Sudden Impact
The Dirty Harry series officially lurched into the 80s with this release in 1983 and what made this one âspecialâ for so many was the fact that for the first (and only) time in the franchise, Clint Eastwood himself would step into the directorâs chair and take on the reins here, directing a film that is not only wildly uneven but worse, essentially became basically a one scene movie solely because of the trademark bit where Harry once again stumbles into a robbery in progress this time at a coffee shop and after putting down most of the assailants, utters the immortal line, âGo ahead. Make my day.â to the last punk standing, a singular cinema moment that became so revered that it got referenced and / or spoofed in countless movies to come afterwards and was even used during a speech by then President Ronald Reagan in alluding to the Democrats in Congress at the time (forget the fact that the line was originally used a year before in the low budget action film Vice Squad, since little regarded leading man Gary Swanson was the guy who delivered it there). This was notwithstanding the fact that the line was used only about 15 minutes into the film and that the rest of the actual movie itself failed miserably to live up to either that line or even normal series standards. The movieâs first 30 minutes show some promise with several possible plot strands being set up including a woman seducing and then murdering a man in a car, Callahan vowing revenge on a murderer played by Kevyn Major (Rafterman) Howard who has gotten off on a technicality all while heâs laughing and talking shit to Harry (before he then very foolishly tries to continue the vendetta with Callahan outside the courtroom), the aforementioned âMake My Dayâ scene, and perhaps best of all, Callahan crashing the wedding of the granddaughter of a major crime boss (an uncredited Michael V. Gazzo) and telling him to his face in front of his family and newly wedded granddaughter of the brutal crimes that he is prepared to bust him for and actually inducing a fatal heart attack in the old man (which it is implied was Harryâs true intention in doing so and thus reinforcing the belief that he seems to have an image of himself as being an âAvenging Angelâ of sorts who brings justice to those victims whom the system prefers to sweep under the rug) which results in any number of hit men coming after him for the rest of the movie seeking revenge. Unfortunately, Eastwood chooses to run with the ball on the storyline of the seductress / killer played by Sondra Locke (Eastwoodâs live in girlfriend at the time and co star in several of his movies who later claimed that Clint was a sociopathic control freak who made her suffer through two abortions before having her sterilized and then later after their breakup used all of his considerable influence to ruin her acting career and prevent her from getting any more work in Hollywood) as we realize that this is really just another entry in the vile rape revenge genre with a Dirty Harry touch as we learn that 10 years earlier (via a poorly done flashback), Locke was brutally raped along with her sister by a pack of small town Northern California white trash types (and their lesbian friend) with the sister STILL being in a catatonic state over it (and which even features the old standby clichĂ© from both Last House On The Left and I Spit On Your Grave of there being a younger, possibly mildly retarded member of the group who was coaxed by the others into taking part) while Locke by her own admittance just happened to bump into one of the rapists, buy herself a gun, and then proceeded to stalk, seduce, and kill the offender before she heads back to the small town where it all happened in order to take out the rest of them. Turns out that Harry is being sent there too, âon assignmentâ so to speak in order to clear the air from his recent rash of violence in San Francisco so that he can gather information on the murder victim whom was known to have originally resided there (thus making his arrival to do just that and Lockeâs as well to continue her killing spree an amazing coincidence) and immediately runs afoul of the small townâs police chief (Pat Hingle, nearly singlehandedly saving the whole movie with his own specialized brand of bluster) as the murders continue and Harry tries to find out whatâs causing all of this. As is obvious to tell, this particular Dirty Harry film seems to be trying to focus on the issue of victimâs rights and if said victims should be considered justified to exact revenge when law enforcement and the court system fail them completely, but there is just so much baggage here with the script and story (which pretty much falls apart 30 minutes in when Harry leaves his home base of San Francisco to hit up this seaside town which was actually the same one later used in Lost Boys and immediately upon arrival foils yet another robbery in progress that is unrelated to the main plot) that things pretty much degenerate into just another rape revenge genre tale with Harry being put on standby until itâs time for the final save, including him having a black friend (Albert Popwell yet again playing a different character in the series) whose purpose is never really explained (is he a fellow cop or just a friend?) except to set up Harryâs living accommodations in the town. But even worse than that is having Harry be saddled with a bulldog sidekick (whose genitals are almost always clearly in the camera shot whenever he is shown) who is most frequently used for farting bits and peeing on the floor of wherever Harry happens to be with him at any given moment (obviously a seriously unfunny and especially unnecessary attempt at comic relief when none was ever needed in the first place) that makes one wish that Tyne Dalyâs character from the previous film was somehow revived and put on the case with Harry once again. As with The Enforcer, the pack of rapist villains / victims are woefully underdeveloped, underwritten, and unmemorable (with the possible exception of the lesbian who is given a bit of a nasty edge) with their best bits usually coming whenever Sondra comes to finish them off one by one (including one who begs for mercy) and the âmain guyâ played by Paul Drake being a giggling loony who isnât even formally introduced until almost an hour into the film and basically becomes the last one standing while also vowing to once again rape Locke whenever he actually finds her (although itâs in question if he was even a part of raping her the first time around due to a little âproblemâ that he has), but again, the fact that theyâre just a bunch of small town hicks (who even have little to no loyalty to each other once the killing starts) and are played by mostly unknown actors who fail to leave much of an impression takes a lot of steam out of the proceedings. But the biggest problem is probably Locke herself, looking wan and gaunt and lacking the requisite amount of charisma even as she bumps into Harry a number of times during the story (with it also being implied that she might have been stalking him deliberately because she found him just so âfascinatingâ) before engaging in a sexual relationship with him. The problem comes with her and Clintâs scenes together that develop their relationship as their lack of chemistry is so acute that it almost makes them painful to watch, with Locke attempting to affect an air about her of being a cool, icy blonde in the tradition of someone like Veronica Lake but falling on her face instead as she just doesnât have the appeal to pull off the notion of dragging someone like Harry into any kind of a romance in order to distract him from his investigation. Obviously the big showdown ending on the pier which sees our barely established âmain villainâ suffer a spectacular demise and Callahan making a decision about the outcome of this case that we all saw coming from a mile away might be redeeming in some ways to some viewers, but a basic lack of focus and unnecessary side bits weigh down what could have been a good movie (with the dog in particular being something that could have been excised completely and the story would have lost nothing) that never really answers its own main questions and ultimately proves that having Dirty Harry be out of his main element in the city of San Francisco was something that should have seriously been reconsideredâŠ
4/10