Clint Eastwood blasts his way at MAGNUM FORCE through this first sequel to Dirty Harry. Released in 1973, just two years after the original, this action packed, violent sequel ramps up at full tilt.
Harry is dealing with an assignment to a stakeout team as punishment for his methods and battling Lt Briggs (Hal Holbrook) every step of the way.
After a multitude of thugs, pimps and bad dudes are murdered in what appears to be a vigilante style crime spree, Harry is put back on Homicide to track down the killer.
A quartet of eager, superb marksmen rookies (and future stars Tim Matheson (Animal House), David Soul (Starsky & Hutch), Kip Niven and Robert Urich (Vegas)) challenge Harry on the firing range and the murder case.
There are some great action scenes along the way, including the climactic standoff at the docks and Harry's intervention in an airline hijacking.
This is as macho as you get in an action movie, with writers John Milius (Apocalypse Now, Conan The Barbarian) and Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter) in full throttle for a classic guys flick.
Eastwood is great in his second stint as Harry and delivers throwaway lines with the best of them, including the now classic "A good man's got to know his limitations".
In this, the glory days of his box office power, there were NO limitations on Clint.
New director Ted Post doesn't have anywhere near the style that Don Siegel did in directing the original, but style's been replaced with a good story and a great pace.
It's fast, action-packed, violent and a hell of a good time that I can watch again and again and shoots all the way to an A-.
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