Dirty Harry 3. I'm trying, ever so slowly, to see all the Dirty Harry movies. They're sweet.
What crazy people is Harry killing this time? Vietnam vets who want money. They rob a shipping dock holding a bunch of firearms, including rocket launchers, killing Harry's partner in the process. Too his chagrin, his new partner is Tyne Daly, who is promoted to inspector as the SFPD tries to modernize, i.e. be less sexist. The other standard Dirty Harry plot points hit. Police captain doesn't like his methods. He outsmarts the other cops, then insults them for trying to give him credit for a stupid arrest, then gets suspended, only to have them crawl back to him for information when the Mayor gets kidnapped. All the while he's breaking in the new partner, showing her how awesome he is. It's entertaining.
I may have said this before, but Harry's a little baffling to me. He's a hard-ass, old west type lawman living in SF, home to the most liberal people in the world. Seems like he's in the wrong place.
For the most part the movie pushes the right buttons, but the first sequence with Harry bothers me. There's a hostage situation at a wine shop. Harry walks in, gets the robbers' demands, then drives his car through the front of the store. How is this a good idea? He could've run over hostages. The robbers might have started shooting when they saw the car headed for them. I can't think of a single reason why you would drive the car into the shop. Then Harry has the balls to get mad when the captain doesn't like his methods? A bit too much for me to take. He probably could've resolved that without destroying the shop.
Back to the right buttons, the movie hits the typical Hollywood morals. Racism is bad, as the cops (not Harry) assume the bad guys are a gang of black dudes. Then there's the Captain, who seems to hate Harry. There's always that guy and the audience can't wait for his comeuppance.
Three scenes I loved:
1. During a foot chase, they crash onto a porn set.
2. Harry Callahan just needs one handgun (and Tyne Daly) to take down 5 or 6 heavily armed, ex-military men. Did I mention they have rocket launchers?
3. Harry uses a rocket launcher to blow up the final bad guy on top of a tower, with the mayor sitting 5 feet below.
Also of note, this may be the only Dirty Harry with 2 dead partners by the end.
I think it's time to reboot Dirty Harry, but only if we can get Eastwood to play the captain. Better, have him still playing Harry, now a captain, dealing with sissy beat cops.
First Viewing: 2+2+2+2+2 = 10