The Enforcer (1976)

Directed by James Fargo. Starring Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Bradford Dillman, Harry Guardino, Albert Popwell, John Crawford, John Mitchum, DeVeren Bookwaiter, M. G. Kelly, Jocelyn Jones, Tim Burrus, Bill Ackridge, Samantha Doane. [R]

Third in the Dirty Harry series is a slick marriage of brutal bloodshed and laconic laughter, and although the formula is milked almost to the point of parody by now—man’s man Callahan is partnered with a (gasp!) female with almost no field experience, he sends a bad guy to hell using a rocket launcher, etc.—the “softening” of the right-wing law-and-order principles turns it into the most purely entertaining of the sequels. The two stars pair well, the battles between the maverick cop and his superiors are riddled with comfort food quips, and the Alcatraz Island finale is one of the franchise’s more exciting set pieces. Only major shortcoming: the villains are featureless crazies, hardly formidable in the face of the star’s trademark glare and .44 Magnum. Fargo’s directorial debut after serving as an assistant director on several prior Eastwood pictures. Next entry in the series: Sudden Impact.

69/100