There is a simple reason that movies like this one must be seen and
that is Clint Eastwood.
Few men have the way with a tough line of dialogue that the esteemed
Mister Eastwood does. And thank God for it. He also can express any
emotion while barely moving a muscle.
He just turns and looks past the camera and you need no other clues.
You know what the man is thinking.
And he was never better than he was as "Dirty" Harry Callahan.
He was born to play Dirty Harry. The steely squint, the put-upon posture,
the way he can growl a line like "Go ahead, make my day"
and make it seem like the most natural thing in the world. That is
why the character of Dirty Harry has endured and endeared itself to
the popular culture so very, very well.
Sometimes you just want to see a pissed off cop shoot up anyone committing
a felony. As far as that genre goes, "The Enforcer" is a
well-done film.
This time, Harry is assigned to kill, oh, sorry, arrest a group of
radical militants who have stolen a bunch of weapons (including some
rather nasty rocket launchers) and are threatening to raise all manner
of havoc unless they are given a lot of money. Some people on the
police force want to pay them off and be done with it. But not Harry.
No way in hell. Why pay someone when you can shoot them instead?
Of course, it would not be a Dirty Harry movie if Harry's partner
were not capped within the first half hour, and this one is no different.
His Italian partner is blown away during the robbery of the police
arsenal and Harry is, as always, pissed. It does nothing to improve
his mood when they assign a rookie woman as his new partner (Tyne
Daly). Clint has nothing against women, he just doesn't think they
are right for the job of police work.
In this case, Harry may be wrong.
I liked the relationship between Tyne and Clint. It was a nice, natural
relationship. They flirt a little, but it is the way you flirt with
an attractive female coworker. I was so happy that they did not end
up in the sack. It was much nicer just to see these two professionals
learn to respect one another and grow into a friendship. Much more
refreshing than having the two of them sleep together.
The weakest part of this movie are the villains. As far as the villains
of a Dirty Harry film go, they are pretty tame. They are not the Satanic
force that Andy Robinson was in the first "Dirty Harry"
and they are not particularly memorable. Whenever they are not onscreen,
you might find yourself forgetting all about them.
But despite this, there is still a good time to be had watching Dirty
Harry prove everyone else in the San Francisco police department to
be horribly incompetent and shoot anyone else in sight. He also gets
to deliver lines like "Your mouthwash ain't making it" in
that way that only Harry can. Aside from "Dirty Harry" itself,
this is my favorite of the Dirty Harry pictures.
Go ahead, make your day.
