| Sudden Impact | |
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Theatrical poster by Bill Gold |
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| Directed by | Clint Eastwood |
| Produced by | Clint Eastwood |
| Screenplay by | Joseph Stinson |
| Story by | Earl E. Smith Charles B. Pierce |
| Based on | characters created by Harry Julian Fink R. M. Fink |
| Starring |
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| Music by | Lalo Schifrin |
| Cinematography | Bruce Surtees |
| Editing by | Joel Cox |
| Distributed by | Warner Bros. |
| Release date(s) | December 9, 1983 |
| Running time | 117 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $67,642,693 (USA) |
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only Dirty Harry film to be directed by Eastwood himself). The film is probably best remembered for Harry's catchphrase, "Go ahead, make my day", often incorrectly attributed to the original film in the series.
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Artist Jennifer Spencer and her sister were raped by a group of young men 10 years ago, after being betrayed by a female friend, Ray Parkins. The brutal rape left the sister permanently catatonic. Spencer seeks revenge, and begins by killing George Wilburn with two bullets from a .38 snubnosed revolver, one in the groin. She leaves San Francisco for the town of San Paulo because of the police investigation, and begins restoring its boardwalk's historic carousel near the beach where the rapes occurred. Meanwhile, San Francisco Police Department Homicide Inspector Harry Callahan is frustrated when a judge yet again dismisses a case due to his use of unreasonable search and seizure. At his favorite diner, the inspector interrupts a robbery and kills most of the criminals. When the surviving robber takes a hostage, Callahan challenges him with "Go ahead, make my day"; the criminal surrenders.
Callahan accuses the powerful crime lord Threlkis at his granddaughter's wedding party of killing a hooker; Threlkis suffers a heart attack. Callahan's angry superior officers Lieutenant Donnelly and others cannot fire or suspend the notorious inspector because, as the police commissioner admits, his "unconventional methods...get results", albeit with tremendous physical destruction and bad publicity for the department. They order him to take a vacation, which Callahan spends by target shooting with his .44 AutoMag. Four of Threlkis's hitmen attack the inspector; only one escapes alive. The suspect from the dismissed case and his friends also attack, throwing two Molotov cocktails into Callahan's car. He uses one of the bombs to cause them to drive into the bay, killing them. Donnelly sends the inspector to San Paulo to investigate the murder of the man Spencer killed. While the victim is from there, it is also to protect both Callahan and civilians; as Donnelly notes, "people have a nasty habit of getting dead around you."
In San Paulo, Callahan stops a robbery in progress and saves the life of young Officer Bennett. The inspector receives a bulldog as a gift from a police friend, Horace King, whom he nicknames Meathead. While jogging with the dog, he meets Spencer. Callahan is hunted by the surviving Threlkis hitman, but kills him after being warned by Meathead. Meanwhile, Spencer kills a second rapist, Kruger, at the beach; although Callahan recognizes the modus operandi, police chief Lester Jannings refuses to work with the famous "big city hotshot" inspector. Callahan realizes that the victims and Parkins are friends of Jannings' son, Alby. He asks Bennett for information on them, while Parkins realizes that the rapists are being targeted and warns two others, Tyrone and Mick. After fighting Kruger's uncooperative brothers-in-law Eddie and Carl, Callahan meets Spencer again at a restaurant and learns that she shares his emphasis on results over methods when seeking justice, although the inspector adds the caveat "'til it breaks the law."
Callahan visits Tyrone's home and finds him dead, another victim of Spencer. Parkins and Mick are staying at her home to protect themselves. When the inspector visits them for questioning, Mick attacks him. As soon as Callahan leaves to take Mick to the police station, Spencer comes in and kills Parkins. Callahan and Spencer meet again and sleep together, but he realizes that she had also visited Parkins' home and finds the body there.
Eddie and Carl bail Mick out and kill the visiting King, then beat Callahan and throw his body into the sea. Spencer visits Alby Jannings— now also comatose after his guilty conscience caused a serious car accident— but Chief Jannings interrupts her. He admits that to protect his reputation and his only child he "fixed" the crimes, but promises that Mick— whom he does not know is free— will now be punished. Mick and the others, however, capture Spencer and kill the chief with her .38.
Callahan survives, finds King's body and then retrieves his AutoMag. Mick's group brings Spencer to the beach for another rape, but she escapes to the carousel. They recapture her, but are startled by the inspector's apparent return from death. After killing the others, Callahan chases Mick, who has taken Spencer hostage atop a roller coaster. The inspector again challenges Mick to "make my day", subsequently when Spencer escapes, Callahan shoots him. Mick falls and is impaled on one of the carousel's horses. The police find Spencer's .38 with Mick; ballistics, Callahan states, will find that "his gun… was used in all the killings." He and Spencer walk away from the crime scene.
The screenplay was initially written by Charles B. Pierce and Earl E. Smith for a separate film for Sondra Locke, but was later adapted into a Dirty Harry film by Joesph Stinson.[4] Filming occurred in spring 1983.[5] Many of the film's scenes were filmed in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California.[6] The scene where Harry chases a bank robber in the downtown business district offers a rare glimpse of the area before it was devastated by the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989. Footage for the robbery in "Acorn Cafe" was actually shot at Burger Island (now a McDonald's) at the corner of 3rd Street and Townsend in San Francisco. At this point in his career, Eastwood was receiving a salary that included 60% of all film profits, leaving the other 40% for the studio. Estimates had Eastwood earning $30 million for Sudden Impact.[7]
Sudden Impact is probably best remembered for Harry's catchphrase, "Go ahead, make my day", often incorrectly attributed to the original film Dirty Harry. In 2005, it was voted in a poll by the American Film Institute as the sixth most memorable line in cinema history. United States President Ronald Reagan used the "make my day" line in a March 1985 speech threatening to veto legislation raising taxes.[5][8] When campaigning for office as mayor of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California in 1986, Eastwood used bumper stickers entitled "Go Ahead — Make Me Mayor".[5]
Sudden Impact received mixed reviews from critics, scoring 59% on Rotten Tomatoes. It was a box-office success. In its opening weekend the film took $9,688,561 in 1,530 theaters in the US.[9] In total in the US, the film made $67,642,693, making it the highest grossing of the five films in the Dirty Harry franchise.[5][10]
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