The Enforcer (1976) starring Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman, John Mitchum, DeVeren Bookwalter, John Crawford directed by James Fargo Movie Review

The Enforcer (1976)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in The Enforcer

Callahan & Lacey

So having already taken on a sicko serial killer and then a group of corrupt police 'Dirty' Harry Callahan returns once more in "The Enforcer" to dispatch his own version of the law on another group of bad guys. This time around are favourite nasty cop is taking on terrorists who are causing trouble in his neck of the woods and of course he is still locking horns with his superiors who think his form of law keeping should be taken off the street. But to put it simply "The Enforcer" follows the same routine as we have seen in the previous two movies and the only differences this time around is that we have terrorists and Harry gets saddled with a woman partner. It is in fact the woman partner side of things which makes "The Enforcer" worth watching because Tyne Daly before she became one half of "Cagney & Lacey" provides plenty of amusement as the misogynistic Harry finds her constant jabbering a nuisance.

Having foiled a robbery and hostage situation in his own unorthodox way Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood - Magnum Force) once again finds himself reprimanded by his superiors who take him off of homicide as punishment. But when the city starts getting threats from a terrorist organization called The People's Revolutionary Strike Force, Harry is soon called upon to investigate the case. Saddled once more with a new partner in the shape of the inexperienced Inspector Kate Moore (Tyne Daly) and still locking horns with his superiors who threaten to ruin his investigation by their stupidity it is another hard case for San Francisco's nastiest cop.

Tyne Daly as Kate Moore in The Enforcer

Now to be honest "The Enforcer" is again a weaker sequel and that is purely down to the fact that not only does it follow the same routine as the previous movies but the actual storyline isn't that much different. It means that early on we witness Harry foiling a hostage situation in a very unorthodox manner and then get taken off Homicide for doing so. And so it goes on as those fun elements which appeared in the first two movies from locking horns with his superiors to being saddled with another partner get rehashed again and to be honest they feel too predictable as if "The Enforcer" was being made to a list of strict Dirty Harry rules.

And to be honest having Harry pitched up against a group of terrorists adds little to "The Enforcer" to make is feel any different. You know it could be one man or an army and what you would get is Harry doing the same stuff, being the law breaking, vigilante bad ass who you know will beat the baddies by the time the credits are due to roll. In fact there are times when the actual terrorist story seems to have been forgotten about as you have huge chunks of the movie which focus on Harry and the almost comedy of his sexist ways.

But the thing is, is that "The Enforcer" is entertaining but not for the actual main storyline or for the action which whilst a little brutal is also forgettable. Nope "The Enforcer" is memorable thanks to Tyne Daly who is wonderful as newly promoted Inspector Kate Moore who becomes Harry's new partner. Now it does feel like you are watching Mary Beth Lacey rather than Kate Moore but her constant jabbering and moments of comedy work well with Harry being old fashioned and basically a sexist. It just brings a huge smile to your face when she ends up annoying him and whilst Daly does tend to over act, especially during the scenes at Alcatraz which are comically bad, she does liven up such an ordinary story.

Now I would never say you could get bored of Clint Eastwood acting but this time around whilst watching him play Dirty Harry again has it's moments of fun it just lacks the bite which the previous two movies had. Maybe it was the storyline which causes the issues because in the scenes Eastwood shared with Daly he seems to come alive, delivering something more snappy and what you expect but then else where he just seems to be going through the motions.

What this all boils down to is that "The Enforcer" follows a very similar formula to what had already been done and to be honest the storyline about Harry taking on terrorists is not that interesting. But the movie works and that is down to Harry being partnered up with a woman inspector who thanks to Tyne Daly provides plenty of laughs as she ends up annoying the sexist Harry. Aside from this amusing chalk n cheese partnership there is little else in "The Enforcer" which makes it memorable.


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