Magnum Force (1973)

Dirty Harry is on the trail of vigilante cops who are not above going beyond the law to kill the city's undesirables.

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (original material), Rita M. Fink (original material),

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitch Ryan

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Harry Callahan
Hal Holbrook	...	Lt. Briggs
Mitch Ryan	...	McCoy (as Mitchell Ryan)
David Soul	...	Davis
Tim Matheson	...	Sweet
Kip Niven	...	Astrachan
Robert Urich	...	Grimes
Felton Perry	...	Early Smith
Maurice Argent	...	Nat Weinstein
Margaret Avery	...	Prostitute
Richard Devon	...	Ricca
Tony Giorgio	...	Palancio
Jack Kosslyn	...	Walter
Bob March	...	Estabrook
Bob McClurg	...	Cab Driver

Storyline

San Francisco Police Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan and his new partner, Early Smith have been temporarily reassigned from Homicide to Stakeout Duty. Meanwhile, those of the city's criminals who manage to avoid punishment by the courts are nevertheless being killed by unknown assassins. Callahan begins to investigate the murders despite the orders of his superior officer, Lieutenant Briggs. A man has to know his limitations...

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Plot Keywords:

dirty harry | police | murder | partner | pimp | 

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Taglines:

Clint Eastwood is back in 'Full Force' as Dirty Harry in "Magnum Force."

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Genres:

Action | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 December 1973 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vigilance

Filming Locations:

1501 Leavenworth Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Gross:

SEK 2,295,452 (Sweden)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., Malpaso Company, The

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Clint Eastwood declined the director's seat, and Ted Post stepped in, although interviews with Eastwood and books about him have indicated that he and second unit director Buddy Van Horn actually directed more of the film than Post did.

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Goofs

Just after Harry gets word there's trouble in the airport, we hear a female voice over the public address system: "American Airlines Flight 557, Electra II Flagship, nonstop for Washington, now boarding at Gate 5." American Airlines stopped using Electra IIs in 1969. In fact, the full-size Lockheed Electra II turboprop had virtually disappeared from all U.S. airlines by the time of "Magnum Force."

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Quotes

[Harry is casualy talking with Sunny when the phone rings]
Harry Callahan: [into the phone] Hello?
Lieutenant Briggs: [into the phone] Callahan? It's Briggs. Are you alone right now?
Harry Callahan: [into the phone] No, I'm actually entertaining a woman.
Lieutenant Briggs: [into the phone] Well, put your pants back on and come down to the station right away.

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Crazy Credits

The credits are played over a hand (presumably Harry's) holding a 44 Magnum against a red background. As such, this is the only Dirty Harry movie in which the opening credits are not played over San Francisco scenery.

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Connections

Referenced in Friends: The One with Ross's Inappropriate Song (2002)

User Reviews

Are you the cop who lives upstairs?

It seems that between "Dirty Harry" and "Magnum Force" Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan,Clint Eastwood, had learned the value of the Bill of Rights and the US Constitution. Unlike in the first "Dirty Harry" movie where Harry was the sole judge jury and executioner of all those that he deemed were guilty of crimes against the people of the city of San Francisco. In "Magnum Force" Harry actually believes in letting the system do it's job and not take the law into your, or Harry's,own hands.

A number of the top criminals in San Francisco from corrupt labor leaders to sadistic street pimps have been done away with by what seems to be a rouge element of the SF Police Department and Harry's boss lieut. Briggs, Hal Holbrook, wants to find out just who's responsible.

Harry, between shooting plane hijackers and convenient store hold up men, is also interested in stopping these criminals in uniform since their breaking the law, like average criminals, and the very thought of them breaking the law just gets Harry's Irish up. Inspector Harry Callahan is assigned to take part in the bust of a mob hideout and when the police operation is put into full gear something goes wrong, the mobsters are tipped off, and a policeman and a number of mobsters, most of them by Harry, are killed in the shoot-out that follows. Harry realizes that there's someone in the police force that's behind all those vigilant killings and tipped off the gangsters in order to have them killed in the shoot-out! That instead of having them arrested and and brought to trial. It's decided there and then by "Dirty Harry" Callahan that not only is he going to put a stop to those killings but also to those who are doing them: Dirty Harry style!

By far the best of the "Dirty Harry" movies with Clint Eastwood never better in his role as "Dirty Harry" Callahan in the most action-packed and exciting "Dirty Harry" film ever made. Eastwood is much freer and less constraint then he was in the first "Dirty Harry" film. Which makes the action go faster and also make it far more exciting with a great cast and a much better action director, Ted Post. Post keep things moving when it comes to keeping the tempo of the action in the movie up and the talking and explaining down, by Harry and his fellow police officers and friends, as to why Harry is called "Dirty Harry" every ten minutes in the film like in the first "Dirty Harry" movie.

Great ending sequence at the San Francisco Navy Yard with Harry taking care of business by doing in the bad guys and making the city safe again until the next "Dirty Harry" film comes blazing along.