Movies - Magnum Force

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Magnum Force

	Movies - Magnum Force

Magnum Force was the first of the sequels to the film Dirty Harry
starring Clint Eastwood as maverick cop 'Dirty' Harry Callahan. The film was released in 1973 and was directed by Ted Post, who also directed Clint in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High
. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino.

The film was based on a real life incident involving police in Brazil. Inspector Callahan investigates a serial murder case in which all of the victims were criminals who had been released on technicalities. He eventually discovers the killers are a gang of renegade cops (in the film, the police officers are motorcycle cops) who act as a self appointed death squad and resolves to expose them and bring them down. The killers themselves are surprised to learn that the tough detective will not tolerate the coldblooded murder of the accused and so target him and his partner for death. Veteran actor Hal Holbrook co-starred as Harry's superior Lieutenant Briggs who turns out was the villain.

All of the vigilante cops are seen with Colt Python revolvers - in the film, Harry is seen examining ballistics evidence to which the murder weapon was from a police officer - a plot in the film during the shooting match was Harry firing his opponent's revolver and missing the final shot (this is where he retrieves a bullet and examines it).

One of the motorcycle cops is later revealed to be a former Special Forces operative (possibly a Vietnam veteran - the first three Dirty Harry films had references to Vietnam veterans).

The film received some negative publicity in 1974 when it was discovered that a scene in which Drano is used to murder a prostitute had been used as a template in the infamous Hi-Fi Murders. The film received some slack from critics, though, because the killers admitted that they had been looking for a unique murder method when they stumbled upon the film, and that had they not seen the movie, they'd have simply picked a method from another film. The drain cleaner reference was repeated in two other films, Lethal Weapon (1987) and Urban Legend (1998).

Features Robert Urich, David Soul, Tim Matheson, John Mitchum, Felton Perry, and a brief appearance by a topless Suzanne Somers.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Magnum Force ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Magnum Force; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Magnum Force

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay