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The Enforcer, a review by Jon

The Enforcer
3 out of 5



When Detective Harry Callahan stops a liquor store hostage standoff in his own no-nonsense way, he gets busted back to personnel.  But not for long.  When terrorists rob an arms warehouse and go on a blood-soaked extortion spree, San Francisco's leaders quickly seek out Callahan: 'The Enforcer'.
Clint Eastwood takes dead aim again in this third of his five 'Dirty Harry' films.  Presaging her four-time Emmy-winning stint as half of TV's 'Cagney and Lacey', Tyne Daly co-stars as Harry's new partner, who has two jobs:  nailing the terrorists - and winning hard-boiled Harry's confidence.  Stoked with brisk humour and hard-hitting mayhem, 'The Enforcer' carves another winning notch in the handle of Harry's .44 magnum.

Despite a great start that sees Harry getting properly angry again and a well staged ending, this plods something rotten in the middle section. It feels like a TV movie, complete with seriously crap music! But while women's lib was always going to be too easy a target, Tyne Daly gives it some life, cutting a nice balance between plucky and scared. Of course, Clint Eastwood is dependable as ever, though seems to be lacking a proper catchphrase: in Dirty Harry we had "Do you feel lucky?"; in Magnum Force "a good man's got to know his limitations", but here, just a running joke with Daly. Still there's plenty of other Harry-isms, like "seven-point suppository..." delivered to his snivelling boss with the trademark growl! The villains are predictable caricatures, but the leader Bobby Maxwell (DeVeren Bookwalter) is a truly vile piece of work and certainly enough to piss off Harry and us, which I think Magnum Force lacked.

Despite the middle section lacking vitality, there's still plenty of action, with poor old Daly trying to keep up (almost getting a faceful of rocket at a test site was funny, as was the run through San Francisco). Albert Popwell pops-up again! Here he plays Mustapha, a suspected gang leader Harry cuts a deal with, and he finally gets a solid speaking part. If you haven't recognised him, he was the bank robber in Dirty Harry ("Hey man. I gots to know...") and the pimp in Magnum Force (killed the prostitute with drain cleaner). 

Overall it's passable fun and better as a sequel than Magnum Force. The weird thing is -and don't laugh- but from about halfway through, I couldn't get the similarirites with Robocop of all things out of my head! I said, don't laugh.



(From Dirty Harry Marathon on March 1st, 2010)

American Hustle, a review by Silence_of_Lambs

Summary:
A con man (Christian Bale), along with his seductive partner (Amy Adams), is forced to work for a wild FBI agent (Bradley Cooper), who pushes them into a world of Jersey powerbrokers and mafia.


My Thoughts:
This film resembles an All-Star line-up and from the Cast-Role alone it is clear why this flick got so many Oscar nominations.
If all this outstanding personnel could be covenanted it must My Rating: (out of possible 5)

(From Michael's random reviews on November 22nd, 2014)

The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon, a review by Achim

4. The Speech
Back to form after the slowdown that was episode 3 I had tears in my eyes from laughing. Jen is awarded Employee of the Month and must hold a speech for the stock holders. Roy and Moss decide to help in order to play a practical joke. Meanwhile Douglas has an affair with a reporter who has an unusual past, but he doesn't care. Both storylines ultimately come together in a hilarious climax.



(From The IT Crowd: Version 3.0 - (mini) marathon on July 31st, 2009)