The opening titles for the Dirty Harry sequel, MAGNUM FORCE, are downright legendary. How bad ass is that theme song?! Lalo Schifrin’s music score is bang on and Clint Eastwood’s macho charisma is as strong in the Dirty Harry movies, as in his most notorious films, such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Turns out Magnum Force is just a plain good movie – the only ‘god, bad movie’ qualities about it is the 1970s aesthetics, like the ridiculous neckties all the cops wear. The 70s square fashion was so fucking ugly, but hey, you can’t expect to watch an old movie without it looking different.
Dirty Harry is the anti hero dirty cop that himself falls victim of a crooked Chief of police. Harry defends the equally dirty judicial system against his superior, Chief Briggs, who has turned even dirtier, leading a secret police death squad executing known criminals. Harry takes the agnostic stance that “I hate the god damn system, but until someone comes along with some changes that make sense, I’ll stick with it.” He then proceeds to murder the whole death squad, because they try to murder him, after he discovers their plan, turning evil against evil. Confusing? Yeah, Dirty Harry’s ethics aren’t very consistent, I guess that’s what makes him dirty. Plus cop morals are inherently hypocritical, no reasonable individual trusts a narc.
One hell of a crime fiction movie, portraying the ugly sides of a violent society, beautifully shot on location in San Francisco.
I wonder how Harry is going to explain why he just turned cop killer, but I don’t suppose the next movie in the Dirty Harry series is about his trial...
Get high and get dirty.
