Sudden Impact (1983)

A rape victim is going around, bumping off her attackers one by one, having been denied justice originally. A rather unconventional detective, Callahan is put on the case.. but whose side will he take?

This is one of the most brutal films I've seen in quite some time. Virtually every scene seems to be a set-up for some punks to make the mistake of annoying our hero, who then proceeds to beat the living daylights out of them, or simply blows their heads off. I am 100% convinced that if any serving officer did what the Eastwood character gets away with in this film, he would not only be stripped of his badge, but also be looking at a considerable stretch in prison. Another striking aspect of the picture is the violence used against the fairer sex. The female cast members get punched in the face, kicked when on they're on the ground.. And that doesn't even include the constant flashbacks we get of Sondra Locke's sexual assault ordeal (We get one every time she carries out one of her revenge attacks on her aggressors). The misogyny displayed on screen is incredible and is unlikely to endear itself to anyone concerned about domestic violence.

So why am I recommending it? Well for a start, the film is well directed, with some very exciting gunfights and car chases which will keep you on the edge of your seat. But the main reason for watching is Clint himself, the evergreen icon giving us another classy performance as a veteran cop who might not share the ethics of the modern police force, but tends to do the job 10x better than his colleagues who do it all 'by the book'. If only we had someone like that here in Britain, perhaps this country wouldn't be the crime hotspot it is these days.. 6/10

Fmovies: It's between this and The Dead Pool for worst Dirty Harry movie.

The fourth Dirty Harry movie (of five, ultimately). A woman (played by Sondra Locke) is killing off, one by one, the men who raped her and her sister several years previously. Harry Calahan (played by Clint Eastwood, of course) is on the case, but due to his law enforcement methods, there are a few criminals after him. Eventually he is sent to a small seaside town to track down some leads on the murders...

This movie really doesn't add anything to the Dirty Harry story (except that he exchanges his 44 Magnum revolver for a 44 Magnum pistol...). It feels clichéd, forced, unoriginal and predictable. Even Eastwood seems to be going through the motions.

On that note, the other performances aren't anything to write home about either. Sondra Locke is weak and unconvincing as the vigilante, Pat Hindle plays stereotypical small town sheriff and the bad guys are all one-dimensional.

The Dirty Harry series should have ended after three movies.

Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan once again angers his superiors with his maverick approach to police work. Refusing to take a vacation he is given a simple case which takes him outside of San Francisco. However, he soon discovers a link between a recent murder in the city and a murder outside of the city, which leads him to the trail of a revenge killer.

As an entry in the Dirty Harry franchise the film starts with some very promising moments, including the legendary "Go ahead, make my day" line that Eastwood delivers wonderfully through clenched teeth before single handedly foiling a robbery. Very badass and it just what fans can expect from him. However, the film soon shifts gears and focuses on the mysterious revenge killer. The problem is that this killer isn't all that mysterious as she is characterized as much as Harry is. This really detracts from the presence of the main character who ruled all of his previous film appearances with, pardon the pun, Magnum Force.

On the bright side this new storyline does draw several parallels to Harry's own unorthodox methods and gives his character dramatic depth that was not there before, but fans that were looking for another badass Harry outing will more than likely be somewhat disappointed. However, a tense climax ends the film on an exciting note so if you don't mind something a little different, it is a good movie for fans. --- 7/10

Rated R for violence and a rape scene

Sudden Impact fmovies. This is a decent entry in the Dirty Harry series, this time not just starring Clint Eastwood, but also directed by him. San Francisco Homicide Detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan gets in trouble with his superiors (as usual) and is sent on forced vacation to the small seaside community of San Paulo. In between dodging various attempted Mob hits on his life, Harry stumbles into a series of killings being committed by a mysterious artist (Sondra Locke).

This is the film that generated the ubiquitous 80's catchphrase ,"Go ahead. Make my day" which Harry utters while foiling a robbery he just happens to walk into. This is why I love Dirty Harry - NOBODY is that tough and lives to tell about it! President Ronald Reagan's use of it during a press conference was one of the most replayed moments of his presidency. Like most, if not all, of the Dirty Harry sequels, this started out as an unrelated screenplay that was then rewritten to become part of the series. This time around it's more obvious than in the other films. Eastwood is fine in his role, but by this time he could play this in his sleep.

Locke makes for a convincing killer, too, and this is one of the better roles she had in then-boyfriend Clint's films. Plus, this is a killer whose mission I can get behind! In some ways she is like Harry, if the establishment won't take out the trash, she will! I will tell you no more about her motives. Also with Pat Hingle as the small town police chief, Bradford Dillman, Albert Popwell (who's in the first 4 Dirty Harry films, each time as a different character), Paul Drake as a particularly nasty pencil-mustached slime ball, Mara Corday, Carmen Argenziano, Michael V. Gazzo as a mob boss, and a young Camryn Manheim looking scared in an elevator.

With Harry Callahan getting up in years, the inevitable `old man with a chip on his shoulder' story had to come into play eventually. Callahan, looking fragile sometimes and out of place, his demeanor still was unwavering. Thankfully, this film took some time off to develop a different type of story, one that might reinvent the Dirty Harry and the whole genre. While the film fell short in doing so, it was still an excellent addition to the series, even if it was getting a little out of place during a time of silly fashion trends and New Wave music.

Sudden Impact is the most unusual of the five Dirty Harry movies, but that doesn't make it the best. However, after the rather flat and comic-book heroics of the third film, The Enforcer, it's good to see some changes to the formula. Sudden Impact is quite a dark, moody piece of cinema with big emphasis on character. Yes, there's action, but the action in this one is only one piece of the jigsaw whereas in some of the other Dirty Harry outings the action was everything.

Harry Callahan (Eastwood) is in hot water with his superiors for carrying out an illegal search on a suspicious car. The young thugs he arrested are released because of the lack of evidence, and they set out to take revenge on Harry. However, Harry is a tough nut to crack - and pretty soon he is striking back in his own destructive style. Harry's boss decides to get Harry out of town for a while to avoid further bloodshed, so he assigns him to a quiet murder investigation in an isolated coastal town. Harry pieces together the mystery and discovers that the killer is a female artist (Locke) who is bumping off a bunch of drop-outs who gang-raped her and her sister years previously. Should he arrest her for the killings, or should he turn a blind eye and let her do away with these repellent scum-bags?

The film is probably the second best in the series (the original is always going to be considered the best). Peculiarly, it is the only Dirty Harry movie upon which Eastwood also doubled up as director. It isn't a whole success, with some needless scenes (what's the point of the sequence detailing the hold-up of a coffee shop?) and a couple of overly hammy performances by the main villains (especially the trailer trash redhead). On the whole, though, this is a very interesting and unusual addition to the series which gets by on the strength of being totally different to all the other four episodes.