Word: magnums
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...cribbing in style. The actors, meanwhile, are heavily, and affectingly, into themselves: particularly the kharma and vibrations-obssessed Tomlin. With the same L.A. backdrop that the great Chandler stories grew out of, this one proves as well-oiled as the barrel on a Smith and Wesson Model 19 357 Magnum...
THERE ARE NO two ways about it. Inspector Harry Callahan is one tough hombre. He established that image in Dirty Harry and reinforced it in Magnum Force. Now, in The Enforcer, with his reputation safe, he lets you see a little more of him. Nothing that probably wasn't there all along, nothing that is even a little hard to believe. You always knew he had a soft streak under that hard-as-nails exterior. It's just that you never really expected him to let anyone know. He is still tough, although a little more believable...
...equalled only by the list of brutality complaints filed against him. Ninety minutes, umpteen bodies and two or three episodes of debauchery later, the case is solved and the Bay City is safe once again. The particulars vary from flick to flick (the enemies were crooked cops in Magnum Force, young revolutionaries in The Enforcers), but the cliched plot remains the same...
...stand the violence, The Enforcer has some great action scenes. In an opening sequence reminiscent of the great pilot impersonation in the beginning of Magnum Force, Harry shoots three hold-up men who are holding four customers hostage in a liquor store. The excitement comes when he takes them by surprise, delivering their requested getaway car through the front of the store at high speed, and taking a blast from a double-barrel 12-gauge through the windshield on the way. After this subtle entrance, he miraculously picks off the bad guys in the time it would take...
Although scenes like these occur in all three Dirty Harry films, it seems they lead to a different end in The Enforcer. Dirty Harry and Magnum Force were unadulterated vehicles for themes like "might makes right" and "violence is a great deterrent to crime." The Enforcer, however, can be interpreted as leading to a different conclusion. The revolutionaries, after kidnapping the Mayor of San Francisco and demanding ransom, have holed up in--you guessed it--Alcatraz. Harry and partner arrive, and after an extended gunfight and hide-and-seek game the only survivors are Harry and the Mayor, a pompous...