Magnum Force (1973)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Ted Post

Writers:

Harry Julian Fink (characters) and
Rita M. Fink (characters) ...

Release Date:

25 December 1973 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Clint Eastwood is Dirty Harry in Magnum Force

Plot:

Dirty Harry is on the trail of vigilante cops who are not above going beyond the law to kill the city's undesirables.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Police | Homicide | Pimp | Stakeout

Cast

Clint Eastwood	...	Insp. 'Dirty' Harry Callahan
Hal Holbrook	...	Lt. Neil Briggs
Mitch Ryan	...	Officer Charlie McCoy (as Mitchell Ryan)
David Soul	...	Officer John Davis
Tim Matheson	...	Officer Phil Sweet
Kip Niven	...	Officer Red Astrachan
Robert Urich	...	Officer Mike Grimes
Felton Perry	...	Insp. Early Smith
Maurice Argent	...	Nat Weinstein
Margaret Avery	...	Prostitute
Richard Devon	...	Carmine Ricca
Tony Giorgio	...	Frank Palancio
Jack Kosslyn	...	Walter
Bob March	...	Estabrook
Bob McClurg	...	Cab Driver

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

UK:X (1973) (cut) | Singapore:M18 | Iceland:16 | Finland:K-16 (1974) (cut) | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Argentina:16 | Peru:18 | Finland:K-15 (2008) (uncut) (video rating) | Australia:MA (Cable TV rating) | Brazil:14 | Australia:R | Canada:18A | France:-12 | Italy:VM18 | Norway:18 | South Korea:18 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 (cut) | UK:18 | USA:R | West Germany:16

Filming Locations:

18th St. Overpass, Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Malpaso Company, The

Trivia:

On April 22, 1974, 2 men robbed a HIFI shop in Ogden Utah and made the 5 hostages drink Draino and then shot them in the head. The next day an unnamed informant called in a tip to Ogden City Police with information that would help wrap up the case much sooner than police had anticipated. The informant, an airman stationed at Hill Air Force Base, told police that he had overheard two of his fellow airmen talking about robbing a store and killing witnesses utilizing the Death By Drano method by which the Pimp murders the Prostitute in Magnum Force (1973), which the two had seen prior to the Crime. Two of the hostages miraculously survived. The crime would forever be known as The Hi-Fi Murders.

Goofs:

Continuity: The condition of the rear door on the Ford sedan when Harry makes a U-turn. The door is damaged when Harry sideswipes a stack of railroad ties, and Lt. Briggs falls out of the car.

Quotes:

Harry Callahan: Well, I just work for the city, Briggs!
Lieutenant Briggs: So do I, longer than you, and I never had to take my gun out of its holster once. I'm proud of that.
Harry Callahan: Well, you're a good man, lieutenant. A good man always knows his limitations...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Sledge Hammer!: Magnum Farce (#1.9)" (1986)

a big man and his gun

Sometime around 1980 my parents bought a VCR and the first two movies I rented were ENTER THE DRAGON and MAGNUM FORCE. And this is still, along with the first "Dirty Harry" and "The Gauntlet", my favorite of all of Eastwood's cop movies.

Director Ted Post directs like a more brutal, stripped-down version of even Don Siegal! He also directed the amazingly violent(for a G rated Film!) second PLANET OF THE APES movie. Any connection? Do we have a mad neglected "auteur" who gets consistently handed sequels to other mens films? Probably not but as those are the only two Ted Post films i've ever seen, i must say the man directs with a clipped military proficiency and is amazingly adroit at filming characters as they meet particularly nasty endings. I don't want to say it is almost the pornography of violence(because that would implicate me!) but this is a graphically violent piece of work. And I'm not saying that's bad! If you really want a good laugh find PAULINE KAEL'S review of MAGNUM FORCE.