“Magnum Force” Movie Review

 

“Magnum Force”

Movie Review

 

Magnum Force is an American neo-noir vigilante action thriller film released in 1973, the second film starring Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after 1971's Dirty Harry. The film is directed by Ted Post, from the screenplay written by John Milius and Michael Cimino. Lalo Shiffrin has composed the music for the film. The film features David Soule, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich.

Mobster Carmine Rica leaves court in his limousine from a mass murder on a legal technicality. While driving down a city road, a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) motorcycle cop pulls the driver over and calmly shoots all the men in the car. Inspector Harry Callahan and his new partner Earlington Smith visits the crime scene. Their superior, Lt. Neil Briggs, wants to keep him out of the murder investigation.

On the way to the airport, Callahan helps tackle two men trying to hijack a plane. As he heads to the police firing range, he meets newcomers Phil Sweet, John Davis, Alan "Red" Astrachan, and Mike Grimes. Sweet is a former United States Army Ranger and Vietnam veteran. His friends are no different. Another motorcycle cop opens fire on a pool party again leaving behind no usable evidence of his crime.

When Callahan and Early bust criminals in a supermarket, a pimp murders a prostitute for extorting money from him. The next day, Pimp is killed by a patrolman. While investigating the scene, Callahan learns that the culprit is a policeman. He assumes it's his old friend Charlie McCoy, who killed himself in a heart attack after leaving his wife Carol. Later, a motorcycle cop kills drug kingpin Lou Guzman. The killer encounters McCoy in the parking garage, revealed to be Davis, and guns him down. 

At the annual shooting competition, Callahan learns that Davis is the first officer to arrive after the Guzman and McCoy murders. Callahan retrieves a slug from Davis' Colt and has ballistics match it to the bullets from the Guzman murder. Callahan begins to suspect that an undercover homicide unit within the SFPD is responsible for the murders. Briggs insists that Ricca's ex-partner, Frank Palancio, is the real culprit. Callahan convinces Briggs to bring Davis and Sweet back to raid Palencio's offices. However, a phone call informs Palancio and the gang that Sweet is shot dead and all of Palancio's men die in a shootout with the police. Palencio tries to escape, but Callahan jumps onto the hood of his car, causing him to lose control and crash into a crane. Briggs is enraged by Sweet's death and suspends Callahan.

After returning home, Callahan finds Davis, Astrachan, and Grimes waiting for him, giving him an ultimatum to stay with them; Callahan refuses. While checking his mailbox, Callahan finds a bomb left by the guards and defuses it. The second bomb, however, killed Early before Callahan could give a warning.

Callahan learns that Briggs is the secret leader of the assassination team. Briggs justifies his actions by saying that he is only doing what a broken legal system cannot do. At gunpoint, Briggs ordered Callahan to remain anonymous while chasing Grimes. Callahan disarmed Briggs and kicked him out of the car before running over Grimes. Davis and Astrachan appear, and Callahan flees to the shipbreaker yard in an old aircraft carrier. Callahan kills Astrachan, takes his motorcycle, and leads Davis on the jumps between ships. The chase ends with Davis driving the ship into San Francisco Bay and dying in the attack.

Callahan is then confronted at gunpoint by Briggs. The lieutenant mocks Callahan and threatens to have him prosecuted. As Callahan retreated from the car, he apparently set the timer on his mailbox bomb and tossed it into the back seat, killing Briggs within minutes. "A man knows his limits," Callahan later declares.

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