Dirty Harry

[Anton Chigurh]

There was a recent 4 page thread in the P&R revolver section about the Dirty Harry guns, as to origin, dash- , bbl length , where are they now..... lots of things. Interesting stuff.
My question/premise is simply: rate or state the order of the 5 DH movies, from best to worst. Thumbnail summary is always good.
Me first.

1. Dirty Harry. If anyone puts a "sequel" ahead of this classic, seek help. Best villain. Best acting job by Clint. Taught directing, and mostly realistic action sequences (the .458 Mag tac rifle is absurdly over the top). Enough. It's the best, period.

2. Magnum Force. Seemed a little weak at the time, but a superlative cast carries this 2 hour apology/explanation of justifiable force and vigilante actions that were opened up in Dirty Harry. Not a really slam bang ending, but overall well done. Way out there music score by Lalo Schifrin.

3. Sudden Impact. Over long and has Whatshername as co-star, but does recreate the arch villain(s) you want to see eat lead. First one where Clint starts to look a bit past his prime, and who really needs the AutoMag?
Still, not bad.

4. The Dead Pool. Not sure why. Liam Neeson? Maybe because #5 really stinks

5. The Enforcer. Well, maybe not a stinker, but just doesn't work. Clint's worst performance, Tyne Daly, bunch of terrible actors as bad guys, weak premise/plot, don't kill Mitchum! Just an overreach to keep the series going. Not surprising it took 7 years to bring back the franchise.

Last note. My favorite Eastwood movie is "Unforgiven". "Dirty Harry" is second, and a whole bunch of his movies are great to watch. The '60s and '70s for action, and the '90s to date for his having found his true acting niche, that of cranky, wise, teacher/philosopher.
Sorry about all the /s.

 

[sipowicz]

I know your mind wanders but you could at least put them in order...

 

[Anton Chigurh]

It's the order of preference, not production.

 

[sipowicz]

Really? You put the Enforcer behind Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool?

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Yep, and explained why

 

[David LaPell]

The only problem I had with a couple of the Dirty Harry movies is some of the absurd Hollywood things when it came to guns. In Magnum Force which was clearly a product placement of Colt vs Smith & Wesson when I watched David Soul snap on that suppressor to the end of that Python I cringed. To me the Dead Pool was the worst, I mean hideously bad watching Clint drive away from an RC Corvette and then the harpoon gun at the end. Not the best way to end the group. The Enforcer, well the LAWS rocket at the end was cheesy. Tyne Daly was annoying. Sudden Impact, well watching Clint cringe when he fired that Automag during the range scene was a teller. I mean, a Model 29 vs an Automag, again more product placement. The rest of the movie was pretty bad. The fact that Clint kept recycling his then girlfriend Sandra Locke (who had no talent before or after) in all of his films was another.

I rank them pretty much in order as far as quality,

Dirty Harry

Magnum Force

The Enforcer

Sudden Impact

The Dead Pool

They just kept getting more absurd as time went on.

 

[sipowicz]

Looks right to me...funny how they got progressively worse in order..

 

[Anton Chigurh]

Sorry Dino, still think The Enforcer is the worst. But, I posted this for opinions, maybe discussion. Not smirky cracks or to have my opinion essentially dismissed
Realistically, after the first two, there isn't much to choose from.

 

[John Eilertson]

Interesting movie series, and as has been said, got progressively worse. There are occasional misjudgements that attention paying viewers can detect, but it would seem that America ( if not the world) fell in love with that characterization. One has a hard time picturing anyone else as Harry, especially now. And there were other fine actors seen throughout the series. (Oh--and Sandra Locke, too.) I would find it awful hard for Hollywood (which wants to re-make everything) to reprise this character without disappointing the majority of fans. With luck they'll continue to leave it alone. IF they bring him back they'd better prep themselves for a relatively negative reaction. I know I won't go see it.

 

[JoseyWales2]

1. Dirty Harry. No question about it.

2-5. Magnum Force, Sudden Impact, The Dead Pool, The Enforcer... in no particular order. These are all basically a tie in my opinion. My favorite parts of these movies are the scenes unrelated to the main plot where he demonstrates how "dirty" he really is. Such as the airplane hijacking, the diner holdup where he comes back to complain about all the sugar in his coffee, visiting the gangster in prison to inform him that he now has a job as the Postman, etc.

One of his later movies that I really like is Bloodwork.

 

[sipowicz]

Realistically, after the first two, there isn't much to choose from.

That I will agree with you on...

 

[cmort666]

I rank them in the order in which they were made.

The Enforcer was worth the price of admission just for Harry's "hypothetical" at the promotion board.

 

[sub-moa]

^^^Bingo^^^

 

[DeadAye]

The remake(s) will most likely star either Forest Whitaker or Morgan Freeman as Det. Callahan. He'll (of course) use a 50BMG Glock and hold it over his head while shooting.

 

[mkk41]

Really? You put the Enforcer behind Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool?

Yep , me too! Tyne Daly just didn't do it for me.

 

[Anton Chigurh]

My final thought. The difference in quality between "Dirty Harry" and " Magnum Force" is the difference between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Cincinnati Bengals............and the rest are just Lions, and Bills (close call though ) and Panthers.
Good that the Navy sees it the way I do...............

 

[johngalt]

#1: Dirty Harry (of course)
#2: Magnum Force

The rest, not really worth thinking about.

Although in The Dead Pool, he was getting a bit old and it was kind of fun that he could still beat the snot out of the young punks.

 

[John Eilertson]

Frank Sinatra was the original choice to play Harry Callahan, and as I've read it, Eastwood was about the age Frank's character was supposed to be by the last DH film. Still, Harry knew his way around the fisticuffs, tho'.
Another thing that's kinda bugged me: his choice of a bolt action .458 magnum as a stakeout weapon. Absurd, but that was supposed to go with his "overkill" character. Had he been armed with a shotgun, or .223 semi auto that film would have ended a lot sooner. Ahh, but that's not Harry...