Pretty Good

Excellent but underrated film

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

I have never enjoyed or held this film, THE ENFORCER, and any subsequent Dirty Harry film in high regard unlike the first two entries. They were always OK time wasters. I recently re-watched it and I must say it was better than I remember it being on previous viewings. It moved along at a fairly steady pace and the story was pretty good. BUT..... all the reasons that I didn't like the film in the past were still there. The problem, I realized this time, lay within myself. As a standalone film it is very good...but compared to the 1st two films, it is still lack-luster for many reasons. While James Fargo is a "competent" director, this film was his first and he only got the position as a reward for being a good assistant on previous Eastwood films, his direction is watered down and unremarkable. He makes "directing 101" mistakes like crossing the axis…etc. all through this film. While part of me likes the fact that Clint is loyal to his employees and hires from within, as a hard-core film fan I would have preferred if he assigned the director's position to the best candidate rather than due to nepotism. Fargo does not have (in this film) any real strong visual/aesthetic style. The film looks like any other generic film unlike the 1st two films which both have their own strong visual styles, mood and pace. But maybe half the blame can be lumped onto Charles Short shoulders, he was the DOP and could have used his presumed skills to raise the bar visually, which he did not accomplish. The script is good but could have been tighter with more twists and suspense. John Milius would have added a great deal "if" Eastwood would have paid for the writers skill (or better yet his direction) but Milius has stated himself that Eastwood is on the tight fisted side when it comes to hiring the best and was also quoted saying the stories don't have to be that good. WTF? YES…they do. Eastwood's acting is fairly consistent but there are a few moments where Don Siegel or Ted Post would have stepped in and asked for another more subtle take from the actor. Again this falls solely on Mr. Fargo's shoulders, as he has stated in his audio commentary, Clint was always open to any direction from him and let him have the final say. The main bad ass, Bobby Maxwell, a sociopath ex-Vietnam veteran is a very 2 dimensional character unlike the Scorpio killer portrayed with brilliance by Andy Robinson in the 1st film. Maybe the actor could have given a better performance with a better director at the helm. Again blame shifts to Mr. Fargo, in my opinion anyway. He cast and directed him. The music also falls short. I love Lalo Schifrin's previous scores for DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, ENTER THE DRAGON and COOL HAND Luke to name but a few classic scores but this one is far too light and jazzy in theme which is the way Mr. Fargo wanted the film to be, lighter in tone than the previous films. This is where I lose interest in the film. While I like the lightness and humour in the script with the banter between Harry and anyone who is opposed to him and his belief system, it seems to push the more important elements of the script/story, drama, suspense, action etc. which were so strong in DIRTY HARRY and MAGNUM FORCE to 2nd place. The humour in this film works very well but the action, suspense and drama are much weaker and fall short in strength leaving a less satisfying film experience as opposed to the previous two films in this series which are just simply better films in every aspect.

Back in the Eighties when I was still watching network TV, I used to catch Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless in 'Cagney and Lacey', their female detective team-up in which they cooperated in both their professional and personal lives. I couldn't help thinking back then that it was Daly's role in "The Enforcer" that recommended her for the part in the TV series. Even when watching the movie today, Daly as a cop doesn't quite click with me, but that's probably just a personal bias. Even so, it bothered me that she got wasted at the end of the story, as her chemistry with Clint Eastwood seemed to improve over the course of the picture.Maybe you had to live during the era, but it seemed that right after the kidnapping of Patty Hearst by the Symbionese Liberation Army in 1973, action movies of the time described militant gangs with names like The Peoples' Revolutionary Strike Force and it used to bug me no end. Another one was the International Liberation Army from the 1977 TV flick "The Night They Took Miss Beautiful". All these liberation armies and strike forces and they never accomplished a thing except grabbing headlines and making a nuisance of themselves. Oh well.Certainly Harry Callahan didn't start out being an equal opportunity partner and given the situations he found himself in, was as far removed from political correctness territory as circumstances allowed. His training scenarios for new recruits were priceless, and he never did get far with his cruelty to animals exercise with Mrs. Grey from the mayor's office. Kate Moore (Daly) had to summon all of her intestinal fortitude to get beyond Harry's prescription of getting married and having kids; fortunately small arms training stood her well in taking out Sister Wanda (Samantha Doane) at the activist priest's church.Hey, I don't know if this was intentional or not, but remember the beat down Harry gave to the guy at the whorehouse? He used the plunger method on a guy named Buchinski (Robert Hoy), and I had to wonder if that wasn't a subliminal tribute to another action star of the Seventies, Charles Bronson. Bronson's real last name was Buchinski, I thought that was kind of cool.Well you just knew one of those Laws rockets would have to come in handy to close out the story. Dirty Harry liked to do things his own way, and what better way then to go out with a big bang. And to think, creepy Bobby saw it coming and couldn't do a thing about it.

The shootouts, chases and explosions in this, the third "Dirty Harry film", are enough to satisfy any action movie fan but what makes "The Enforcer" different to its predecessors is its humour. A number of sharp one-liners and the outrageous methods employed by Detective Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) provide a lot of laughs but additionally, his interactions with his new female partner and his incompetent superiors create a whole series of other situations which are also great fun to watch.Harry, of course, is a walking anachronism and a male chauvinist and these qualities often get him into trouble. He does, however, have a recognised talent for dealing with some very challenging cases in a particularly forceful way and it's this ability that frequently enables him to extricate himself from the difficulties that his behaviour leads him into.When Callahan and his partner Detective Inspector Frank DiGiorgio (John Mitchum) arrive at a liquor store robbery where the gunmen have taken hostages and demanded a car, Callahan simply gets into his police vehicle and drives it at great speed through the store-front windows before shooting and killing all the robbers. His quick, simple and effective way of dealing with this dangerous situation isn't appreciated by his superiors who promptly transfer him from the homicide division to the personnel department.In his new role, Callahan takes part in a series of interviews with candidates who are being considered for promotion to inspector and openly shows his disgust at the imposition of quotas to ensure that a requisite number of women are appointed to these posts. In one interview with a candidate called Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), his questions reveal that she's spent all her career doing office work and has no experience in the field and has never even made an arrest. Callahan's scepticism about promoting people with no proof of their competence in the field leads to him being branded a Neanderthal and his concern about their safety on the streets is also summarily dismissed.After DiGiorgio is killed attempting to arrest a group of terrorists who are in the process of stealing rocket launchers, explosives and a variety of other weapons from a munitions warehouse, Callahan is reassigned to homicide with a new partner, Detective Inspector Kate Moore. The way in which this unlikely partnership tracks down the terrorists who try to hold the city of San Francisco to ransom, surprisingly leads to them becoming friends before their mission reaches its action-packed climax at Alcatraz Island.It's interesting that in "Magnum Force" Callahan's attitude to vigilantism changed because of what happened in that story and similarly, in "The Enforcer", his experience of working with a woman who showed her competence and bravery, leads to a certain softening of his attitude to the idea of women working in the homicide division. With his eyes narrowed and his teeth clenched, Clint Eastwood again does a good job of showing Callahan's disdain for various types of people but it's in his scenes with Tyne Daly that he shows greater subtlety as Callahan's new partner gradually starts to win his respect and friendship.

It's the third Dirty Harry movie. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is as hard as ever. San Francisco is threatened by a terrorist group called, The People's Revolutionary Strike Force led by Bobby Maxwell (DeVeren Bookwalter). He lures 2 gas workers with a hot girl and kills them for their uniform. They killed Callahan's partner during a heist of military weapons. Callahan is forced to partner with Kate Moore (Tyne Daly) who has no street experience but lots of book smarts. She was promoted for political considerations for being female.It's a workable Dirty Harry movie. He's as inappropriate and violent as ever. Tyne Daly is pre-'Cagney & Lacey'. She does a compelling job as an inexperienced but strong-willed newbie. The thing that bothered me is the group of terrorists. They are part silly stereotypes and part artificial concoction. They don't really instill fear except maybe Maxwell. However he's more of a silly stereotype. I simply don't like the villains. The movie feels inferior to the first two movies.