The Enforcer (1976/I)

User Rating:

6.6/10   

Director:

James Fargo

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (characters) and
Rita M. Fink (characters) ...

Release Date:

22 December 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Thriller

Tagline:

The "dirtiest" Harry of them all!

Plot:

Dirty Harry must foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam veterans. But this time, he's teamed with a rookie female partner that he's not too excited to be working with.

Plot Keywords:

Terrorist | Police | Alcatraz | Hostage | Rocket Launcher

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Insp. 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
Tyne Daly	...	Insp. Kate Moore
Harry Guardino	...	Lt. Al Bressler
Bradford Dillman	...	Capt. McKay
John Mitchum	...	Insp. Frank DiGiorgio
DeVeren Bookwalter	...	Bobby Maxwell
John Crawford	...	The Mayor
Samantha Doane	...	Wanda
Robert F. Hoy	...	Buchinski (as Robert Hoy)
Jocelyn Jones	...	Miki
M.G. Kelly	...	Father John
Nick Pellegrino	...	Martin
Albert Popwell	...	'Big' Ed Mustapha
Rudy Ramos	...	Mendez
Bill Ackridge	...	Andy

Also Known As:

Moving Target (USA) (original script title)

Runtime:

96 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M (TV rating) | Spain:18 | Iceland:16 | Singapore:PG (cut) | Finland:K-18 (1977) (cut) | Netherlands:12 | Singapore:M18 (re-rating) | USA:R (certificate #24716) | France:Unrated | Germany:16 (re-rating) (2008) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Canada:18A | Australia:R | Norway:18 | Sweden:15 (cut) | UK:18 | South Korea:18 | Norway:16 (1977) (cut) | Norway:15 (DVD rating) | New Zealand:PG (DVD rating)

Filming Locations:

23rd & Capp Streets, Mission District, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Body count: 13 (plus one man shot in the groin)

Goofs:

Continuity: When Harry and his old partner are driving to the liquor store holdup, in the shot from the rear of the car through the windshield, Harry's partner is hanging on to the light with his left hand. In the very next shot, he is speaking on the radio with the same hand.

Quotes:

Harry Callahan: Where is he?
Mustapha: He went white. Why, did he do something else foolish?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in La balance (1982)

Enjoyable on its own. Not quite a Harry movie, but a Clint movie

I think many fans have mixed feelings about THE ENFORCER. It represents both a departure from and an adherence to the familiar Harry tradition. However, despite any shortcomings, for the most part you've got to respect the 70s feel that the movie contains.

Fans of the first two installments will still delight in Harry's struggles with the bureaucracy within the Police Department and Bradford Dillman as the new chief is a valuable addition to the series. Once again, Clint has some killer dialogue, but while for the most part he is as stern as in his previous performances, some of his lines are offered just a little too sparingly and nonchalantly.

The villains – this time a group of misfits who kidnap the Mayor of San Francisco for a ransom of five million dollars – just aren't as menacing as the crooks the first two films. There's no mystique surrounding their identity and their performances are particularly flat and nondescript.

The script, however, begins very promisingly with Harry being assigned a female partner. The relationship that develops between the two - as Harry is forced to deal with his subconscious sexist attitudes – leads to some surprising comical moments, and this addition to the dynamic of the usual animosity between Harry and his partners comes across very well.

The soundtrack is overwhelmingly orchestral: giving THE ENFORCER a Hollywood music make-over instead of the usual gritty and upbeat Lalo Schrifin score which was used to full effect in the first two movies. The chase scene in which Harry ends up in the Church builds up some of that great 70s mood and serves to remind the viewer of a hitherto absence of the moody jazz that was so prevalent in the original.

The original Dirty Harry's success was not due to any specific formula, but rather as the result of a film full of subtleties. These subtleties included a perfect music score, a balanced tension between Harry and his partners, Harry's contempt for the red tape of police bureaucracy, and the sinister nature of the villain(s). Together, these dynamics made the original two movies stronger than the sum of their parts: The Enforcer does not quite have this magic.

It is a pity that this movie is not as polished as the previous two movies, for the next Harry outing would see an older, greyer, and wrinklier Clint, and the series would get periodically worse. You'll also miss Clint in his mainstay tweed jackets!