The Enforcer, a review by Jon
The Enforcer3 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.
No nonesense cop is booted off the force and relies on his diminutive partner to work the case a little from the inside, chasing a psychotic gang who steal security trucks and blow shit up with rockets. The finale takes place with the pair of heroes outnumbered by the well-armed gang in a deserted ruined building. One of the key villains is despatched by blowing up the tower he is in, but not before the poor female partner is seriously wounded and says something like
"I'm a mess...". Anyway, just saying...
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May 14, 2024, 10:47:02 AM
