Thursday, June 26, 2008

An Itemized Account


One good thing about the new DIRTY HARRY DVD box set is that it gave me the chance to finally see THE ENFORCER, the third film in the series. I don’t know why I’d never seen it, but I liked the fact that in not seeing it I somehow still had a Dirty Harry film to look forward to. So that’s been taken care of now. I wasn’t expecting greatness from it but I was hoping for some seventies action so it's safe to say that it was exactly what I expected.

Like its immediate predecessor MAGNUM FORCE the 1976 THE ENFORCER, directed by James Fargo, doesn’t feel like a sequel as much as it resembles a two-part episode of a Dirty Harry tv show, albeit one that still stars Clint, is rated R and shot in Panavision. The plot has Harry Callahan going up against an SLA-type group called The People’s Revolutionary Strike Force who are engaged in a crime spree to---well, it’s never very clear what their plan is besides “blowing things up” and the fact that there’s a wikipedia page devoted to the group indicates that somebody out there has given more thought to them than the movie ever does. There’s a mention of at least the ringleader being a Vietnam vet discarged on a section eight but the movie never seems to bother trying to have an interesting take on them. They’re certainly the least sociologically interesting villains of the run of the series (I’ll make sure to write about THE DEAD POOL soon enough).


The genuinely interesting aspect of the movie might also be its most dated: Harry’s partner this time around is a woman, played by Tyne Daly. (Harry’s told he has a new partner. Cue the door being opened to reveal her. Harry: “Oh, shit.”) Even if this strands the politics of the movie back in the seventies, it does provide Eastwood with one of his numerous female co-stars designed to challenge him and thereby make his own screen persona more interesting. Actresses like Daly probably weren’t given lead roles in movies like this very much even back in the seventies and she’s very good. She has to be—aside from the interplay between Clint and her there’s not much else to the movie. It’s enjoyable in its seventies way, but Clint’s THE GAUNTLET from the next year is a lot more fun even if it is much more outlandish. The action highlight here is a foot chase that comes at about the midpoint—it’s not great and doesn’t seem to pay much attention to geography but it is fun and scored by Jerry Fielding like a full, funked-out jazz piece. I’d have loved to have seen this performed live as it was being recorded for the movie. By a certain point the chase seems to be going on to allow this music to continue, like it’s existing purely for its own sake. At one point the music is interrupted when the bad guy crashes through a skylight and lands right in the middle of a porn shoot. Which proves that sometimes the seventies really were more fun. This was the only entry in the series not scored by Lalo Schifrin and maybe some of it is more up tempo than he would have allowed but some of it’s so fun that I have no complaints.

Surprisingly, considering how many familiar faces turned up in MAGNUM FORCE in early roles, the cast of THE ENFORCER is pretty nondescript in comparison. Harry Guardino, the Lieutenant in the first film, appears again this time and Bradford Dillman plays the obligatory prick superior who has to spend multiple scenes yelling at Harry about whatever sort of messes he’s getting into. John Crawford plays the Mayor so we unfortunately don’t get to see John Vernon make a return appearance. Albert Popwell, the “Do you feel lucky?” robber from the first film, plays the head of a black militant organization. The villains don’t make much of an impression but familiar character actor Michael Cavanaugh who plays Lalo (maybe in tribute to the absent Schifrin) also turned up in THE GAUNTLET the following year. Supposedly Rob Reiner is an extra who gets bumped into during the chase scene, but after looking at it I’m unconvinced. If anyone out there knows Rob Reiner, feel free to ask.


The climax is set on Alcatraz, not that you’d really notice it. Without getting into spoilers, the film winds up more interested in the plot than in staging an elaborate action scene but I suppose Clint would more than make up for it when he starred in ESCAPE FROM ALCATRAZ for Don Siegel. That it seems to pass up the chance at such a memorable climax underscores how THE ENFORCER is efficient and provides some of what you want from Clint in the mid-70s, but doesn’t exert itself too much otherwise. The fact that there are four credited writers indicates that the movie was stitched together from various story parts so while it cruises along it never tries to do much more than that. There is some enjoyable dialogue here and there (“Personnel? That’s for assholes!” “I was in personnel for ten years!”) but nothing that quite measures up to “A man’s got to know his limitations.” It’s not as enjoyably goofy as THE DEAD POOL and certainly never aspires to the serious level of SUDDEN IMPACT. It does have the interplay with Clint & Tyne Daly and it is a Dirty Harry movie with the action, gunplay and other various elements which that promises. And it was worth finally getting to see it.

7 comments:

  1. You are now allowed to be manly again.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I really like this one as well although not quite as much as the first two. I have the box as well and have been working my way back through them. The only one I remember not liking was THE DEAD POOL So I am curious to see if my opinion on it will change.

    ReplyDelete
  3. You're very kind to a movie that for me is easily the weakest of the series. If nothing else I hope the new set will give The Dead Pool the much needed reappraisal it deserves. While nobody would claim it's the best in the series it's a lot better than The Enforcer! How about a review of Sudden Impact, for me second only to the original as the best of the pack.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Emily--Thank you. And you might enjoy the DIRTY HARRY films if you haven't seen them, though obviously the first one is the best.

    Jeremy--I'm gonna have to write about THE DEAD POOL once I look at the disc. Ridiculous as it is, I've always had a soft spot for it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous--

    I'm looking forward to seeing THE DEAD POOL again. And I'll have to take a look at the disc of SUDDEN IMPACT as well, especially if it might really be that good. For some reason I'm not as anxious about that one, maybe because DEAD POOL is just very goofy fun. I'm sure I'll be seeing both of them very soon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Thanks for the response & just to add that I actually got more enjoyment from reading your review of The Enforcer than I ever did from the film itself so, nice job.

    Re the story origins; Stirling Silliphant was interviewed about this & said that the screenplay was a composite of two stories. Clint already had a story about urban revolutionaries & the female partner for Harry was SS's idea who then combined the two.

    Every time I see The Enforcer I find myself wishing the movie had spent much more time developing the relationship between Kate & Harry (remember how much emphasis the Jennifer Spencer storyline got in Sudden Impact?) instead of concentrating on those dopey revolutionaries straight out of central casting. Tyne Daly is so striking - her looks, her presence, her instant chemistry with Harry - but the script just throws that all away.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Anonymous--

    Thanks very much for that. I didn't know that about the development of the script but I'm not too surprised. The Eastwood-Daly storyline is absolutely the most interesting part of the movie and I have the impression that SUDDEN IMPACT finds a way to correctly integrate that sort of relationship with the main plot. I'm looking forward to seeing it again.

    ReplyDelete