Trivia
The two militant organizations depicted in the film - the People's Revolutionary Strike Force and Uhuru - were modeled after two real-life militant groups, the Symbionese Liberation Army (which kidnapped Patricia Hearst) and the Black Panther Party.
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In 1980 a writer sued Clint Eastwood for plagiarism, accusing him of taking the title of the film from one of his works. Eastwood maintained that he was inspired by the Humphrey Bogart film The Enforcer (which was also owned by Warner Bros). The case was dismissed.
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The writers of the original screenplay did not know how to get the script to Clint Eastwood. So they left it at The Hog's Breath Inn, Eastwood's Carmel, California restaurant.
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At one point during the movie, a phone call is made from outside Candlestick Park (where the Giants are playing) to a pay phone that is in front of a bridge and a warehouse. The warehouse has since been torn down, replaced by AT&T Park (the home stadium of today's Giants). Fans walking to AT&T Park from the south cross the bridge to get there from the parking lots.
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The film was originally and unimaginatively called "Dirty Harry III", before officially being titled as "The Enforcer".
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The original script was titled "Moving Target", and onward to the working original title "Dirty Harry III", before officially being titled "The Enforcer".
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In the brothel, Harry gives his name as "Larry Dickman". According to Eastwood in Mr. Warmth: The Don Rickles Project, this is a reference to a joke by Don Rickles.
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According to director James Fargo, the armed robber inside the liquor store improvised when he booted Harry in the ass.
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According to director James Fargo, at Clint Eastwood's request, an improvised bar scene with Tyne Daly and himself drinking in a bar was set up. After drinking four quarts of beer between the two, they managed to get one good line by her saying she had to go pee, which she did, but the scene overall didn't work and was deleted.
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The PRSF uses the former Alcatraz maximum security prison to hold the Mayor of San Francisco hostage; at the time of the film's release, Alcatraz was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. Some of the buildings seen in the film were destroyed during the Native American occupation between 1969 - 1971.
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The chess pieces used in the movie was sold from Ingmar Bergman's descendent's estate in 2009 for 1m Swedish Krona (around USD$145,000 at the time).
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During the firearms heist (known as Hamilton Firearms in the film) in a warehouse dock, the firearms heisted are real-life infantry weapons in service with the United States armed forces. The firearms include M16A1 assault rifles, Armalite AR18 assault rifles (the AR18 was not adopted as a standard service assault rifle - it was later adopted by the Provisional IRA in Northern Ireland - the villain Tex is seen firing an AR18 during the Alcatraz shootout), and the M72 anti-tank missile, known as the Light Anti-Tank Weapon; in the film, the M72 was called the LAW Rocket. Both the M16A1 and the M72 were used in the Vietnam War.
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Two hoods' names refer to live people. "Lalo" is the first name of the composer of the other "Dirty Harry" movie soundtracks: Lalo Schifrin. "Buchinski" is the real last name of Clint Eastwood's "competitor" in the action genre, actor Charles Bronson.
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Clint Eastwood was originally going to direct this film himself. After taking over as director of The Outlaw Josey Wales though, he found himself having to supervise the edit of that film and lacked time to fully prepare himself to both act and direct in another film so soon. He therefore promoted James Fargo, who would have been this film's assistant director, to full director. Eastwood would instead direct the next Dirty Harry film, Sudden Impact.
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At one point, director James Fargo had to prevent co-star Tyne Daly from taking a tumble as she had been running full out down a steep hill.
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Director James Fargo opted to have an ever-so-subtle green tint on Tyne Daly's face during the autopsy scene.
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During the Candlestick Park scene from the field level, the Giants are actually playing the Cincinnati Reds.
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When Harry meets Uhuru leader, Mustapha (played by Albert Popwell), he asks "Where do I know you from?" - Popwell played the bank robber in "Dirty Harry" to whom Harry first asked "do you feel lucky?", and in fact appeared, playing different characters, in all but the last Dirty Harry film, "The Dead Pool".
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According to Clint Eastwood biographer Marc Eliot, Stirling Silliphant suggested Tyne Daly for her role, but the actress turned down the script three times before finally deciding on doing it. Daley also suggested that the romantic attachment between her character and Callahan be omitted. Eastwood agreed.
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According to 'American Rebel', "The Enforcer" grossed a phenomenal $60 million in its initial domestic release, doubling that overseas and making the film Clint Eastwood's biggest grosser up to that time.
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The baseball game featured in the film is from 8/4/1976. Pete Rose is seen striking out to end the top of the second inning, with Johnny Bench & Gary Nolan left on base.
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The boat Harry and Inspector Moore take to Alcatraz is the San Francisco Fire Department's fire boat Phoenix, which is still in service today.
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Stan Richie, who played the drawbridge operator, had to actually learn how to operate the controls for the bridge.
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The scenes from the squad room where Harry drops the dynamite bomb, is identical to the squad room used in the series The Streets of San Francisco which ran at the time of filming this picture.
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In the later Clint Eastwood film The Rookie, like in this movie, Dirty Harry (Eastwood) is also partnered with a rookie cop, but not a woman like Kate Moore, played by Tyne Daly, but a young buck, Charlie Sheen.
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