Customer Reviews

Magnum Force [VHS]

5 star:		(31)
4 star:		(30)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Okay... before I begin, I must tell you I am a bit prejudice. I actually saw a scene from this movie being filmed. I lived in San Francisco and in 1973 was walking up the hill to Lafayette Park as they shot some scenes in a high rise apartment building.
I was fascinated as they shot the scene over and over to get the "tension" just right.

Now it is on DVD 30 years later. It has never looked better. Color corrected true wide screen picture, and a soundtrack that is crystal clear.

2 of the vigilante officers are played to perfection by "pre-Starsky" David Soul and, in his first role, the late Robert Urich. The scene in the darkened garage is still powerful in it's quiet threatening tone. It is SO CLEAR the cops enjoy wearing their elegant uniforms and tall boots, leather creaking and chrome gleaming in the dark... an awesome and memorable moment when those who are sent to protect and defend, go over the edge so confidently, quietly and in their minds, logically. It is still very frightening.

Face it, the original "Dirty Harry" was a better film, but this movie moves like no other! It has a gunfire and bodycount ratio that almost makes it an honorary Hong Kong Action Flick. Black-jacketed, renegade Motorcops are blowing away gangsters, while Harry Callahan is stuck on stake-out duty popping would be robbers with his mighty .44. Finally they meet in a clash to the death.Great action and direction, and a long list of stars to be (the Motorcops from Hell include David Soul, Robert Urich and Tim Matheson).And remember, "A good man has got to know his limitations."

Magnum Force (1973) the first of four Dirty Harry sequels is a film, action movie/ Eastwood junkies will appreciate a great deal. It softens Dirty Harry's character however and actually makes more political type statements regarding how criminals often have more rights in the legal system than crime victims do --than the original Dirty Harry ever did. It makes sure the audience understands that Dirty Harry Callahan is a rogue lone wolf cop who breaks rules but he is not a vigilante who takes the law completely into his own hands. He's a hero and his flaws say the movie are completely acceptable.

In Magnum Force, Harry is back on the force and fighting with a new superior who he makes very nervous. Harry discovers that a team of police officers have turned into a small hit squad and they are knocking off pimps, drug dealers and assorted criminals whenever possible. They figure Harry would approve of what they are doing and even join them. When Harry has a problem with what they are doing... they have a problem with Harry. Get the picture?
There's a lot more dialogue concerning weapons and the former most powerful handgun in the world the 44 magnum. The script is partially written by John Millius and Michael Cimino and you can tell. Ted Post directed and he doesn't bring the style or skill that Siegel brought to the first one, but he keeps things moving at a brisk efficient pace. Hal Holbrook was excited to be part of the film because he knew lots of people would go see it. David Soul and Robert Uhrick also make early career appearances here. It's not a great genre film but it mostly holds up pretty well and is entertaining. Look fast for Suzanne Somers during the pool party scene.

DVD STUFF

Nearly all of the films in the new Dirty Harry Collection of DVD's are presented in Anamorphic 2.35:1 widescreen

Most of the 5 Dirty Harry films recently released are presented at their best with colors vibrant, black levels strong and few technical problems present.

All of the Harry films have been given a complete audio over-haul and the engineers have done a superb job on all the films for their latest NOVEMBER 2001 release. The older films in particular have been improved a great deal with a very well done sound re-design. I suspect some re-recording of some foley type effects took place because some of the sound effects sound utterly free from distortion which you would expect to crop up in loud sound effects from 30 years ago. All of the films have a Dolby 5.1. track that has been masterfully presented. Dialogue is easy to hear, and the sound effects
And music effectively use the surround capabilities of all the speakers without over-doing it .

DVD Extras:

Magnum Force gets the 8 minute featurette entitled The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today and was made as part of the promotional campaign for film in 1973. It has some behind the scene snippets of Ted Post directing Eastwood. The original trailer is not in very good shape on this one.

3 and a half stars... 4 if you love Dirty Harry or Eastwood.

Christopher Jarmick, is the author of The Glass Cocoon with Serena F. Holder a critically acclaimed, steamy suspense

"Magnum Force" is a threatening, yet humorous story that begins with the malleable premise that three highway patrol officers (recent graduates from the police academy) are excellent marksman, as well as skillful motorcyclists who wear Gestapo styled uniforms and mirrored shades. With Vitalis enhanced, combed back hair and jibbering German, Robert Urich does a convincing Joseph Goebbels while Tim Matheson and David Soul do the goosestep. Callahan suspects something is wrong when his boss (Hal Holbrook) orders the wacky trio of vigilantes to a parking garage to kill him.

Magnum Force is the first sequel to the classic Dirty Harry, and it suffers some from the let-downs typical of sequels, but it's still Clint Eastwood being a tough guy, which is enough to carry the merely average plot and script and make it good entertainment for Eastwood fans.

In this installment, Harry Callahan, the cop frustrated by the rules that hold him back, shows he has his limits when he goes up against wicked vigilante cops killing criminals without any due process. As in the first movie, there's plenty of action, a car chase, suspense, people getting shot, etc.

Whether those with the older DVD will want to upgrade is a matter of personal preference, but the special features look attractive to me:

-- new commentary by director and Magnum Force screenwriter John Milius ("in this gritty, entertaining commentary, legendary Hollywood screenwriter Milius discusses Eastwood, the world of Dirty Harry and the rugged resilience of crime drama in American cinema")
-- new featurette "A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry," with filmmakers, social scientists and authors on the politics and ethics of the Dirty Harry films
-- "The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today"
-- trailer gallery

This and the other four movies are available on standard DVD both separately and in a 7-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition, which has additional goodies.

They're also on Blu-ray in a 5-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition. Only the Dirty Harry Special Edition is available separately on Blu-ray (here); the other four movies, including this one, are available on Blu-ray in the set.

Here are the links for the Amazon pages for the new separate standard DVD releases of the other four movies in the series:

Dirty Harry Special Edition (2 discs, "special" is apparently better than "deluxe")
The Enforcer Deluxe Edition
Sudden Impact Deluxe Edition
The Dead Pool Deluxe Edition

The se ond entry in the Dirty Harry series finds Clint Eastwood up against a vigilante force of cops out to rid the world of nasty criminals who have escaped the justice system. What is unique about this particular entry is the casting of several up and coming actors who would go on to their own starring roles in years to come: David Soul, Robert Urich and Tim Matheson for starters. They are some of the rookie motorcycle cops involved in the force. Hal Holbrook is an appropriately smarmy boss for Harry and Harry staple Albert Popwell is back as a particularly nasty pimp with a penchant for Drano. Even with all its implausibilities, MAGNUM FORCE is a worthy entry in the Harry series and should please fans of vigilante justice as well.

The second installment in the "Dirty Harry" series is very good (4 1/2 STARS). In some ways it reminded me of a good TV movie. This could be due to David Soul(Starsky), Robert Urich(Vegas)and Susan Summers(Threes Company)appearing in brief roles and that 70' movie soundtrack music. The story is interesting and we see Clint Eastwood playing it a little more tongue and cheek in this one(posing as an overseas airline pilot). Which is a good thing because you can't take this stuff too seriously. I like all the "Dirty Harry" films and I am sure where I ranked this one as I am watching them all again as I review them. I have seen them all several times, but I am watching them on DVD in my Home theater and there is a huge difference seeing these films on a big screen. If I had one complaint with this movie it was too easy to figure out the killers. The DVD transfer looks good and there are some extras on the disc.

Well not really. As a matter of fact, Dirty Harry doesn't even use his magnum to dispense the rogue cops. Davis (David Soul) is drown-fu'd, Grimes (Robert Urich) is car-fu'd, Astrachan (Kip Niven) is chop-fu'd and Lt. Briggs (Hal Holbrook) is bomb-fu'd by Harry. Sweet (Tim Matheson) is shotgun-fu'd in an ambush by the bad guys while serving a "Warrant"

The really good parts were the shooting range introductions of Dirty Harry to all the rogue cops (minus Rogue Boss - Briggs). Where Harry tells the traffic cops he uses "light specials" - meaning .44 Special ammunition; which I don't believe, due to the recoil of the gun. He's using full-power magnums, alright. Officer Sweet (Tim Matheson) gets to shoot Harry's big gun. "It was just a little heavy, I missed one" says Sweet.

Also, the combat pistol-shooting championships pit the Colt blue steel 4-inch .357 magnum 125gr JHP's and HKS speedloaders of David Soul vs. The Smith and Wesson blue steel 6-inch Model 29 .44 magnum using 180gr or 210gr jhp's and Safariland speedloaders of Clint Eastwood. Yarrrrrs, mateys! Those were the days when "real men" fired full-power magnum loads, not your pip-sqeak 9mm's in later movies.

Robert Urich in his pre - "S.W.A.T.", "VEGAS" and "Spenser For Hire" days. Tim Matheson in his pre - "Animal House" days. David Soul in his pre - "Starsky and Hutch" days (although he did end up using a Colt Python 6-inch .357 magnum on that show). Kip Niven in his pre - Jacklyn Smith days. And Hal Holbrook in his pre - Dixie Carter "Southern Comfort" days.

Oh, the plot or the premise of this movie? Read the other reviews.

John Millius congratulates himself throughout the docs and commentary on this picture for offering up a sequel that turns the premise of the first film on its head. Harry the maverick who goes outside the system now faces off against jack-booted vigilante cops. He's right that this is a cool idea, but the character of Harry here has been so changed from the first film that there's not much impact. In Dirty Harry he's a misanthropic loner with more in common with the killer he's stalking than the society he's trying to protect. Here he's a conventional good-guy -- heroic and smooth with the ladies. The bilious self-loathing that contorted Clint's face is gone. (In that picture Harry may speak for the victims but he's always at a remove from them. He watches the dead girl pulled from her torture cell. He offers no compassion for the mother of a victim at the scene of her son's murder and doesn't offer so much as a "It's okay, kids -- sit tight." to the busload of students at the end. He's all about the hunt.)

Also the construction of the story here allows for no suspense because we know who did it right away. There are drawn-out scenes of the crimes and various stakeouts that provide long Clint-less stretches. The airplane scene in the beginning is preposterous and contrived and the climactic chase is fairly tedious. I actually could have done with move David Soul and his band on bikes than Hal Holbrook -- love him though I may. (And note how much Mitchell Ryan looks like Keith Olberman here.)

Magnum Force is by far the best Dirty Harry movie, good story, good acting and lots of good knockers...er... I didn't say that. Clint Eastwood plays the doesn't play by the rules cop nicely. Although I don't know why Lt. Briggs hates him, he does the least amount of killing, the bad guys do. The story goes a bunch of rookie traffic cops are killing the top criminals in the city. Killing#1: Carmine Ricca and his goonsquad. Carmine was hated by the people because he was found not guilty of murder of a labour leader. In a brand new caddy they were pulled over and shot with a .357 Magnum. Killing#2: a narcotics kingpin and his girls (scene 1 of 2 w/ nudity). Killing#3: a pimp. Killing#4 another druggie (scene 2 of 2).The first dirty harry movie with lots of language too. Harry and his partner were following a suspect of the murders and he wanted to know where San Quentin was
The driver said, "it's back there, don't you see too good,".
Harry replies "I see fine, I was wondering if you knew, you do don't ya ass**le. More language! At a shoot out the cops came and yelled in a loudspeeker to throw their guns down.
The gunmen rplied " bullsh*t, f**k you!".
The movie ends by Harry....... hey I won't tell you'll have to see the movie yourself:P