Magnum Force
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- For the Heltah Skeltah album, see Magnum Force (album).
| Magnum Force | |
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| Directed by | Ted Post |
| Produced by | Robert Daley |
| Written by | John Milius (story & screenplay) Michael Cimino (screenplay) |
| Starring | Clint Eastwood Hal Holbrook Mitchell Ryan David Soul Felton Perry Robert Urich Tim Matheson |
| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 25, 1973 |
| Running time | 124 min. |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | Dirty Harry |
| Followed by | The Enforcer |
| IMDb profile | |
Magnum Force was the first of the sequels to the film Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood as maverick cop 'Dirty' Harry Callahan. The film was released in 1973 and directed by Ted Post, who also directed Clint in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino.
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[edit] Plot
The film was based on a real life incident involving police in Brazil. Inspector Callahan investigates a number of murders in which all of the victims were criminals who have evaded prosecution or been released on technicalities. He eventually discovers that the killers are a gang of renegade cops (in the film, they are SFPD motorcycle officers) who act as a self appointed death squad and resolves to expose them and bring them down. This resolution appears to be mainly because a friend of his was killed in the process.
The killers themselves are surprised to learn that the tough detective will not tolerate the cold blooded murder of the accused and so target him and his partner for death. Veteran actor Hal Holbrook co-starred as Harry's superior Lieutenant Briggs who turns out to be the leader of the renegades.
All of the vigilante cops appear to be armed with Colt Python revolvers, a fact which Harry uses to come to the conclusion that other police are involved. In a plot device involving a police pistol competition for which Harry is the clear favourite, he loses the match to one of the vigilante cops (one assumes deliberately, because Callahan's "error" is to shoot a policeman mannequin). At the conclusion of the match, he arranges to fire one of the vigilantes' weapons into a known target, later returning to the range to retrieve the projectile. He soon matches that projectile with the weapon used in other killings.
One of the motorcycle cops was earlier revealed to be a former Special Forces operative (possibly a Vietnam veteran - the first three Dirty Harry films had references to Vietnam veterans).
[edit] Controversy
The film recieved negative publicity in 1974 when it was discovered that a scene in which Drano is used to murder a prostitute had allegedly inspired the infamous Hi-Fi Murders, with the two killers believing the method would be as efficient as it was portrayed in the film.
The film received some slack from critics though, because the killers admitted that they had been looking for a unique murder method when they stumbled upon the film, and that had they not seen the movie, they'd have simply picked a method from another film. The drain cleaner reference was repeated in two other films, Lethal Weapon (1987) and Urban Legend (1998).
[edit] Note
The film was also somewhat of an answer to critics that said the first Dirty Harry movie glorified violence toward suspected criminals. Harry's refusal to join the vigilante squad was to be proof that he was not above the law.
[edit] External links
| The Dirty Harry films |
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| Official films Dirty Harry | Magnum Force | The Enforcer | Sudden Impact | The Dead Pool |
| Unofficial films The Rookie | Sin City |
