

*** (out of 4)

The third film in the series finds Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) going up against a group of crazed Vietnam vets who take the Mayor hostage and demanding money for him before they not only kill him but blow up the city. With a new partner (Tyne Daly) at his side Harry must try and find out who the group is.

This here is quite as good as the previous film but it's certainly still a winner as everything that makes the series so memorable is on display here and considering it's the third film in the series, it's still rather impressive how fresh the lead character is as well as the story. I think it's fair to say that the story is "B" movie material but it's still very effective and it's certainly good enough to hold your attention from start to finish and of course there are a few twists thrown in as well.

This third film gives Harry a female partner, which allows for various sexist scenes that could only work in a film from this era. The different sex really adds quite a bit to the movie since it does get the laughs that you'd expect in certain scenes but it's also a refreshing take on the genre. By this time the Dirty Harry character was already iconic so the toughness of that character mixed well with the female officer here. It certainly doesn't hurt that Eastwood and Daly have so much chemistry together. The two of them are very effective in their roles with Eastwood clearly at ease playing this tough-as-nails cop who doesn't everything his way. The supporting cast also offers up good performances from Bradford Dillman, John Mitchum, Albert Popwell and Harry Guardino.

THE ENFORCER contains all the elements that made the first two films great entertainment. Of course you get a pretty simple story of good versus evil but what makes it so well here is how it's set up. The opening sequence is downright violent and the cold-blooded nature of this group just makes you hate them to the point where you can't wait to see Harry get revenge. The film also offers up some pretty exciting action sequences including one of the great foot chases ever captured. Add in the top-notch cinematography and the great jazz score and THE ENFORCER is another success.

The Enforcer (1976)

Plot In A Paragraph: Dirty Harry (Clint) must foil a terrorist organization with the hep of his new rookie female partner (Tyne Daly)

With the commercial Success of Magnum Force, it was only a matter of time before we got a third Dirty Harry!! Despite showing a softer side, as he is seen to be grieving over partners deaths, Harry is still the bullheaded hard nosed detective we remember from Magnum Force and Dirty Harry. Tyne Daly does well in the first strong woman role in the franchise. Harry Guardino and John Mitchum return, Albert Popwell turns up playing a different character for a third time in the franchise.

It's weird, for some reason I always thought Clint directed this one. James Fargo does a good job of directing duties, the action scenes are well done and it's one of Clint's tightest movies. This is a bit lighter than the other two movies, and runs considerably shorter too. Jerry Fielding replaces Lalo Shifrin in scoring the movie. Once again, as usual, Clint is clearly doing his own stunts, and I believe it's the first time a Clint character uses the F word!!

The Enforcer went on to become Clint's biggest commercial hit at that point, grossing $46 million at the domestic box office to end 1976 the ninth highest grossing movie of the year.

"The Enforcer" is the third in the line of Dirty Harry movies. It's suffering from sequelitis - it's just not the original movie.

This time around Harry's up against a rather dull group of civilian terrorists. The enemies are weaker than in "Magnum Force" where they weren't nearly up to the psychotic Scorpio of the original. He's assisted by a female partner this time around, which provides for some amusing non-PC moments as Harry makes disparaging sexist remarks.

The problem is it's all getting a bit formulaic. The formula does work fairly well, but I'd like to see some more creativity employed. Harry does something wild to get his guy. Harry gets into trouble. Harry is called back because only he can save the day. Harry saves day but with a cost. The villains don't help by being unmemorable clichés, espousing the usual diatribe about being for the people. Harry is again ably played by Eastwood (the glove fits here) but .. there's nothing amazing about any of the other roles. All slip away from memory.

"The Enforcer" isn't a bad movie. It's just... an alright movie. It's worth catching if yer a fan of the series, but it's all a bit forgettable. 5.7/10

Second sequel to Dirty Harry has Harry (Clint Eastwood) trying to stop a terrorist group. But due to departmental quotas, Harry's been forced to take on a female cop (Tyne Daly) as his new partner. This doesn't sit well with everyone's favorite politically incorrect cop. But the new partner proves herself and the two surprisingly work well together. I loved the chemistry between Eastwood and Daly. This is my favorite of all the sequels in this series. It has a lot of humor, a good pace, and solid action. It also has the best script outside of the first movie. This was a good series. If you're new to Dirty Harry, definitely watch them in order because the '80s ones, while not bad, don't have the same appeal as the first three.