The Enforcer (1976)

Sick Product of a Sick System

Really Surprised!

Absolutely Fantastic

It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Dirty Harry must foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam veterans. But this time, he's teamed with a rookie female partner that he's not too excited to be working with. Once again Clint Eastwood delivers an amazing and spectacular adventure as Dirty Harry in 'The Enforcer' a film that is just packed with action, shootings and just a hell lot of fun. Tyne Daly who played the rookie cop named Kate Moore also did a terrific job and she reminded me a bit of Olivia Williams from the 2014 Action, Thriller Sabotage. This is nowhere near as good as the 1st two installments but it's still a great film as well. (A+)

In this 3rd "Dirty Harry" film, San Francisco Inspector "Harry Callahan" (Clint Eastwood) is tasked with an assignment involving the theft of military arms by persons unknown. As bad as that might be, the theft also resulted in the death of Callahan's partner "Frank Digeorgio" (John Mitchum) as well. Not only that, but it's also during this time that Harry is informed that he must accept a brand new partner who happens to be an inexperienced female named "Kate Moore" (Tyne Daly). Needless to say, this doesn't please Inspector Callahan at all but these types of politics are nothing new to him. In any case, as the investigation unwinds it soon becomes clear that the group that stole the weapons is supposedly a small terrorist organization with plans to start a revolution using the weapons they have just obtained. In reality, however, the leader "Bobby Maxwell" (DeVeren Bookwalter) is actually in it for the money and is using some of the more ideological members of the group for his own selfish ends. Now rather than reveal any more I will just say that this was a decent addition to the "Dirty Harry" series with Clint Eastwood performing in his usual high-level capacity. On the flip side, however, I didn't much care for the selection of Tyne Daly for the role of his partner as there didn't seem to be much chemistry between the two. Be that as it may, I liked this film for the most part and I have rated it accordingly. Slightly above average.

The Enforcer is the third entry in the 'Dirty Harry' series. This time Harry Callaghan is assigned a female partner to assist him in bringing down a group of hippy terrorists. As such, it operates on one level as an odd couple movie where Eastwood's character has to overcome his inbuilt sexism which tapped into the very topical women's lib movement of the 70's; while on the other hand it also covered subjects like terrorism, damaged Vietnam vets and the Black Panthers. So, it's certainly a film that can't be accused of not covering many hot topics of the mid 70's.This entry in the series is for me, not only a step down from the first two instalments, but also a lesser film than the under-rated fourth film, Sudden Impact (1983). The main issue is that it has a less interesting story with particularly mediocre villains. On paper, these counter-cultural terrorists have a lot of potential but in practice they lack charisma and come across as merely another obstacle for Harry to deal with. I also wasn't especially taken with the battle of the sexes sub-plot, which I found to be pretty predictable and hackneyed stuff, although it most probably had more impact back when it was released. None of this is any fault on the part of Clint Eastwood and Tyne Daly - soon-to-be 'Cagney and Lacey' fame – who both put in good performances. It's more the fault of underwhelming writing more than anything.Still, aside from all this, this is still an enjoyable movie. It's fairly action packed, including a particularly good extended rooftop chase scene which ends up crash landing into a porn shoot! Eastwood also, pleasingly gets to dispatch of a few other criminal reprobates along the way in a number of side scuffles which he gets actively involved in to violent effect. The big finale takes place in Alcatraz (well I guess this San Francisco based series had to end up there eventually) and while this sequence does have some genuine drama with Daly's character being killed, it also includes a very poorly staged demise of the chief bad guy where he ludicrously and wittingly sets himself up for an easy death by bazooka, leaving his captured hostage in an actively safe spot! Again, another example of this film feeling like it wasn't thought through very well. In the final analysis, this one is for me a lesser entry from this series, yet despite this it remains an entertaining enough watch.

The Enforcer (1976) *** (out of 4) The third film in the series finds Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) going up against a group of crazed Vietnam vets who take the Mayor hostage and demanding money for him before they not only kill him but blow up the city. With a new partner (Tyne Daly) at his side Harry must try and find out who the group is.This here is quite as good as the previous film but it's certainly still a winner as everything that makes the series so memorable is on display here and considering it's the third film in the series, it's still rather impressive how fresh the lead character is as well as the story. I think it's fair to say that the story is "B" movie material but it's still very effective and it's certainly good enough to hold your attention from start to finish and of course there are a few twists thrown in as well.This third film gives Harry a female partner, which allows for various sexist scenes that could only work in a film from this era. The different sex really adds quite a bit to the movie since it does get the laughs that you'd expect in certain scenes but it's also a refreshing take on the genre. By this time the Dirty Harry character was already iconic so the toughness of that character mixed well with the female officer here. It certainly doesn't hurt that Eastwood and Daly have so much chemistry together. The two of them are very effective in their roles with Eastwood clearly at ease playing this tough-as-nails cop who doesn't everything his way. The supporting cast also offers up good performances from Bradford Dillman, John Mitchum, Albert Popwell and Harry Guardino.THE ENFORCER contains all the elements that made the first two films great entertainment. Of course you get a pretty simple story of good versus evil but what makes it so well here is how it's set up. The opening sequence is downright violent and the cold-blooded nature of this group just makes you hate them to the point where you can't wait to see Harry get revenge. The film also offers up some pretty exciting action sequences including one of the great foot chases ever captured. Add in the top-notch cinematography and the great jazz score and THE ENFORCER is another success.