Classic Movie Review: Magnum Force (1973)

 After the success of 1971's Dirty Harry it was inevitable that Eastwood would return to the role that had been proven to be even more popular than the lone cowboy he played in the Leone movies - Indeed Harry Callaghan is still considered Eastwood's signature role.

Right away, before the film properly starts,  we get a version of the famous line -

"This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"

This time the line plays out over the opening of the film with a deep red screen and a close up of the real star of the movie - The Magnum 44 - held in Clint's hand. Least we assume it's Clint's hand and this is the only movie in the franchise that does not open with the credits playing over shots of San Fransisco. The particular model of Magnum had become incredibly popular since the first movie and gun shops all over the country repeatedly sold out of 44's. Writer, John Milius reveals in the DVD commentary that most of the crew ended up with the weapons that were used in the movie.

Eastwood was stung by the criticism of the first movie and he was determined to show that there were worse cops than Harry. One of the story-lines rejected for the first movie concerned a group of cops who had formed a death squad. This idea was dusted off  developed because it  allowed for Harry to be depicted in an almost liberal light but still remain true to his origins. David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich and Kip Niven were cast as the young vigilante cops who come up against Eastwood's character. Though by the time of the final shoot out they have wiped out a good deal of the major criminals in the city.

The film opens with a traffic cop pulling over a mobster who has been acquitted of a murder charge on a technicality, and then shooting him and the men with him. And then we cut to Eastwood and his new partner, Early Smith -  a black actor was cast as Harry's wingman because the first film was criticized for using black actors in criminal roles - and we learn that Harry is now working stakeout rather than homicide which immediately sets him up for conflict with Lt. Briggs (Hal Holbrook). Immediately following this Harry fancies a burger and decides they should visit the burger joint at the airport. Useful that Harry know of the burger joint at the airport because there are terrorists on a plane.

In the Dirty Harry universe every time Harry gets  a hamburger we are in for a shootout. This time he ends up getting on a plane, dressed as a pilot, because a couple of terrorists have hijacked the plane, demanding to be flown to safety. In another attempt to soften up the tone of the first movie there is much more comedy brought into the otherwise grim scenes.  Here  the co-pilot, thinking Harry is an actual pilot asks:

'Excuse me, Captain. This may seem like a silly question but can you fly?'

To which Harry replies, 'Nope never had a lesson.'

Needless to say it ends up in a shoot out on the plane in which Harry takes out the two terrorists. As the movie moves on much is made of the rights and wrongs of the vigilante killers, and there are moments when the audience feels that Harry may join the rogue cops, but in the end Harry knows that although the system sometimes fails to serve justice there is no real alternative. The system may be flawed but it's all we have, Harry remarks in one key scene.

Lalo Schifrin again provided the score and this time it was heavily influenced by the Morricone scores from the Leon/Eastwood movies, and the score perfectly compliments the movie.  Once again the cinematography is stunning with the city of San Francisco looking wonderful and used to great effect - it was a nice touch placing Harry in the city, the original script for the first movie was New York set, because the city was, and remains,one of the most liberal cities in the world which meant that Harry's right wing cop stood out in stark contrast.

The film was once again a massive success ensuring that we would get more Dirty Harry movies. The film grossed $58.1 million in the United States alone, a new record for Eastwood, but it received a mixed critical response -  Pauline Kael, a harsh critic of Eastwood for many years mocked his performance as Dirty Harry, commenting that, "He isn't an actor, so one could hardly call him a bad actor. He'd have to do something before we could consider him bad at it. And acting isn't required of him in Magnum Force. In fact Kael would constantly remain a thorn in Eastwood's side and it is no coincidence that the female film critic who is slaughtered in The Dead Pool, the fifth and final Harry movie, closely resembles Kael.

The film also received much criticism after  a scene in which a prostitute was killed by having drain cleaner down her throat influenced the infamous Hi-fi murders. The Hi-Fi murders were the brutal killings of three people during an armed robbery at a home audio store called the Hi-Fi Shop in Ogden, Utah, on April 22, 1974. Five people had been held hostage and tortured, but two survived with severe injuries. All were bound and forced to drink Drano (a corrosive drain cleaner). One victim had a pen stomped into his ear, and a teenage girl was repeatedly raped before being flung face-down on the floor and shot in the head. The crime became notorious for the violence inflicted against the victims and accusations of racial bias in the Utah judiciary.

Police believed that six men were involved in the crime but only had enough evidence to convict three enlisted United States Air Force airmen, named Dale Selby Pierre, William Andrews, and Keith Roberts. During the trial, it was revealed that Pierre and Andrews, two of the men guilty of the robbery,  had robbed the store with the intention of killing anyone they came across, and in the months prior to the robbery had been looking for a way to commit the murders quietly and cleanly. The two then repeatedly watched the film Magnum Force, in which a prostitute (played by Margaret Avery) is forced to drink Drano and is then shown immediately dropping dead. Pierre and Andrews decided that this would be an efficient method of murder and decided to use it in their crime.



Magnum Force was however  the seventh highest grossing film of 1973,and although not quite as good as Dirty Harry was a worthy follow up.

Franchise Fallout - Dirty Harry Part Two

After the success of 1971's Dirty Harry it was inevitable that Eastwood would return to the role that had been proven to be even more popular than the lone cowboy he played in the Leone movies - Indeed Harry Callaghan is still considered Eastwood's signature role.

Right away, before the film properly starts,  we get a version of the famous line -

"This is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?"

This time the line plays out over the opening of the film with a deep red screen and a close up of the real star of the movie - The Magnum 44 - held in Clint's hand. Least we assume it's Clint's hand and this is the only movie in the franchise that does not open with the credits playing over shots of San Fransisco. The particular model of Magnum had become incredibly popular since the first movie and gun shops all over the country repeatedly sold out of 44's. Writer, John Milius reveals in the DVD commentary that most of the crew ended up with the weapons that were used in the movie.

Eastwood was stung by the criticism of the first movie and he was determined to show that there were worse cops than Harry. One of the story-lines rejected for the first movie concerned a group of cops who had formed a death squad. This idea was dusted off  developed because it  allowed for Harry to be depicted in an almost liberal light but still remain true to his origins. David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich and Kip Niven were cast as the young vigilante cops who come up against Eastwood's character. Though by the time of the final shoot out they have wiped out a good deal of the major criminals in the city.

The film opens with a traffic cop pulling over a mobster who has been acquitted of a murder charge on a technicality, and then shooting him and the men with him. And then we cut to Eastwood and his new partner, Early Smith -  a black actor was cast as Harry's wingman because the first film was criticized for using black actors in criminal roles - and we learn that Harry is now working stakeout rather than homicide which immediately sets him up for conflict with Lt. Briggs (Hal Holbrook). Immediately following this Harry fancies a burger and decides they should visit the burger joint at the airport. Useful that Harry know of the burger joint at the airport because there are terrorists on a plane.

In the Dirty Harry universe every time Harry gets  a hamburger we are in for a shootout. This time he ends up getting on a plane, dressed as a pilot, because a couple of terrorists have hijacked the plane, demanding to be flown to safety. In another attempt to soften up the tone of the first movie there is much more comedy brought into the otherwise grim scenes.  Here  the co-pilot, thinking Harry is an actual pilot asks:

'Excuse me, Captain. This may seem like a silly question but can you fly?'

To which Harry replies, 'Nope never had a lesson.'

Needless to say it ends up in a shoot out on the plane in which Harry takes out the two terrorists. As the movie moves on much is made of the rights and wrongs of the vigilante killers, and there are moments when the audience feels that Harry may join the rogue cops, but in the end Harry knows that although the system sometimes fails to serve justice there is no real alternative. The system may be flawed but it's all we have, Harry remarks in one key scene.

Lalo Schifrin again provided the score and this time it was heavily influenced by the Morricone scores from the Leon/Eastwood movies, and the score perfectly compliments the movie.  Once again the cinematography is stunning with the city of San Francisco looking wonderful and used to great effect - it was a nice touch placing Harry in the city, the original script for the first movie was New York set, because the city was, and remains,one of the most liberal cities in the world which meant that Harry's right wing cop stood out in stark contrast.

The film was once again a massive success ensuring that we would get more Dirty Harry movies. The film grossed $58.1 million in the United States alone, a new record for Eastwood, but it received a mixed critical response -  Pauline Kael, a harsh critic of Eastwood for many years mocked his performance as Dirty Harry, commenting that, "He isn't an actor, so one could hardly call him a bad actor. He'd have to do something before we could consider him bad at it. And acting isn't required of him in Magnum Force. In fact Kael would constantly remain a thorn in Eastwood's side and it is no coincidence that the female film critic who is slaughtered in The Dead Pool, the fifth and final Harry movie, closely resembles Kael.

The film also received much criticism after  a scene in which a prostitute was killed by having drain cleaner down her throat influenced the infamous Hi-fi murders. The Hi-Fi murders were the brutal killings of three people during an armed robbery at a home audio store called the Hi-Fi Shop in Ogden, Utah, on April 22, 1974. Five people had been held hostage and tortured, but two survived with severe injuries. All were bound and forced to drink Drano (a corrosive drain cleaner). One victim had a pen stomped into his ear, and a teenage girl was repeatedly raped before being flung face-down on the floor and shot in the head. The crime became notorious for the violence inflicted against the victims and accusations of racial bias in the Utah judiciary.

Police believed that six men were involved in the crime but only had enough evidence to convict three enlisted United States Air Force airmen, named Dale Selby Pierre, William Andrews, and Keith Roberts. During the trial, it was revealed that Pierre and Andrews, two of the men guilty of the robbery,  had robbed the store with the intention of killing anyone they came across, and in the months prior to the robbery had been looking for a way to commit the murders quietly and cleanly. The two then repeatedly watched the film Magnum Force, in which a prostitute (played by Margaret Avery) is forced to drink Drano and is then shown immediately dropping dead. Pierre and Andrews decided that this would be an efficient method of murder and decided to use it in their crime.



Magnum Force was however  the seventh highest grossing film of 1973,and although not quite as good as Dirty Harry was a worthy follow up.

Next the Enforcer- check out the trailer below and be here for part three of our Dirty Harry franchise fallout.

Franchise Fallout - Dirty Harry Part One

We open with a shot of a memorial to the police officers of San Francisco who have given their lives to police the city and then we are watching an attractive young girl through the lends of a sniper's sight, before the camera pulls back and shows us the sniper, thought not his face but a mop of unkempt hair - Bang. The woman's dead. The titles play over the cops at the murder scene with Harry Callaghan (Eastwood) discovering the clues and figuring the sniper shot from a building down the street. Harry climbs the building and finds a spent shell and a note - To the city of San Francisco, I will enjoy killing one person every day until you pay me one hundred thousand dollars. If you agree say so tomorrow in the personal column of the San Francisco Chronicle and I will set up meeting. If I do not hear from you it will be my pleasure to kill a Catholic Priest or a nigger. Scorpio.

Yeah, we're firmly in the 1970's complete with all the racial slurs of the era - and all we have between us and the freaks who rule the streets is the toughest cop of them all, Inspector Harry Callaghan played by the great Clint Eastwood.

"For the last quarter of an hour I've been sitting on my arse in your outer office," Harry tells the mayor when he's asked what they are doing to stop the maniac sniper.

Eastwood is of course excellent in the role - in one early scene he enters a shoot out with a group of bank robbers while eating his hamburger, ending the scene with the famous line - "Did he fire six shots, or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do ya, punk?"

It's an excellent piece of writing and still sounds awesome today - the original script though featured a differing version of the line that went - "You been counting? Well, was it five or was it six? Regulations say five...hammer down on the empty...only not all of us go by the book. What you have to do is think about it. I mean this is a forty-four magnum and it'll turn your head into hash. Now, do you think I fired five or six? And if five, do I keep a live one under the hammer? It's all up to you. Are you feeling lucky, Punk?"

The movie was to be originally titled Dead Right and after the role was offered to Frank Sinatra who turned it down, John Wayne was approached but the Duke didn't want the role.

“They offered it to Frank Sinatra first, but he'd hurt his hand and couldn't do it. I don't like being offered Sinatra's rejections. Put that one down to pride. The second reason I refused the role is that I thought Harry was a rogue cop. Put that down to narrow-mindedness because when I saw the picture I realized that Harry was the kind of part I'd played often enough: a guy who lives within the law but breaks the rules when he really has to in order to save others. The third reason is that I was too busy making other pictures." John Wayne.

It took some time to get the film into production and at one point ABC were developing the project as a TV movie,but when it was decided the violence was to excessive for TV it was sold to Warner Brothers who offered the role to Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Marlon Brando and Paul Newman before Frank Sinatra took the role but then dropped out. Eastwood was suggested by Paul Newman.

The rest of course is movie history and so good was Eastwood that it's hard to imagine anyone else in the iconic role - let's hope the rumors of a re-make starring Hugh Jackman are unfounded. The film may play a little slow in places, but it's a damn good movie and Eastwood and Andrew Robinson (as Scorpio) are absolutely brilliant. There's enough humour in the tightly written script to drag the viewer from set piece to set piece, and there are several crackers in this movie. The cinematography is also exceptional and we get some great shots of San Francisco which make the city as much a character in the movie as any of the actors - the film uses the lanscapes in much the way a western movie would, and in many ways Dirty Harry is something of a urban western.

The violence in the movie is still shocking all these years later - though the scene where Eastwood brutalizes the Scorpio killer which has been much criticized is a real crowd pleaser - Andrew Robinson plays the Scorpio killer with such gusto that we're cheering as Harry stomps on the man's leg after stabbing him in the said limb. Harry does this for a reason - Scorpio has recently kidnapped a young girl and the cop figures torture is the only way to get her whereabouts out of the maniac. And besides Scorpio has already kicked the shit out of Eastwood in an earlier scene so it's justified violence in this movie world. And speaking of the scene where Eastwood stabs Scorpio in the foot - the scream Scorpio utters is likely the most bizarre scream in movie history.

You've got to give it up for that scream. Check out the video below.

 Harry's arrest of Scorpio is deemed illegal and soon our psycho is back on the streets where he steals a school bus full of children in another attempt to extort a ransom from the city. Harry though jumps onto the roof of the bus and we are given a stunning sequence with some incredible work by the stunt team. It all ends in a rock quarry with a true western-gunfighter  shoot out before Eastwood drops the Scorpio killer with a shot to the arm before,once again uttering that line - "Did he fire six shots, or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I’ve kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well do ya, punk?"

The final scene, in which Harry throws his badge into the water, is an homage to a similar scene from 1952's High Noon.

Dirty Harry was well received by critics and is regarded as one of the best films of 1971.The film holds a 95% approval rating on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes.It was nominated at the Edgar Allan Poe Awards for Best Motion Picture.The film caused controversy when it was released, sparking debate over issues ranging from police brutality to victims' rights and the nature of law enforcement. Feminists in particular were outraged by the film and at the Oscars for 1971 protested outside holding up banners which read messages such as "Dirty Harry is a Rotten Pig".


Many critics expressed concern with what they saw as bigotry, with Newsweek describing the film as "a right-wing fantasy", Variety as "a specious, phony glorification of the police and police brutality with a superhero whose antics become almost satire" and a raging review by Pauline Kael of The New Yorker who accused Eastwood of a "single-minded attack against liberal values".Several people accused him of racism in the decision to cast four African-Americans as the bank robbers. Eastwood dismissed the political outrage, claiming that Callahan was just obeying a higher moral authority.

"Some people are so politically oriented, when they see cornflakes in a bowl, they get some complex interpretation out of it" Clint Eastwood.

Next up came Magnum Force - check out the original cinema trailer below and be back for part two of the Dirty Harry Franchise Fallout

Dirty Harry - The Lost Adventures

DUEL FOR CANNONS - Dirty Harry blasts into print.

Duel for Cannons
Dane Hartman
This edition New English Library 1982
by arrangement with Warner Books


Boopsie's head exploded. One second the cartoon character was bending down to shake the little girl's hand, the next second hunks of thick, painted plastic were flying off in all directions.

That subtle piece of prose opens Duel for Cannons - the first in a twelve books series of continuation adventures for San Francisco's finest, Harry Callahan. Written by Dane Hartman - which was a house name owned by Warner Books which was used by at least two American writers, Ric Meyers (who was actually responsible for this title) and Leslie Horvitz. Although there were 12 books in the series, only six were published by the UK house, NEL. In the US, which always gets more of this sort of thing that us Brits, the books were published under the, "Men of Action" series but there was no such overall series umbrella for the UK editions.

Anyone know what characters were covered under the Men of Action line? There seems to be no information on the series on the net and I assume the line also contained characters other than Dirty Harry.

 "The project was brought to me by my agent at the time, who had a strong relationship with an editor over at Warners Books.  Warners was starting a new line of male adventure series called Men of Action, with the Dirty Harry series being the jewel in the crown.  This was at the time when mens’ adventure books, like The Executioner and The Destroyer, were at their most popular.  By this time I had already written a few Destroyer novels, an Incredible Hulk novel, and some non-fiction books on films and television, so both my agent and the Warners editor thought I’d be good for Harry." Rick Meyers author of Duel for Cannons.



The book open in explosive fashion with cop, Boris Tucker involved in a shoot out in an amusement park with a trained assassin. It's a fairly weighty chapter which builds up a back story for Tucker only to have him blown away at the end of the chapter in an effective scene. Cue Dirty Harry Callahan investigating the shooting (there's some great dialogue in these early scenes that recall the film series) and eventually finding himself heading to Texas where the climax of the novel will take place at The Alamo.

It's all enjoyable nonsense but one major continuity error brought me out of the story - the books are set after the events in the three Dirty Harry movies up to that point - and yet Harry's partner, Digeorgia is back - the character was killed off in the movie, The Enforcer. This seems a odd mistake to make.

If you're a Dirty Harry fan you'll enjoy this book - it was written to cash in on the character, disposable literature as are many film/TV tie-ins but it's all good fun - a fast read from a time when fast reads were the order of the day. And taking Eastwood's big city cop to a semi-Wild West Setting, kind of Coogan's Bluff in reverse, works really well with the character and despite the continuity flaws I enjoyed this book. I picked it up and three hours or so later I was done.

Having enjoyed this continuation of Harry's screen adventures. I'll certainly be keeping my eye open for more of these books.

As stated there were twelve books in the US series but only six made it to the UK. The titles that had a British publication are pictured left.And I own all six thanks to a visit to Cardiff's excellent Troutmark Books in the Castle Arcade, but I'm just going to have to dig deeper for those remaining US only books.

Dirty Harry is back in Vigilance

Directly following his stint behind the camera, directing the gentle romance drama Breezy America's greatest living star, Clint Eastwood was to return to Dirty Harry with the movie Vigilance - the title was eventually changed to Magnum Force in reference to the hand cannon the character used.


The idea was to make the originals right wing politics more palatable to the modern audience - the concept of a gang of rogue cops wiping out organized crime interested Clint because it seemed to suggest that there were worse cops out there than Harry.  Eastwood  wanted to address the controversy of the original film supposedly endorsing fascism, by making it clear Harry was not a vigilante. However there were problems with the original script and Clint brought in newcomer, Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) to work on the script. And filming then started in April 1973. Initially Eastwood was to direct but the star didn't feel fully confident and so Ted Post took over, though Eastwood's made claims since that although Post got the director credit  it was actually second unit director, Buddy Van Horn who did most of the directing.

The death squad cops were cast with young actors - David Soul, Robert Ulrich, Tim Matherson and David Niven's son, Kip. Ted Post was given the director's chair but the director found that Clint was no longer the same man he had worked with on Rawhide and Hang Em High. Post and Eastwood crossed swords several times during shooting and Post  blamed Eastwood for his later career stalling.

Magnum Force could not help but be derivative of the classic Dirty Harry - it played around with the character. Where Harry was a sad lonely individual in the first movie, in this film he becomes a sexy ladies man, almost James Bond with a better gun.

"The same old stuff only worse." Frank Rich, The New York Times

"Clint Eastwood isn't offensive; he isn't an actor so one couldn't call him a bad actor. He'd have to do something before we could consider him bad at it. And acting isn't required in Magnum Force." Pauline Kael,

In the end Magnum Force took $58.1 million, far more than Dirty Harry. And if it proved anything it was that Clint Eastwood had the charisma to carry a any film. The film was Clint's biggest box-office ever and would hold the record until the next Dirty Harry came along.


Ignore the critics, though - Magnum Force rocks! The movie also boasts the highest body count of any of the Dirty Harry movies with a total of 30 kills.


Whilst Magnum Force is not quite as good as Dirty Harry it's still a fine film - the critics were over harsh and have never understood this kind of movie in any case. True it showed a mellowing of the Harry character but then it was intended too. And the action scenes, particularly the final shoot out, are excellent. And Clint, who had already realized that Harry must become a parody of the original character, does his best to turn him into some kind of super cop.

It made my day in any case.


A sad postscript to the movie is that on April 22, 1974, 2 men robbed a HIFI shop in Ogden Utah and made the 5 hostages drink Draino and then shot them in the head. The next day an unnamed informant called in a tip to Ogden City Police with information that would help wrap up the case much sooner than police had anticipated. The informant, an airman stationed at Hill Air Force Base, told police that he had overheard two of his fellow airmen talking about robbing a store and killing witnesses utilizing the Death By Drano method by which the Pimp murders the Prostitute in Magnum Force, which the two had seen prior to the Crime. Two of the hostages miraculously survived. The crime would forever be known as The Hi-Fi Murders.

80/80 - Chuck Norris is Dirty Harry (well sort of!)

There was a period in the late Seventies when Clint Eastwood and Gauntlet co-writer, Dennis Shryack were working on developing a Dirty Harry script, that would show the human side of the ageing cop. The script saw the Harry character battling organised crime and losing most of the battles and would end with the character's death.

Clint was excited about the project and was looking forward to burying the Harry character once and for all. Just before the film was due to go into production Jo Haims, writer of Play Misty for Me and Breezy died of cancer. Jo was Clint's age and the star was hit hard by her death. He brooded on it for a great many months.

The new Dirty Harry movie with its theme of mortality and death didn't appeal to Clint anymore and he pulled the rug on the project.


"I think the script probably cut too close to home. Clint was feeling his mortality about himself and his favourite character." Writer, Dennis Shrayack.

The script's rights reverted back to Shrayack and it would eventually become the Chuck Norris vehicle, Code of Silence. And Clint decided to go back to the western with, what he called, a nod to Shane. That film would be the excellent Pale Rider and afterwards Clint let it be known that he was looking for another Dirty Harry vehicle.

THE DEAD POOL

I'm a huge Eastwood fan and have seen all his films more than once but out of the Dirty Harry series, The Dead Pool is the one I've seen the least times. And so I pulled the disc down from the shelves. I seem to remember being disappointed with this instalment but I thought I'd give it another go. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I remembered.

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 this period, and the plot of The Dead Pool attempts to cash in on this. Harry is investigating a series of murders linked around a British horror movie director, played by a young Liam Neeson. The film is also notable for featuring Jim Carrey before he had made a name for himself.

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.

Death on the docks

Dirty Harry: Death on the Docks
Dane Hartman
New English Library 1982

This is the second in the Dirty Harry continuation series - I've managed to pick up the remaining five books published in the UK this week - and after enjoying Duel for Cannons I was a bit disappointed in this one.

The problem was that although I'm not averse to violence in a book I felt this one went too far in places and served no purpose other than to shock. It's as if the writer thought that the attraction of the Dirty Harry character was the extreme violence but then none of the movies would have dared go as far as the scenes in the prologue to this novel. It starts off fine with a union sanctioned hit but then it goes way over the top and reads like a splatterpunk horror novel.

The plot is very slim and the latter sections (and I must confess I felt it a strain to get to the end of this one) of the book which sends Harry into James Bond territory just didn't work for me. The Dirty Harry is this novel is certainly not Eastwood's Harry. Still I'm glad I've managed to get all six of these UK editions (the series ran to twelve books in the US) as I'm a huge Eastwood fan and they add to my collection.

DUEL FOR CANNONS - Dirty Harry blasts into print.

Duel for Cannons
Dane Hartman
This edition New English Library 1982
by arrangement with Warner Books


Boopsie's head exploded. One second the cartoon character was bending down to shake the little girl's hand, the next second hunks of thick, painted plastic were flying off in all directions.


So opens Duel for Cannons - the first in a twelve books series of continuation adventures for San Francisco's finest, Harry Callahan. Written by Dane Hartman - which was a house name owned by Warner Books which was used by at least two American writers, Ric Meyers (who was actually responsible for this title) and Leslie Horvitz. Although there were 12 books in the series, only six were published by the UK house, NEL. In the US, which always gets more of this sort of thing that us Brits, the books were published under the, "Men of Action" series but there was no such overall series umbrella for the UK editions. Anyone know what characters were covered under the Men of Action line? There seems to be no information on the series on the net and I assume the line also contained characters other than Dirty Harry.

There is an interview with Ric Meyers, author of Duel for Cannons and several other books in the Dirty Harry series HERE

The book open in explosive fashion with cop, Boris Tucker involved in a shoot out in an amusement park with a trained assassin. It's a fairly weighty chapter which builds up a back story for Tucker only to have him blown away at the end of the chapter in an effective scene. Cue Dirty Harry Callahan investigating the shooting (there's some great dialogue in these early scenes that recall the film series) and eventually finding himself heading to Texas where the climax of the novel will take place at The Alamo.

It's all enjoyable nonsense but one major continuity error brought me out of the story - the books are set after the events in the three Dirty Harry movies up to that point - and yet Harry's partner, Digeorgia is back and yet the character was killed off in the movie, The Enforcer - it seems a odd mistake to make.

If you're a Dirty Harry fan you'll enjoy this book - it was written to cash in on the character, disposable literature as are many film/TV tie-ins but it's all good fun - a fast read from a time when fast reads were the order of the day. And taking Eastwood's big city cop to a semi-Wild West Setting, kind of Coogan's Bluff in reverse, works really well with the character and despite the continuity flaws I enjoyed this book. I picked it up and three hours or so later I was done.

Having enjoyed this continuation of Harry's screen adventures. I'll certainly be keeping my eye open for more of these books.

As stated there were twelve books in the US series but only six made it to the UK. The titles that had a British publication are pictured left.

SUDDEN IMPACT (1983)

The fourth of the Dirty Harry movies could never be considered to be among the best the series had to offer but it most certainly isn't the worse. Indeed Eastwood was initially reluctant to return to the character but he needed a cinema hit after the relative failure of criminally ignored masterpiece, Honkeytonk Man and the best ignored Firefox.

It was filmed in the late spring/early summer of 1983 and features the line "go ahead make my day, punk" which quickly entered the American lexicon. Clint claimed that he add libbed the line but in actual fact the line was present in the original script by Joseph Stinson. It matters not because it was Clint's mouthing it, in that casual demonic coolness only he can achieve, that gave it life and later, then president Bonzo Regan would quote the line during his famous speech on taxes.

Directed and Produced by Eastwood the film contains many of the stars trademark shots - the movie opens with an aerial shot of San Francisco. It's a redundant shot but does add a consistency of style for Eastwood as director since so many of his projects have opened with such a shot. However it does not contain the intensity nor the care of his best directorial work but then the film doesn't need it. It's a cop thriller, an action movie about a character that has long become a parody of himself. Dirty Harry is a wonderful screen creation and there can be serious issues threaded through the narrative but first and foremost Harry's an action man, a superhero - Superman with a Magnum or maybe Batman with a canon would be a better analogy.

The films starts off in the same old way - Harry is in trouble with his superiors and attracting trouble with every step. In the first section of the film he manages to get not only the mob baying for his blood but also a trio of local psychos who are sore after he beats up on their leader in the city court elevators. Harry has driven a power mob boss to a heart attack. And so with a contract on his head Harry is first ordered to take a few days off and relax which results in even more mayhem and so eventually he is sent out of town on a homicide case that relates to a particularly recent shooting in the Bay area.

The aforementioned shooting actually opened the movie, directly following the aerial shot of course, in which Sondra Locke gave a man a 45 calibre circumcision. Her character's story, one of rape and revenge, has been playing out alongside Harry antics and then both story threads come together and the film's main storyline is played out with Harry, very much a fish out of water away from the concrete jungle as he follows Sondra Locke who is avenging the rape of herself and her kid sister several years ago by finding the men responsible and blowing them away in sadistic fashion. Harry of course stops her but then after weighing up the situation, he walks away and allows the woman. her vendetta over, to fade away into obscurity. This is something that the Harry of the previous two movies would never have done but is very much in character to the original Dirty Harry. The law can't punish these animals and so justice is delivered by one of the women they violated.

Much has been made of the violent nature of this film - people are either beaten senseless or have their heads blown off, women are raped, punched, kicked and some of the scenes can leave a nasty taste in the modern viewers mouth. But it is worth remembering that the Harry series hails from the seventies and things were much gritter then. The rape scene is, even in flashback, extremely graphic and horrific and many critics slammed the film because of this, accusing the director of exploiting women. The fact that Sondra Locke, at the time Eastwood's real life lover, seemed to get raped in every Eastwood film she appeared in gave cod psychologists impetus to write reams of nonsense about the film.

Eastwood dismissed all this and hit back by saying that Sudden Impact was very much a feminist movie and that the character Sondra Locke plays is not the stereotype weak woman usually favoured by the cinema but almost a female version of Harry himself.

"I've always been interested in strong women. When I was growing up the women roles were equal to the men. Now you have a big macho man and the woman will be a wimp. Women in the audience don't like that and I believe the men don't either." Clint told Roger Ebert in an interview for the Chicago Times.

Audiences loved the return of Harry and the film grossed $70 million at the box office and of course introduced that famous line - go ahead make my day, punk - which is often mistakenly thought to have originated with the first film. Watching it now it's still a great action packed movie with Clint doing wonders on the screen just by being there. I've seen this film hailed as the best Harry film by fans on some forums and whilst I wouldn't go that far I do think it is better than the previous movie, The Enforcer but behind the first two movies. But then all of the Dirty Harry movies, even The Dead Pool, to my mind the silliest, are watchable and are a firm part of cinema history.


TRIVIA: The automag Clint uses here was not a weapon produced by the company and the model used here was made specifically for the film.

This was the last time Clint and Sondra Locke would work together and soon their private relationship would crumble as Clint went back to his womanising ways. It was during this period that Clint fell for Megan Rose who would bring a script called The William Munny Killings to the actor.


It's Clint, it's Dirty Harry, it's a bloody big gun - what more could you want!!!!!

ORIGINAL TRAILER

DIRTY FRANKIE DOES IT HIS WAY

It's pretty much common knowledge that Frank Sinatra was the man originally chosen to play Dirty Harry and that Irvin Kersher was to direct. But I'd never seen this pic of Sinatra in the role - the pic was published in the NOV 9TH 1970 issue of Box Office magazine which reported on the then in production picture.

I love Frank, think he did some great films, but I couldn't imagine he'd have nailed Harry the way Clint did. But man, it's fun to wonder what this film would have been like had it been completed.


There's an interesting Eastwood interview HERE in which he talks about replacing Sinatra who had a problem with a weak wrist and couldn't hold the large gun.

REAL WEST

Subtitled: True Tales of the Western frontier, this magazine was published in May 1973. I'm not sure where I got it from but I came across it today while sorting sold old magazines in the loft. It was published by Charlton and cost 50c - it has a UK price stamped on the cover of 12p

There are some interesting articles within the covers - Did Custer Commit Suicide asks Greg Wenzel, George Hart tells us all about the day they shot Quantrill and the real west movie hall of fame subject is Fred Thomson. Add to that over a dozen other articles all old west related and it makes for great reading - even now not far off forty years after it first his the shops.

The letters page of old magazines can be great fun and this one is no exception - a rather serious missive comes from John Hope in which he talks about the 20 thousand Native Alaskans who are eligible for a share in the governments recent settlement of the Alaskan Natives Land Claims. He is warning eligible readers to register. Another letter asks for information on Pat Garrett. And there is an interesting question from T Desantis asking if a bounty hunter could make a living in the old west. The magazine answers that professional bounty hunters were few and far between and that someone trying to make their living that way would starve to death. And another reader wants to know which were the most numerous in the old west - the buffalo or passenger pigeon? The answer the magazine gives is that although the buffalo once numbered in millions, the pigeons numbered in billions. A report from the 1800's by naturist Alexander Wilson told of a flock so large they took four hours to pass and that the sound of wings flapping was like thunder. The magazine mentions that John Audubon visited a roost that was over forty miles long. The last passenger pigeon died in a zoo in 1914. The picture here shows a stuffed passenger pigeon.

Another feature I always find amusing in old magazines, particularly American ones, are the adverts - this mag is selling what it calls a Genuine Diamond (in looks only) ring for 50c. Apparently it's good enough to fool the experts. And for $3.95 you can buy an old west lawman badge - man, I want one of those. And how about a 8mm picture projector for only $6.98 - non DVD quality and your pics projected onto the nearest wall. The issue is in great condition having been stored in a magazine bag since I picked it up a few years ago.

And speaking of secondhand goodies - pictured below is my latest haul from my used book store. The Dirty Harry titles I picked up because I collect anything Eastwood - The Enforcer is a novelisation of the movie but Dirty Harry: Duel for Cannons is an original Dirty Harry novel by Dane Hartman, which was a pen name for Rik Myers. The book seems like it'll be fun as it features Harry Callahan out West - Harry goes from the mean streets of San Francisco to the blazing byways of San Antonio, screams the blurb. The book was published in 1981 by New English Library under licence from Warner Books. Both the Adam Steele and Sudden Books were picked up because I'm a huge fan of both these series. And Guy N. Smith's Crabs because I know Guy, he's a passionate pipe smoker like myself, and I used to love these creature feature books back in the day. Leo Kessler I've never read but thought I'd like to try him as I recently enjoyed a Sven Hessel novel and this looks to be along the same lines. Man, I love old books - especially old tacky paperbacks.