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:

A man's got to know his limitations.

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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

Highest body count of all 'Dirty Harry' movies at 30.

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Goofs

Reflected in the glass in the shooting practice room.

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Quotes

Nude Boy: This coke is out of sight!
Nude Girl: Oh, Guzman is the man, baby.
Nude Boy: Oh, you bitch. Don't spill it.
Lou Guzman: That stuff's worth $900 an ounce. You better not spill it.
Nude Girl: Don't get so uptight.
Lou Guzman: Nobody says "don't" to me. You understand? Nobody.

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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

Followed by The Dead Pool (1988)

User Reviews

Dirty Harry must find out who is behind some vigilante killings.

This Dirty Harry movie to me was rather good, much better than the next movie in the series "The Enforcer", for some reason that is just one Dirty Harry movie I can not sit down and watch without becoming bored. This one though I found interesting as Dirty Harry must track down a person who is killing some of the worst criminals ever, someone Harry would probably like, but he is not doing things within the law and despite all of Harry's frustrations he still believes in doing things the right way. Of course, it becomes sort of clear that there is more to the killings than meets the eye, that there is more to it and that it may run deeper than Harry realizes at first, but you know in the end he is going to get the killer and that he will take out a few bad guys his own way along the way. Rather good action, the story is good too, though in a way it reminds me a bit of a later Dirty Harry movie "Sudden Impact", though the situations are totally different as for the whys and such. Still, in the end this one has enough of a story to keep you interested and the ending surprised me a bit when I first saw it.