This is a decent entry in the Dirty Harry series, this time not just starring Clint Eastwood, but also directed by him. San Francisco Homicide Detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan gets in trouble with his superiors (as usual) and is sent on forced vacation to the small seaside community of San Paulo. In between dodging various attempted Mob hits on his life, Harry stumbles into a series of killings being committed by a mysterious artist (Sondra Locke).
This is the film that generated the ubiquitous 80's catchphrase ,"Go ahead. Make my day" which Harry utters while foiling a robbery he just happens to walk into. This is why I love Dirty Harry - NOBODY is that tough and lives to tell about it! President Ronald Reagan's use of it during a press conference was one of the most replayed moments of his presidency. Like most, if not all, of the Dirty Harry sequels, this started out as an unrelated screenplay that was then rewritten to become part of the series. This time around it's more obvious than in the other films. Eastwood is fine in his role, but by this time he could play this in his sleep.
Locke makes for a convincing killer, too, and this is one of the better roles she had in then-boyfriend Clint's films. Plus, this is a killer whose mission I can get behind! In some ways she is like Harry, if the establishment won't take out the trash, she will! I will tell you no more about her motives. Also with Pat Hingle as the small town police chief, Bradford Dillman, Albert Popwell (who's in the first 4 Dirty Harry films, each time as a different character), Paul Drake as a particularly nasty pencil-mustached slime ball, Mara Corday, Carmen Argenziano, Michael V. Gazzo as a mob boss, and a young Camryn Manheim looking scared in an elevator.
