Magnum Force (1973)

San Francisco Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is on the trail of vigilante Police Officers 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) (as R.M. Fink)

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Mitchell Ryan

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Harry Calahan
Hal Holbrook	...	Lt. Briggs
Mitchell Ryan	...	McCoy
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 (Clint Eastwood) and his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith (Felton Perry) 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 orders from his superior officer, Lieutenant Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook). A man has to know his limitations.

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Plot Keywords:

cult film | breasts | dead prostitute | killer pimp | camera shot of feet | 

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Taglines:

A man's got to know his limitations.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Mystery | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

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 this movie than Post did. Post had earlier directed Eastwood in several Rawhide (1959) episodes and the movie Hang 'Em High (1968).

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Goofs

During the hijack scene while plane is taxing down runway, the first time the plane is shown, it has two engines. the rest of the time it has four engines.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Harry Callahan: [at end of main titles] This is a 44. Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it could blow your head clean off. Do you feel lucky?
[fires at the audience]

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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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Alternate Versions

The new 5.1 surround sound has new sounds, such as the taxi where the prostitute is murdered, when the pimp gets in the car and shoves her over, in the original mono soundtrack, she screams when she's been pushed into the left back seat. In the 5.1 surround sound, she doesn't scream at all. Also when the taxi driver screeches the car to a halt, the original soundtrack has a different sound of screeching tires. In the new sound, it sounds very different. Also Harry's 44 Magnum's legendary firing sound changes a few times through the film. The opening credits where he aims the gun at the screen, it's a different sounding gun.

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Connections

Referenced in One Hundred and One Nights (1995)

User Reviews

"A man's got to know his limitations."

Clint's Back!...Errrr....Dirty Harry's back I mean. Two years after the successful DIRTY HARRY comes its first sequel. Here, someone is out there killing all the city's dirtiest criminals. Soon enough Inspector Harry Callahan is on the case with his new partner Early Smith (Felton Perry).

Really gets a strong 7 out of 10 from me and has some great memorable scenes like the original, but it does bring some problems. Like the film does seem to go on for a little long after the biggest surprise is revealed. So the film may work better as a deeper look into Harry Callahan and his further thoughts on justice or injustice than it being looked at as a mystery which it pushes itself as. For there are way too few possible suspects especially when you watch the killer and his face.

Like the original a spectacular score from Lalo Shifrin and really some pretty good actors in supporting roles such as Hal Halbrook as Harry' boss Lt. Briggs and four new cops to the force in David Soul as Davis, Tim Matheson as Sweet, Kip Niven as Astrachan and the late Robert Urich as Grimes. Written by Michael Cimino and John Milius (who did uncredited work on the screenplay from DIRTY HARRY). In the end though, if you enjoyed the first one you will likely enjoy this one too. Followed by THE ENFORCER.

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 USA:

$39,768,000

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$39,768,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

The Malpaso Company, Warner Bros.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1