A financial success that received a critical drubbing,
Magnum Force (1973; Ted Post) just doesn’t get the .44-calibre love it
deserves, even from Fans of Clint.
It is case of preconceived notions/mistaken identity:
Do not watch this expecting
the brutal thug cop from Don Siegel’s 1971 classic.
After the stinging sociopolitical criticism that
Clint, Siegel & Co. got dumped on them for Dirty Harry’s “hard-line” stance towards law & order (I believe
Pauline Kael referred to it as “fascistic”), Eastwood gave the order that the
character of Harry Callahan needed to be “mellowed,” but without sacrificing
the mayhem the crowds loved.
Inspired by cases in Brazil, Argentina and other Latin
American nations where policemen formed secret right-wing death squads to mete
out “justice” without any interference from courts, lawyers, or even the law
itself, the script by Michael Cimino (pre-Deer
Hunter) and John Milius has a loose but effective structure, with plenty of
moments of nasty ultraviolence shoehorned in (which is why Magnum Force is still popular, often repeated on television).
But this time, Clint’s San Francisco police inspector
is the brother of his characters from The
Gauntlet (another “bad” movie I love) or Tightrope: a beat-down dude who just need a little chill time, and
maybe some good lovin’—who unfortunately get tossed into violent, miserable
cases (that we know he’ll eventually solve).
Some good points:
There’s a wonderful and soft moment where Clint
ponders his wedding photo (he’s a widower), and some pleasant banter between
him and a potential girlfriend; I like the movie’s mistrust of authority via
killer cop conspiracy; and the action is definitely exciting, but also
particularly vicious, with lots of gruesome killings. (One of which—the Drano
killing—actually inspired a real murder.)
Meanwhile, the young, handsome biker cops are like creepy
visions out of Cocteau (or gay porn): all leather, chrome and mirrorshades.
BTW, Magnum Force has a brilliant use of “car as
weapon”—frame-by-frame analysis HERE.
Great opening. "This is a .44 Magnum, one of the most powerful handguns in the world. It could blow your head off." Maybe I should re-watch this one. I remember some kind of time bomb sequence, and of course the vigilante plot. I somehow forgot there's an Asian love interest but there's this trivia from IMDB: "According to writer John Milius, the reason the sex scene with the Asian woman "Sunny" (Adele Yoshioka) is in the script is because Clint Eastwood received many fan letters from Asian women that contained sexual propositions."
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, the frame by frame covers the opening.
ReplyDeleteSq. Dave, Milius, one of my faves, provides the commentary on MagFor's DVD--he mentions stuff like that, and gripes that he wishes the chrome cop vigilantes existed today to kill Wall Streeters and bankers. It's pretty funny, especially coming from such a gung-ho guy like him.
ReplyDelete