Magnum Force (1973)

Rewatched 7/24/24 (Blu-Ray)

Though the loss of Don Siegel weighs heavy on the visual and musical style of this second installment in the well-oiled franchise, I do believe Magnum Force is the best of the Dirty Harry movies. Now having seen it a handful of times, I also acknowledge it as my favorite Clint Eastwood movie. Episodic, breezy, and above all, exceptionally violent, Magnum Force squeezes more plot and action set pieces into its runtime than any other Dirty Harry movie. But noteworthy villains, memorable side-characters, and muscular dialogue help to elevate it into the pantheon of great ‘70s cop movies.

Mostly gone are Harry’s signature sunglasses as we are briskly introduced to a rugged gang of shades-clad killer cops. Perhaps a not-so-subtle nod to their shady morality?? This death squad makes the rounds throughout the film, serving as the big bads that Harry seems to always be one step behind. To us as the audience, there is no mystery. They’re as obvious as Chancellor Palpatine is to the Emperor, if you’re a Star Wars fan. Harry’s department has four young, new, deadeye recruits—and if you’re not catching onto what this is laying down, just go watch the movie.

Juxtaposing Harry against these more extreme vigilantes is an interesting stroke in that, unlike the first film, Harry’s morals are pretty undefined in Magnum Force. He’s really just a less extreme version of the extremists he goes up against. Luckily, the screenwriters seem to have understood that it was a bit murky and that it was in service of a new, more diverse plot. They don’t try to tie a bow around it; no big showy speeches are written for Harry to try to justify the oversight in conception. It’s just bad cops vs a slightly less bad cop—and you know what? That makes for a pretty entertaining, satisfying timebomb of a countdown as Harry slowly but surely hits a collision course with these villains.

The name Hal Holbrook needs to be mentioned in the same breath of air as the death squad to do this film justice. Playing Harry’s boss, Holbrook’s Lieutenant Briggs brings a really smart versatility to the story. His character serves as both a fun punching bag for Harry’s one-liners and a very overbearing obstacle for Harry’s investigations, moving back and forth between the two for whatever the script needs. It makes for some of the funniest and also some of the most suspenseful scenes, with us as the audience never knowing where the Harry-hating lieutenant’s true allegiances lie. Holbrook is so believably curmudgeonly as the bureaucratic oaf that I found myself wondering if they had plucked this guy right out of a real California police department. Smushing Harry between the radical-right cops and the pissed-off liberal lieutenant is a masterstroke in helping us to identify with the common man. The guy who’s just trying to do his job somewhere in the middle of all these politics.

It’s in Magnum Force that we’re treated to some of Harry’s best moments on that job. There’s a very pre-9/11, Naked Gun-meets-Hitchcock aircraft shootout. There’s a grocery store robbery sting featuring a psychotically fetishistic criminal and palpable tension. There’s an unflinchingly brutal showdown with mafia goons. There’s even a shooting contest at the police department, just when Harry’s starting to put together a suspect list. That shooting contest is a standout, bringing Harry’s talents, his smarts, and his big mouth crashing together into one awesome set piece.

Written by John Milius and Michael Cimino, Magnum Force is clearly the work of multiple screenwriters of different tastes. Cimino presumably brought the wide canvas of interesting characters together while Milius must have punctuated the dialogue and action bits with their pulsating tough-guy enthusiasm. There are moments where the story takes 10-minute breaks from Harry to give us little suspense vignettes about victims of various criminals that Harry will face later in the movie. Yet, somehow, for how frustratingly disjointed Magnum could have felt, the jumps in story and character are all directed with such propulsion and savagery as to feel urgent. They put the main conflict on a simmer, slowly but surely inching toward a boil and pop!

Our main character is also more sought after by women in this volume of DH. As such, an added bonus of unintentional comedy is stamped on the film. It’s not that Clint’s a bad looking guy. He’s clearly a very classically good looking dude. It’s just that the ease with which these seductions are thrust upon Harry in the movie have a certain amount of low-effort charm where you just know Eastwood made them write in the scenes. A couple of ego-boosters if I’ve ever seen ‘em.

Even with the aforementioned lack of jazzy tunes and nighttime photography that the first Dirty Harry had via Eastwood-genius Don Siegel in the drivers’ seat, Magnum Force holds its own on the strength of its action and non-stop plot mechanics. There just isn’t much down time in the script, and with more than just one killer, the ante feels upped and the set pieces have more chances for kinetic verve. Usually, the more bad guys, the more the action can compound to become something more electric and transcendent than your average one-on-one. Director Ted Post takes full advantage of the scenarios at his disposal, crafting them as bloodily and impactful as possible. Bullets fly through bodies, guns recoil dramatically, and chest squibs explode with that particularly ‘70s crunch. It’s a lot of good ingredients. Enough to make Magnum Force the dirtiest, hairiest meal of them all, in my book.

9.5/10