The Enforcer (1976)

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.

Director:

James Fargo

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (characters), Rita M. Fink (characters) (as R.M. Fink)

Stars:

Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Clint Eastwood	...	Harry Callahan
Tyne Daly	...	Kate Moore
Harry Guardino	...	Lt. Bressler
Bradford Dillman	...	Capt. McKay
John Mitchum	...	DiGeorgio
DeVeren Bookwalter	...	Bobby Maxwell
John Crawford	...	The Mayor
Samantha Doane	...	Wanda
Bob Hoy	...	Buchinski (as Robert Hoy)
Jocelyn Jones	...	Miki
M.G. Kelly	...	Father John
Nick Pellegrino	...	Martin
Albert Popwell	...	Mustapha
Rudy Ramos	...	Mendez
Bill Ackridge	...	Andy

Storyline

Picking up three years after the events in Magnum Force, a threatening terrorist group called, The People's Revolutionary Strike Force declare war to the city of San Francisco and demand a ransom to be paid, otherwise they plan to blow the city apart. While Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan is at a limbo following his unorthodox method during a robbery, he's at it to dispatch the terrorist group, by playing their game by being more dirty than ever. But this time, he's got a new partner, which might prove the task to be somewhat more difficult than ever, unless the two can work together.

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Plot Keywords:

woman murders a woman | female villain | female gunfighter | maverick cop | tough girl | 

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Taglines:

The "dirtiest" Harry of them all!

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

22 December 1976 (USA)

Also Known As:

Moving Target

Filming Locations:

1470 Pine Street, San Francisco, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$9,000,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$46,200,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Warner Bros., The Malpaso Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

96 min

Sound Mix:

Mono Dolby Digital (5.1)

Color:

Color (Deluxe)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

According to 'American Rebel', "The Enforcer" grossed a phenomenal sixty million dollars 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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Goofs

When the police arrive to arrest Mustafa and his gang, one of the policemen pulls the charging handle back on an M16 and the bolt locks open, indicating that it is loaded with an empty magazine.

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Quotes

Mustapha: You really *are* a dirty bastard, ain't you, Harry?
Harry Callahan: The dirtiest.

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Alternate Versions

Cut in Sweden when it ran theatrically in 1977:

• The killing of the gas men; no blood seen coming from the knife wound of the first unlucky one nor blood seen from the second gas man being killed with a shotgun.
• The execution of Miki Waleska in the fire arms warehouse was completly cut.
• No second image of the dead bridge keeper.
• Harry beating the guard at Tiffany's was trimmed down. Using some really bad editing, it cuts from where Harry kicks the guard in the groin to him "questioning" Buchinski in the Ladies room.

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Connections

Follows Magnum Force (1973)

User Reviews

Average sequel, that still lacks the original magic

"The Enforcer" is the third in the line of Dirty Harry movies. It's suffering from sequelitis - it's just not the original movie.

This time around Harry's up against a rather dull group of civilian terrorists. The enemies are weaker than in "Magnum Force" where they weren't nearly up to the psychotic Scorpio of the original. He's assisted by a female partner this time around, which provides for some amusing non-PC moments as Harry makes disparaging sexist remarks.

The problem is it's all getting a bit formulaic. The formula does work fairly well, but I'd like to see some more creativity employed. Harry does something wild to get his guy. Harry gets into trouble. Harry is called back because only he can save the day. Harry saves day but with a cost. The villains don't help by being unmemorable clichés, espousing the usual diatribe about being for the people. Harry is again ably played by Eastwood (the glove fits here) but .. there's nothing amazing about any of the other roles. All slip away from memory.

"The Enforcer" isn't a bad movie. It's just... an alright movie. It's worth catching if yer a fan of the series, but it's all a bit forgettable. 5.7/10