Home | Movies By Year | Movies from 1973
Magnum Force
Buy Magnum Force now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the movie. And once you've experienced the movie, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
'Magnum Force' is a 1973 American neo-noir vigilante action thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film 'Dirty Harry'. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on 'Rawhide' and 'Hang 'Em High', directed the film. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino (who would later work with Eastwood on 'Thunderbolt and Lightfoot'). The film score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. This film features early appearances by David Soul, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich. At 122 minutes, it is the longest of the five 'Dirty Harry' films.
Plot
In 1972, mobster Carmine Ricca drives away from court in his limousine after being acquitted of a mass murder on a legal technicality. While traveling on a city road, the driver is pulled over by an SFPD motorcycle cop, who calmly guns down all four men in the car. Inspector Harry Callahan visits the crime scene alongside his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith, despite the fact that the two of them are supposed to be on stakeout duty. Callahan trades barbs with their superior, Lieutenant Neil Briggs, who seems eager to keep him out of the murder investigation.
While visiting the airport, Callahan helps deal with two men trying to hijack an airplane by dressing as the pilot. Later that evening, he meets rookie cops Phil Sweet, John Davis, Alan "Red" Astrachan, and Mike Grimes while visiting the police firing range. Callahan learns from Sweet that he (and though not directly stated, it is presumed the others as well) is an ex-United States Army Ranger and Vietnam veteran after the officer demonstrates his marksmanship skills with Harry's personal Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver. Another motorcycle cop shoots up a pool party with a submachine gun, again leaving behind no usable evidence of his crime.
As Callahan and Early take down a stick-up crew at a supermarket, a pimp murders one of his prostitutes for withholding money from him. The next day, the pimp is killed by a patrolman when he tries to bribe him. While investigating the scene, Callahan realizes that the culprit is a cop. He assumes it to be his old friend Charlie McCoy, who has become despondent and suicidal after leaving his wife, Carol. Later, a motorcycle cop murders drug kingpin Lou Guzman using a Colt Python equipped with a silencer. However, Guzman is under surveillance and Callahan's old partner, Frank DiGiorgio, sees McCoy dump his motorcycle outside Guzman's apartment just before the shooting. The killer, revealed to be Davis, encounters McCoy in the parking garage and guns him down. Harry learns of McCoy's death while presenting his suspicions to Briggs.
At an annual shooting competition, a puzzled DiGiorgio tells Callahan that Davis was the first officer to arrive after the murders of Guzman and McCoy. Callahan borrows Davis' Colt and purposely embeds a slug in a range wall. He later retrieves the slug to have ballistics match it to the bullets from the Guzman murder. Callahan begins to suspect that a secret death squad within the SFPD is responsible for the killings. Briggs insists that Ricca's former associate, Frank Palancio, is the real culprit. Callahan persuades Briggs to loan him Davis and Sweet as back up for a raid on Palancio's offices. However, Palancio and his gang are tipped off via a phone call, Sweet is killed by a shotgun blast, and all of Palancio's men are killed by the police in the ensuing shootout. Palancio attempts to escape, but Callahan jumps on the hood of his car, causing him to lose control and crash into a crane, killing him. Briggs angrily suspends Callahan for the death of Sweet. After returning home, Callahan finds Davis, Astrachan, and Grimes waiting for him in his garage, presenting him with a veiled ultimatum to side with them; Callahan refuses. While checking his mailbox, Callahan discovers a bomb left by the vigilantes and manages to defuse it, but a second bomb kills Early as Callahan phones to warn him.
Callahan calls Briggs and shows him the bomb, only to learn that Briggs is the secret leader of the death squad. Briggs cites the traditions of frontier justice and summary executions, claiming that he's only doing what the broken legal system can't. At gunpoint, Briggs orders Callahan to drive to an undisclosed location while being followed by Grimes. Callahan manages to disarm Briggs and force him out of the car before running Grimes over. Davis and Astrachan appear, causing Callahan to flee onto an old aircraft carrier in a shipbreaker's yard. Astrachan is jumped by Callahan, who beats him to death. Callahan then runs onto the top deck and starts up Astrachan's motorcycle, leading Davis in a series of jumps between ships before the two run out of deck space. Callahan skids to a stop while Davis drives off the ship into the San Francisco Bay, dying on impact. Callahan is then confronted by Briggs with Grimes' gun; the lieutenant mocks Callahan and says he'll have him prosecuted for killing the cops. As Callahan backs away from the car, he surreptitiously activates the timer on the mailbox bomb and tosses it in the back seat. Briggs is driving off when the bomb detonates, killing him, after which Callahan proclaims, "A man's got to know his limitations."
Cast
Production
Development
Writer John Milius came up with a storyline in which a group of rogue young officers in the San Francisco Police Department systematically exterminate the city's worst criminals, conveying the idea that there are even worse rogue cops than Dirty Harry.McGilligan (1999), p.233 Terrence Malick had introduced the concept in an unused draft for the first film; director Don Siegel disliked the idea and had Malick's draft thrown out, but Clint Eastwood remembered it for this film. Eastwood specifically wanted to convey that, despite the 1971 film's perceived politics, Harry was not a complete vigilante. David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich and Kip Niven were cast as the young vigilante cops.McGilligan (1999), p.234 Milius was a gun aficionado and political conservative and the film would extensively feature gun shooting in practice, competition, and on the job. Given this strong theme in the film, the title was soon changed from 'Vigilance' to 'Magnum Force' in deference to the .44 Magnum that Harry liked to use. Milius thought it was important to remind the audiences of the original film by incorporating the line "Do ya feel lucky?" repeated in the opening credits.With Milius committed to filming 'Dillinger', Michael Cimino was later hired to revise the script, overseen by Ted Post, who was to direct. According to Milius, his script did not contain any of the final action sequences (the car chase and climax on the aircraft carriers). His was a "simple script".John Milius commentary on Magnum Force Deluxe Edition DVD The addition of the character Sunny was done at the suggestion of Eastwood, who reportedly received letters from women asking for "a female to hit on Harry" (not the other way around).
Milius later said he did not like the film and wished Don Siegel had directed it, as originally intended:
Directing
Eastwood himself was initially offered the role of director, but declined. Ted Post, who had previously directed Eastwood in 'Rawhide' and 'Hang 'Em High', was hired. Buddy Van Horn was the second unit director. Both Eastwood and Van Horn would go on to direct the final two entries in the series, 'Sudden Impact' and 'The Dead Pool' respectively.Filming
Frank Stanley was hired as cinematographer. Filming commenced in late April 1973. During filming Eastwood encountered numerous disputes with Post over who was calling the shots in directing the film, and Eastwood refused to authorize two important scenes directed by Post in the film because of time and expenses; one of them was at the climax to the film with a long shot of Eastwood on his motorcycle as he confronts the rogue cops.McGilligan (1999), p.235 As with many of his films, Eastwood was intent on shooting it as smoothly as possible, often refusing to do retakes over certain scenes. Post later remarked: "A lot of the things he said were based on pure, selfish ignorance, and showed that he was the man who controlled the power. By 'Magnum Force' Clint's ego began applying for statehood". Post remained bitter with Eastwood for many years and claims disagreements over the filming affected his career afterwards.McGilligan (1999), p.236 According to second unit director of photography Rexford Metz, "Eastwood would not take the time to perfect a situation. If you've got seventy percent of a shot worked out, that's sufficient for him, because he knows his audience will accept it."Controversy
The film received negative publicity in 1974 when it was discovered that the scene where the prostitute is killed with drain cleaner had allegedly inspired the infamous Hi-Fi murders, with the two killers believing the method would be as efficient as it was portrayed in the film. The killers said that they were looking for a unique murder method when they stumbled upon the film, and had they not seen the movie, would have chosen a method from another film. The drain cleaner reference was repeated in at least two other films, including 'Heathers' (1988) and 'Urban Legend' (1998).
According to scriptwriter John Milius, this drain cleaner scene was never meant to be filmed, but was only mentioned in his original script.
Release
Box office
In the film's opening week, it grossed $6,871,011 from 401 theatres.Munn, p. 142 In the United States, the film made a total of $44,680,473, making it more successful than the first film and the sixth highest-grossing film of 1973.Theatrical rentals were $19.4 million in the United States and Canada and $9.5 million overseas for a worldwide total of $28.9 million.
Reception
'The New York Times' critics such as Nora Sayre criticized the conflicting moral themes of the film and Frank Rich believed it "was the same old stuff". Gene Siskel of the 'Chicago Tribune' gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "The problem with 'Magnum Force' is that this new side of Harryhis antivigilantismis never made believable in the context of his continuing tendency to brandish his .44 Magnum revolver as if it were his phallus. The new, 'Clean Harry' doesn't cut it. Some of the film's action sequences do."Siskel, Gene (December 27, 1973). "The best of these police thrillers comes away 'Laughing'". 'Chicago Tribune'. Section 2, p. 2. Kevin Thomas of the 'Los Angeles Times' found the film "too preoccupied in celebrating violence to keep it in focus."Thomas, Kevin (December 25, 1973). "A Violent 'Magnum' Arrives". 'Los Angeles Times'. Part IV, p. 29. Pauline Kael, a harsh critic of Eastwood for many years, mocked his performance as Dirty Harry, commenting that, "He isn't an actor, so one could hardly call him a bad actor. He'd have to do something before we could consider him bad at it. And acting isn't required of him in 'Magnum Force'." Gary Arnold of 'The Washington Post' was positive, praising the film as "an ingenious and exciting crime thriller" with "a less self-righteous message" than the original 'Dirty Harry'.Arnold, Gary (January 1, 1974). "Magnum Force". 'The Washington Post'. C1. Gary Crowdus wrote in 'Cinaste', "We are left with the comforting assurance that when we need him, Harry (and all the cops like him who do the 'dirty' jobs no one else wants) will be there protecting us from the lunatic fringes of both Left and Right. Sure, Harry may be a little trigger-happy but at least he shoots the right people. The problem, howeverone which the film raises but never resolvesis who determines the definition of 'right' people?"Crowdus, Gary (1974). "Magnum Force". 'Cinaste'. Vol. VI, No. 2. p. 54.On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a score of 70% based on 27 reviews, with the critic consensus being 'Magnum Force' ups the ante for the Dirty Harry franchise with faster action and thrilling stuntwork.
See also
* List of American films of 1973
* 'Extreme Justice'
Notes
References
Bibliography
**
*
Buy Magnum Force now from Amazon
<-- Return to movies from 1973