Sudden Impact

Lots of implausibilities (bad guys don't shoot when they should; Harry just happens to run into the killer- TWICE?) & the finale adds some of the most egregious plotholes ever (Locke meets Harry on the beach right after one of her killings & he's made an arrest, they have sex & back to vengeance? Why does Harry go to the amusement park?) But a dark rape revenge story is perfect for Harry & the finale works. Even the softest liberal will want these guys killed & welcome Harry's iconic silhouette.

Sudden Impact is my third favourite film of the series behind the original and the first sequel Magnum Force. Clint Eastwood is on top form and gives another effortless performance as Harry Callaghan. This time around he directs also. And visually this is a well made film and is probably the strongest of the series. The tone is very dark and there are some graphic scenes. The opening and final shoot outs in particular are two of my favourite Dirty Harry moments.

More guilty pleasure than legitimately good movie, with scattershot subplots all over, a wacky dog sidekick for Harry, and a comically nonstop barrage of action and murder, but it's still got Clint. Cool. Killing bad guys. Can't complain about that, and it's a big step up from the phoned-in third entry by any standard.

Severely underrated entry in the series -- every flashback fragment plays like a stylish nightmare, not to mention how tortured Harry looks in this one. Simply Clint Eastwood's Ms. 45, if there is a close example of the same period.

Dirty Harry series gets a slight giallo treatment. Movie doesn't add anything much to Harry character, but it's notably the darkest from the series, both visually and thematically. Villain characters are laughably one-dimensional and portrayal of the lesbian is really terrible. A good choice for midnight screening. It's easy to watch due to the quite simple and fragmented plot. Genre fans will enjoy this film, the rest should have given up on Harry two movies ago.

Outside of the great opening diner hostage scene, this is where the Dirty Harry series falls on its ass. He's more or less a side character in this dog-fart extravaganza. Eastwood shows his age while the main plot focuses on a female vigilante in a small town. Removed from the titular protagonist, Sudden Impact crosses the line from 'shoot first ask questions later' to a repulsive 'shoot the criminals in cold blood ten years after the fact' morality.

My least favourite of all the Dirty Harry movies.

Dreadful.

While Locke carries a mostly isolated parallel story of expressionistic paintings, .38-caliber vasectomies and disturbing flashbacks, Eastwood elucidates Harry's frontier sense of justice while continuing his push toward parody. At the core is an appropriately noir interpretation of the Dirty Harry conscience, played out deliberately by the maturing director and his vengeful muse through imagery etched out of raven blackness.

This series just gets stranger with each installment... but i think this is entertaining enough and a step up from The Enforcers. I enjoyed the darker, almost 80s slasher feel. The plot is silly and the villains are unremarkable throwaway characters, but overall, the action and humor make it a worthwhile watch.

Another Dirty Harry movie in, another notch down in quality. Clint's character has almost morphed into a full parody of himself by this one, and the attempt to retain drama by focusing on a gang-rape revenge story fails. Unsurprising too, considering the climax involves baddies, script and shots so funny I reckon they inspired the house invasion sequence in Home Alone.

Dirty Harry is at it again and I think this movie is one of the best in the series. Clint Eastwood is of course great and I enjoyed the story of this film

Enjoyable film in the DIRTY HARRY franchise, with Clint in fine form as Callahan, and Locke better than usual as Harry's love interest. Other supporting characters tend to be obnoxious, if not downright vile, and the ultimate story resolution is difficult to stomach. However Eastwood the director shows great skill in managing the action sequences, and a strong undercurrent of gruesome black humour helps it go down easier. 5 extra points for Schifrin's wonderful, 80s era synthesiser music score.

A sharp improvement over the third outing, "Sudden Impact" gives Eastwood directing reigns, and he finally takes Callahan to another level as the character's age sees a world not so black-and-white and by the letter of the law. This entry is very dark, thought-provoking, and much less of an ego film for the series. It just about matches the first two films on a different level, but it is entertaining and a step in a new direction for the iconic character, actor and filmmaker.

The first Dirty Harry directed by Eastwood and although some elements have deteriorated slightly, it's another competent production. Harry himself is still on form. "Listen, punk. To me you're nothin' but dogshit, you understand? And a lot of things can happen to dogshit. It can be scraped up with a shovel off the ground. It can dry up and blow away in the wind. Or it can be stepped on and squashed. So take my advice and be careful where the dog shits."

One of the relatively few things in action cinema that a true action cinema fan never tires of is Clint Eastwood wasting some bad guys with a 44 magnum. It really doesn't matter what the plot is, Eastwood during his prime is worth watching for watching's sake.

Powerful movie- where justice prevails at any cost.

Much better directed than the previous sequels. While the plot isn't as tight as the first one, the action direction is on par. The idea to pitch Harry against a female vigilante who's avenging her and her sister's rape is interesting, although the conflict between his sympathy to her sense of justice and his moral obligation to uphold the law is underdeveloped alas. Also the seriousness of this main plot clashes at times with the more broader lighter action movie the series has become by now,

When you make movies like the Dirty Harry series, trying to get too highbrow and selfconscious just adds baggage and separates the audience from the story with theory, morality/guilt, and justification. This is not a terrible movie, although the 1983 soundtrack is horrific, but it tries to be too many things at once. We want a postmodern Western where the character defies unspoken convention to punish stupid/evil and protect good/sane.

Possibly the 2nd best Dirty Harry film and a clear step up from the last film which had a cheap feel to it. This one is a bit too long and the two storylines feel a bit disconnected, but it's a stylish 80’s neo-noir / vigilante film. Usually Clint’s films with Locke seem to be the poorest ones, but she did a solid job as the femme fatale and Clint is also in good form; although noticeably older than in his previous outing. Schifrin is back, but sadly not fully tuned to the sound of 80's.

It's much more mediocre than the previous Dirty Harry entries. The characters are all a little flatter and the focus seems a little more all over the place than the tight grip it had around the first 3. A step down but it's not horrible as the acting is still very good and everything still feeling nostalgic.

Incompetent writing and direction. Score based on partial viewing. Nevertheless, it is recommended that Australian audiences watch this film in the hope that they may learn about the fact that tomato sauce (as ketchup is more often called in Australia) is not an acceptable choice of condiment to be applied to hot dogs.

62.500

Not the best of the Dirty Harry films. Watchable.

Waaaaayyyy over the top.

Good Dirty Harry Action. Probably tied with Magnum Force within the series.

59.000

Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) and her little sister were gang raped years ago, after a female friend of the gang had persuaded them to come to the fair. The brutal rape left the sister permanently catatonic and almost vegetative. Jennifer is now out for revenge. She kills her attackers one by one, shooting them first in the genitals then between the eyes, except for the female who is shot in the heart. In the beginning of the film, Jennifer is seen with one of the rapists named George Wilbu

Dirty Harry meets another fad of the times, a vigilante rape avenger, kind of making this an "Alien vs Predator" of late-seventies-early-eighties action movies. Expectedly silly and unremarkable.

"Sudden Impact" is one of the less noteworthy Dirty Harry flicks, but let's face it, if you've had the stamina to make it through the first three, you'll probably watch the rest no matter what I say.

Have a vague recollection of this being pretty mediocre/bad.

Go ahead. Make my day! I liked it more than The Enforcer, much more memorable of a movie for me. Plot was pretty by the numbers but Clint in his prime is always worth watching. Loved the shitty 80's music. Satisfying ending as well.

Feels a bit too much like Dirty Harry jumps the shark for me. While the two sequels previous weren't as good as the originals this one feels further off than them. Though you can tell Eastwood's superb direction is here; the action scenes are a step above even the original film. However this often breaches into moments on almost sheer self-parody. Still, there's some superb dialog here, notably Harry's speech about dogshit.

This is the one where he says, "Go ahead. Make my day."

Solid Dirty Harry movie.

the last two of the dirty Harry series were just plain awful

Harry betrays his own code... sad.

Clint found a much better director for this sort of thing than usual -- himself

Poor.