THE ENFORCER
Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry Movies
|
||||
|
SPECIALS:
Clint Eastwood in The Man with No Name Trilogy
Clint Eastwood in Dirty Harry Movies
IMAGES:
Clint Eastwood Posters, Prints, Photos, Framed, Mounted Images
|
The Enforcer (1976)
CAST
Harry Callahan, Clint Eastwood; Kate Moore, Tyne Daly; Lieutenant Bressler, Harry Guardino; Captain McKay, Bradford Dillman; DiGeorgio, John Mitchum; Bobby Maxwell, DeVeren Brookwalter; mayor, John Crawford.
CREDITS
Produced by Robert Daley. Directed by James Fargo. Screenplay, Stirling Silliphant, Dean Reisner, based on characters created by Harry Julian Fink and R. M. Fink. Camera, Charles W. Short. Editors, Ferris Webster, Joel Cox. Music, Jerry Fielding. Art director, Allen E. Smith. Stunt coordinator, Wayne Van Horn. Color by Technicolor. Running time: 96 minutes. Released by Warner Bros.
With Josey Wales still ringing up theater cash registers all over the world, Eastwood was not in any hurry to start another project. However, two enterprising young men had written a screenplay for a detective film that they thought might interest Eastwood. With no way to contact him personally, the aspiring writers dropped off their script at the Hog's Breath Inn, a restaurant Eastwood owns in Carmel. The maitre d' saw to it that Clint got the manuscript, and the result was sudden interest on Eastwood's part in developing the script into a possible vehicle.
Sterling Silliphant and Dean Reisner, two of Eastwood's favorite screenwriters, went to work on the story and developed it into another Dirty Harry sequel. Originally titled Dirty Harry 111, the film was later entitled The Enforcer-a definite improvement in terms of marquee value.
The film marked the first time James Fargo had directed an Eastwood picture himself, although he had been assistant director of earlier Eastwood films. Fargo seemed adept enough at directing the action sequences, but the film suffered in the less lively scenes. No originality was shown in making Harry Callahan a more interesting character, and critics who complained that Harry seemed boring in Magnum Force were struggling to stay awake during The Enforcer.
The film received nearly unanimous pans, with virtually all reviewers indicating that the film would have seemed far better on a TV screen.
However, although The Enforcer was not an important film for Eastwood, it was not deserving of the roasting it received. The worst that could be said of the film was that it was predictable and unimaginative. There are good elements, such as the exciting opening sequence in which Harry crashes a car through a store window, a fast-moving and exciting climax filmed on Alcatraz, Eastwood's tangle in a massage parlor, and a delightful performance from Tyne Daly. Eastwood had nothing to work with except the shell of the original character of Harry Callahan, and there was no way he could make it interesting.
Audiences didn't seem to mind, however; The Enforcer is one of the biggest money makers in Eastwood's career.
SYNOPSIS
San Francisco detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is called to the scene when a group of gunmen hold up a liquor store and savagely abuse their hostages. Callahan responds to the gunmen's demands by crashing a car through the window of the store and single-handedly killing all the criminals with a quick draw of his .44 Magnum.
Meanwhile, a group of terrorists kill two Public Service gas men and use their uniforms as part of their plot to rob an arms company. The plan is nearly foiled when Harry's longtime friend and fellow policeman "Fatso" (John Mitchum) stumbles onto the plot and shoots it out with the criminals. Fatso is mortally wounded in the gun battle, and Harry takes a personal interest in the case.
However, because of his past reprimands about violence from the police brass, Harry is assigned a novice partner, Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), who is to act as his watchdog. The two bicker at first, but Harry finds his partner more than capable when the going gets rough. Eventually, Harry finds himself falling in love with the woman he first despised.
As the dragnet tightens around the terrorists, the criminals kidnap the mayor (John Crawford) and take him as a hostage to the abandoned prison at Alcatraz. Harry and Kate trace the group there and engage in a wild shootout, during which Kate is mortally wounded and dies in Harry's arms. Crazed with a desire for revenge, Harry confronts the terrorist leader, who has positioned himself in the island lighthouse. Using one of the terrorists' bazookas, Harry blasts his opponent to oblivion and rescues the mayor. His victory is hollow, however, because it has cost him the life of the only woman he has ever really cared for.
REVIEWS
The action is reasonably fast and competently photographed. The picture doesn't exactly drag, but it is maggoty with non-ideas.
Richard Eder, New York Times
Taking the picture for what it tries to be, a crime thriller with Eastwood going beyond the law to protect the public, one must admit that both in audience participation and lethal excitement, the entertainment level is wildly explosive.
Archer Winsten, New York Post
One might wish that The Enforcer had the cinematic smarts imparted by director Don Siegel to the original Dirty Harry, a tenser, tauter piece of work. But The Enforcer is fairish fun, and certainly no threat to liberal democracy.
Richard Shickel, Time
The Enforcer . . . uses the same basic plot strategy as The Outlaw Josey Wales. It sets up a collection of villains so disgustingly cruel and inhuman that Eastwood can spend the rest of the movie killing them with a perfect conscience.
Pauline Kael, The New Yorker
The Enforcer is the third or fourth Dirty Harry movie with Clint Eastwood blowing people's heads off and creating the kind of havoc Batman would find juvenile. . . . It all went out of style years ago with Clint Eastwood's mumbling. . . . Save your money, it'll be on TV by Easter.
Rex Reed, New York Daily News
Worn out copy of Dirty Harry . . . the format seems to be falling apart at the seams. However . . . there is enough explicit violence to satisfy the target audience. The spitball script lurches along through 96 minutes, stopping periodically for blood and assorted running and jumping and chasing stuff. The next project from this particular mold had better shape up or give up.
"Murf.," Variety
|
CELEBRITY SITES:
|
||
This Website is created and designed by NumberOneStars Int. All rights reserved.