The Enforcer (1976)

Middlin' Eastwood in nice Deluxe Edition due out June 3, 2008

Warner Home Video has announced the details of the new releases of all five Dirty Harry movies with new special features. This and the other four movies will be available on standard DVD both separately and in a 7-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition, which will have additional goodies. (The links for the other four are given below.)

They'll also be on Blu-ray in a 5-disc Ultimate Collector's Edition. Only the Dirty Harry Special Edition will be available separately on Blu-ray (here); the other four movies, including this one, will only be available on Blu-ray in the set. (They won't be available in HD, which Warner officially discontinues at the end of May.)

The Enforcer is the second sequel to Dirty Harry. In this installment, Harry, the renegade cop with some old-fashioned attitudes and no desire to be tied up with a partner, gets stuck with a female partner, well played by Tyne Daly. Surprise surprise, he learns to respect and rely on her as they make hamburger of a group of domestic terrorists. As in the first two movies, there's plenty of action, suspense, people getting shot, etc., but with a chase on foot in place of the usual car chase. (There are a few dozen more customer reviews at the page for an older The Enforcer DVD.)

Assuming the transfer is good (the press release is vague about whether the standard DVD releases will be remastered), this looks like a fine release. Whether those with the older DVD will want to upgrade is a matter of personal preference, but the special features look attractive to me:

-- new commentary by Enforcer director James Fargo

-- new featurette "The Business End: Violence in Cinema"

-- "Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films"

-- trailer gallery

The art work for the new releases, along with quotes from the Warner press release, can be found at sites like dvdactive and dvdtimes by doing a web search for "dirty harry" plus "ultimate collector's edition" (Amazon doesn't allow external links).

Here are the links for the Amazon pages for the new separate standard DVD releases of the other four movies in the series:

Dirty Harry Special Edition (2 discs, "special" is apparently better than "deluxe")
Magnum Force Deluxe Edition
Sudden Impact Deluxe Edition
The Dead Pool Deluxe Edition March 19, 2008

Worst of Three Detective Callahan Flicks

I know there are 5 films with Clint Eastwood playing the "Dirty Harry" role,but because of the time between the third and fourth installment and the commercialization of the franchise, I only really look at the three Dirty Harry films from the 70's as part of the series.

I don't need a complexed plot to enjoy a Dirty Harry film. Clint Eastwood acts fine in California based cop flicks with little dialogue as he did in his great Westerns during the 60's. There is decent shot-popping action in "The Enforcer" as Callahan and it is surely a watchable and not boring film.

If you are looking for a continuation of the Cop vs. Bureaucracy tale that made the original "Dirty Harry" so compelling, you may come away unsatisfied as "The Enforcer" tacitly embraces some of the PC stupidity so cleverly attacked in the first go-around. It's a bad move for the franchise and the world introducing future "Cagney and Lacey" star Tyne Dailey as Harry's quota-hire female partner. Subtle message here is one of "gender equality" and shows Callhan developing deep respect for the lady cop he was reluctant to work with. Maybe Eastwood wanted to do something he hadn't done in the first two Harry flicks and show some sensitivity and maybe even deflect some of the media criticism of his macho and rule bending character.There's not that much of the PC nonsense, but enough to make one wish they took a script another way.Preach in church, not in action movies..
Good villians help me forgive the PC pandering undertone. Lunatic leftist revolutionaries styled after Patty Hearst kidnappers the Symbionese Liberation Army are the culprit here, with a full-70's ambition of helping the poor fight "the man" and "off the pigs". Nice appearance by Robert Mitchum brother John as a fellow lawman. March 10, 2008

The Weakest Harry of Them All

Fans of Clint Eastwood's original "Dirty Harry" will find little to cheer about in this uninspired sequel. Despite good performances by Eastwood and co-star Tyne Daly, "The Enforcer" (1976) suffers from a poorly developed script and James Fargo's lackluster direction. The action highlights are rather sparse, with surprisingly few Clint one-liners to enliven the proceedings. Jerry Fielding's jazz-oriented score is a weak substitute for the pulsating rhythms of composer Lalo Schifrin. A definite low point in the Inspector Callahan series. January 17, 2008

JAMES FARGO, OPUS 1

**1/2 1976. Directed by James Fargo. Well, who says that a director is of no importance if we have a star in the movie ? Certainly not me. Take this Clint Eastwood movie for instance. You've got excellent actors here and a good screenplay but admire what we have in the end: the weakest of the Dirty Harry movies. Thanks to James Fargo who doesn't have the slightest idea where to position his camera and who is unable to give any rythm to the action scenes. Too bad. December 17, 2007

NOT THE BEST IN THE SERIES!, BUT VERY GOOD!

This is one of my least favorites in the series. I rate this right behind "The Dead Pool" The third installment gives "Harry" yet another partner,this time it's Tyne Daly(Cagney & Lacy)(Judging Amy)and the movie has that 70's TV movie feel once again. I am a fan of the entire series and I do like this film, but it just seemed like it didn't have much new to add to the series. This is one of the shortest films in the "Dirty Harry" franchise, but it didn't seem like it. It is by all means a very good and worthy installment and should not be missed. The DVD transfer is very good and the disc has some extras. July 29, 2007

More reviews at Amazon.com ...