MAGNUM FORCE 1973
Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), Hal Holbrook (Lieutenant Briggs), Felton Perry (Early Smith), Mitchell Ryan (McCoy), David Soul (Davis), Tim Matheson (Sweet), Robert Urich (Grimes), Christine White (Carol McCoy), Adele Yoshioka (Sunny)
Directed by Ted Post
"You expect me to believe that a traffic cop is killing off all the top criminals in the city?!"
The Short Version: Callahan returns to the screen for more crime-crushing excessive force, only this time he's up against a group of vigilante boys in blue whose 'judge, jury, and executioner' style make Harry look like a crossing guard in comparison. With a plot very similar to Italy's EXECUTION SQUAD (1972), Harry's second go round might just well be the likable, hot-headed Tough Cop's magnum opus.
A number of criminals who were able to use the legal system to their advantage are being covertly snuffed out by vigilante cops. As the Captain puts it, "Somebody's trying to put the courts out of business!" Harry Callahan, having been reassigned to stakeout duty, is put back on homicide to find out the identities of this secret execution squad.
Two years after putting a big hole in the Scorpio, Harry Callahan returns in this even bigger sequel that deals its justice as controversially as it did the first time around. DIRTY HARRY (1971) espoused an emasculated social structure in crime-ridden San Francisco. It was Callahan's tactics vs. a flawed judicial system; and quicker than you could say "Do you feel lucky?", critics began shouting the 'F' word (not that 'F' word) every few sentences. The sequel continues down that road, but pushes the boundaries by including a renegade band of motorcycle cops that represent the Dirty One's dark side. As has already been established, Callahan doesn't bother with arrests of dangerous criminals, he meets them
on their own terms and disposes of them accordingly. 
The four man vigilante force are far more ruthless. Whether it's mobsters or pimps, they stalk their prey and pounce when they don't expect it, using their badge to get close to their targets and execute them (Interestingly, when they play the game Harry's way during the Palancio stakeout, one of them gets killed). Harry, on the other hand, reacts to an opposing action. He engages them Old West style; and like Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan and John Wayne, he always gets the man on the Wanted poster. However, this particular world isn't big enough for more than one nonconformist. Eventually there will be a showdown between the maverick sheriff with the .44 magnum and the renegade posse. In the end somebody is definitely feeling lucky. 
For Callahan, there's no blurred line as to who is good or evil ("so long as the right people get shot"). This still didn't (and still doesn't) stop critics from throwing the word 'fascist' around in describing this cop whom they seemed more fearful of than the damn criminals. Moreover, those same critics have added an allure to the series that has enhanced the mystique behind it. For this sequel, the script (by John Milius and Michael Cimino) gives them their bonafide blackshirts; something more pronounced to fear that wears a badge and carries a gun. 
Merriam-Webster defines fascism as "a way of organizing a society in which a government ruled by a dictator controls the lives of the people and in which people are not allowed to disagree with the government." Another definition reads, "A totalitarian philosophy of government that glorifies the state and nation and assigns to the state control over every aspect of national life."
In the film, Harry is certainly not a dictator. The law is. The law decides who lives and who dies. Nor does Harry glorify the state; or in this case, the system. He hates the system--the liberal legal system that has made a mess of things and Harry's the janitor who must clean it up; which makes sense considering his name derives from always getting the dirty jobs. Well, somebody's got to do it. Ironically, he sometimes makes a mess of his own, but delivers efficient results in the end. In MAGNUM FORCE, there's some new enforcers in town, and they ride dark horses. If ever a fascistic label could be applied, it's on them.
The series would evolve further with the next entry, THE ENFORCER (1976), only critical notices would remain largely the same.
MAGNUM FORCE expands on the themes of DIRTY HARRY, and not exclusive to the political realm. One notable difference is Harry appears a lot less angry than the first movie where he seemed like he had a tack stuck in his foot or something. Even with the constant belittlement from Lt. Briggs (Hal Holbrook), Harry keeps his cool. These scenes with the Lieutenant are some of the best bits in the film.
Harry's more calculating this time around. An example of this is a scene where he's on the shooting range with Davis (David Soul). Harry's on to the boys, and when he "accidentally" shoots a target marker in the form of a policeman ("that last one was a good guy!"), he's giving a subtle hint.
Ted Post (director of HANG'EM HIGH, BENEATH THE PLANET OF THE APES, GOOD GUYS WEAR BLACK) kicks things off in much the same fashion as Siegel's original before piling on the action sequences and police procedural mystery. Just like in the first movie, Harry's lunch is interrupted; and like the first movie, he's not far from trouble. Instead of bank robbers it's hijackers aboard a plane. The outcome is the same, but with a touch of humor. What little humor found in DIRTY HARRY was on the uncomfortable side, but here, Harry's calm demeanor allows some genuine, if terse amusement to shine through.
Additionally, the script gives Harry some female entanglements this go round. One is the ex-wife of a cop friend of his (played by Mitchell Ryan); and another is an Asian lady living in his building, who, immediately after seeing him going up to his room, begins a brief convo before casually asking, "What does a girl have to do to go to bed with you?" Reportedly, these scenes were inserted to satisfy Eastwood's female fans, yet nothing is done with either relationship. Each woman gets a few scenes and then are dropped. 
The biggest missed opportunity is the angle involving Sunny, played by Japanese actress Adele Yoshioka. Since she provides the sole bit of romance for loner Callahan, the lawlessness of the bike-riding cops might of gotten a bit more mileage had she been put in their cross hairs. Instead, their totalitarian tendencies shine when they attempt to coerce Harry into their fold ("You're either for us or against us"). He refuses and has a noisy surprise waiting for him in his mailbox. Granted, Sunny is inadvertently put in harms way during this sequence, only Harry shoves her off-camera to her apartment, never to be seen onscreen again. Her character is welcome, if inconsequential, adding little more than to be the most likely reason Harry is less tense.
As fantastic a movie as MAGNUM FORCE is, there's no denying similarities to a 1972 Italian movie titled EXECUTION SQUAD (LA POLIZIA RINGRAZIA). In that film, a police inspector seeks those responsible for the deaths of criminals who have slipped through the legal system. His trail leads him to a secret vigilante squad of former cops. Directed by Stefano Vanzina, the Italian picture is far more political and complex in its storytelling; and a darker, more insidious affair. MAGNUM is more simplistic in its approach. 
Harry's first case opened up a lot of discussion on excessive force and dealing with a fractured legal system. Callahan's return to homicide approaches similar dossiers, but opts for the flipside of the coin that was tossed by critics in 1971; adding not only moral corruption, but questioning the brand of justice carried out by those who bypass the system, redefining vigilantism in a way that's dirtier than Harry could ever be. This review is representative of the Warner Brothers box set. Extras and Specs: anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen; A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry featurette; The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today (vintage featurette); Dirty Harry Trailer Gallery; commentary by John Milius.
3 comments:
The F word is perfectly apt for a couple of reasons. A more workable definition would be "an authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization" (Google fascism definition), and as you noted the similarities to the Italian Poliziotteschi film, it's also worth noting that at that time there was a very real fascist movement in italy that is frequently reflected as a theme in the crime films of that era. From " Fourteen Defining
Characteristics Of Fascism":
"12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment - Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations."
http://www.rense.com/general37/char.htm
Ah yes, the evil right-wingers. I don't need to google 'fascism' as I included two accurate definitions of it in the review--not the liberal, left-wing definition; which rewrites meanings of words as much as that ideology rewrites history. I think I was very fair in this write up noting that the film presents two sides of the coin via Callahan's old west style cowboy cop and the blackshirt styled rogue cops who have similar, if diametrically opposed means to an end.
Additionally, I've written about the Italian crime films in a series of articles--non-partisan as they are. Without going into details, I am assuming you know of the Red Brigades--not a right wing group at all. Or how about the similar, domestic, left-wing terrorist group, the Weather Underground?
Other than Mussolini's time period, I don't know there was a very real fascist movement in Italy in the 70s because I never lived there to experience it. No doubt the situation wasn't too dissimilar to the radical leftism of this country then, and especially now that is very much a fascistic movement you speak of. The fascists of Mussolini's day were anti-Semitic, and the only political faction in America that displays anti-Semitic tendencies are on the left side of the room. I've yet to see any right wing terrorist groups surface in America, or see any right wingers destroy private and public property whether on their own, or under the employ of George Soros. It's also not the right calling for a national police force and the pervasive condemnation of free speech that's been going on, among other things, these last 7 torturous years of rampant unemployment, higher taxation, and social decay; not to mention the left has been in charge of making (abusing) the rules in that time.
Regarding patriotism. In case you haven't noticed, anything resembling patriotism is frowned upon these days; or shouted down by your average liberal mouthpiece, and or Saul Alinksy disciple. Make a movie about a war hero, or a film that puts the military in a positive light and you're a racist, hate-mongering, something-something-phobe.
But to get back to the film, we've yet to have a real life Dirty Harry (unlike the real one Italy had at that time) blowing away bank robbers, rapists, murderers, and other assorted scum the left wants to protect so badly. These are just movies, after all, and a reflection of public frustration that, as these films point out, punishes the innocent and rewards the guilty--something that definitely resonates on multiple levels in society today.
Hm... not sure why that other guy had to try to ruin a fun action movie by brining up politics. Anyway this one's always been one of my favorites, a great example of gritty 70's crime drama, the kind we don't see much of these days. It's not quite as ground breaking as the first one but it puts a greater emphasis on action, very well done action I might add, it maintains the gritty street level style of the original but upped the stunts and body count, and Eastwood is arguably at his most badass here. He really makes Callahan the quintessential hard boiled cop, I believe that was really him hanging onto the front of that car. Also loved Mitchell Ryan, whom I've always found to be a vastly underrated actor, he's great in this and another Eastwood movie made the same year, High Planes Drifter, as well as a criminally under seen western called Monte Walch, with Lee Marvin and Jack Palance, he's more or less the closest thing to a villain in the film and is, in my opinion brilliant. He was also great as one of the villains in the first Lethal Weapon, and fans of vintage TV and horror might rember him as Burke Devlin on the first year and a half of Dark Shadows, definitely one of the highlights of that rocky first season, fantastic actor in one of my favorite films.
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