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This is the final in the Dirty Harry series - the one with that silly car chase, Harry against a remote controlled toy car which had been rigged with explosives, itself a spoof of Bullit. That scene always seemed awkward with me and not in tone with the rest of the Dirty Harry series. It was the kind of thing you'd expect to see in one of the Roger Moore, Bond movies.
However watching the film now, knowing that I wasn't going to get classic Dirty Harry, I enjoyed it a lot more than ever. I guess by this point in the series Eastwood had decided to resort to self parody. The film was made in 1988 and the 80's was a uneven period for Eastwood films - Heartbreak Ridge, Pink Cadillac and City Heat were amongst the worse contenders with only the likes of Honkeytonk Man, Tightrope, Pale Rider and arguably one or two others saving the decade from total mediocrity.
Horror movies, particularly of the splatter variety were very much in vogue during
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The action comes thick and fast and the Dirty Harry name helped make the film a big box office success even if it is structured along the same ground as all the previous Harry movies. But where the others, even Sudden Impact, tried to give Harry's character some realism this one didn't bother and instead moved from one spectacle to the next with the actors mostly sleepwalking between.
Okay it's certainly not the best in the series but it does provide an enjoyable enough viewing experience. That is if you remember this is a million miles removed from the classic first movie in the series. And you know what - today that toy car chase didn't seem so silly.
2 comments:
Haven't seen any of these except for Dirty Harry - shame on me. Speaking of old Eastwood films, the one that really sticks out for me is Play Misty for Me. It's really dated now but still could be scary if you've never seen it. Filmed in good ol' Carmel.
Play Misty is a great film that was ripped off by Fatal Attraction. It was also Eastwood's first as director.
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