The Enforcer

release year: 1976
genre: police action
viewing setting: home DVD, 2/12/04

synopsis: Dirty Harry gets a new, female partner just in time to take on a gang of young terrorists.

impressions: The show goes on. Yet again, bureaucracy and ego/career come before catching the bad guys. Harry's superiors are all idiots and he's the only one who is willing and able to do what must be done. This very much reminds me of the career of a certain Mr. Marcinko of the Navy. I was genuinely mad at the end of this movie - the mayor might as well have signed a certain death warrant, due to his own shortsightedness. The female partner (and her reasons for being assigned to Harry) was a weird mix of an odd character and politically-correctness. Plenty of gunplay here, including a LAW (the "revolutionary" terrorists robbed an armory.)

acting: Clint Eastwood reprises his role perfectly. Tyne Daly is quirky as the new female partner. As usual, the mayor and the police chief characters were idiots.

final word: Good third installment, and it predicts -more than 20 years ahead of time - much of the legal idiocy we face today.

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