Magnum Force

Sometimes you just want to spend your evening hanging out with someone cool. So maybe you hang out with the Fonz in 'Happy Days', or just crank some Tom Petty - or perhaps like me tonight, you opt for Clint Eastwood as 'Dirty Harry' Callahan.

I actually enjoyed 'Magnum Force' more than the original 'Dirty Harry'. With this the longest of all the Dirty Harry films, it truly has a bit of everything.

Classic instantly-quotable bad-ass one-liners? Check.

Attractive 1970s women and romance? Check.

Plane hijacking? Check.

Bombs and explosions? Check.

Lots of shooting? Check.

Controversial murder scenes? Check.

Crazy car and motorcycle chases? Check.

Stunning San Fransisco scenery? Check.

Corrupt cops? Check.

Plot twists? Check.

This film felt right at home in 2019, despite being made all the way back in 1973. Definitely ahead of its time. You can't help but smile when Clint Eastwood delivers killer lines throughout this film. It seems rare to encounter films so satisfying as this nowadays.

"Nothing wrong with shooting as long as the right people get shot! "

I won't be pulling over for any shady-looking motorcycle cops anytime soon.

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. Didn't like any of the sequels that followed this movie with the exception of Sudden Impact. Magnum Force is a film that rates highly as watchable again & again.

Dirty Harry is back! And this time, he's up against some vigilante cops who are blowing away all the mobsters in old San Francisco while being harassed by his superior officer Hal Halbrook. Not only that, but there's folks trying to rob stores, hijack planes, one of his buddies is going a bit mad, that guy's wife is hitting on Harry and his Chinese neighbour is looking for a bit of filthy squeezy. Where does a guy find the time? Harry does somehow (although the neighbour would have gone right to the top of the 'to-do- list for me). Even when the guy's trying to grab a burger he ends up pretending to be a jetliner pilot so he can plug a few holes in a hijacker.

There's not too much of a plot for this one (the film doesn't need one) – You can solve the mystery of who's behind the killings in about five seconds, but what you do get is loads and loads of bad guys getting what they deserve one way or another, and Harry almost, almost sympathises with the killers. But then doesn't because he's Harry Callaghan and states clearly that he does thing his own way. Because he's Harry Callaghan. And he does things his way. Because he's Harry Callaghan.

Also starring the guy who ate baby food in Robocop and David Soul. Loads of gunfights in this one. Maybe a little overlong, but who cares

Ted Post directed and John Milius and Michael Cimino wrote this first sequel to Don Siegel's classic gritty police drama, Dirty Harry (1971). Magnum Force (1973) is not as near as effective or powerful as the first and original film, but this sequel is watchable and has its merits, too. Harry is now investigating strange killings of criminals, pimps, dirty politicians and others, so the killer is killing "bad guys" this time. Harry starts to investigate the cases, and he has his doubts about all this. Then the truth is revealed and also, unfortunately, spoilt in most of the reviews and comments I've read.

Harry has again his usual opponents, mostly his colleagues and superiors who don't accept his tough style. Harry wants to do justice, but by using his own ways and moral. If talking doesn't help, then the magnum .44 will. I don't think this or the first film are fascist, but realistic and honest, and extremely bleak depictions of world and society which is more or less collapsing because of its inhabitants. This film manages still to tell something about that, but the next sequel, The Enforcer, is pretty lame in comparison.

Magnum Force has pretty fat plot and many different characters and sub plots, without being too confusing. Towards the end, the film becomes perhaps too predictable and unbelievable, and I think the ending should have needed little tightening. Now it is little unnecessary shoot outs and nothing else. The film runs two hours, which is the longest running time in the "series", but still this manages to interest and even surprise, but if they had finished the film some 20 minutest earlier, this would be even more noteworthy film. Now it has nothing too important to offer during its finale, and so the finale becomes little unnecessary, in my opinion.

As an action film, this is pretty exciting and shot with talent. The action scenes are often fast and full of gunpowder and fire, so director Post can surely direct with skill. The film is pretty brutal and violent at times, and this again shows the fact that films this gritty and violent are not made in Hollywood nowadays, at least not too often. Magnum Force is much more easier and "positive" film than its predecessor, and that's why it hasn't got so many things to offer and give. This is pure action film where the first film was also many other things, too, like social commentary and talking about things many would not want to talk about. Magnum Force gets 7/10, but fortunately still has its positive things and even little bit of the power that made Dirty Harry so immortal.

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.