MAGNUM FORCE
US, 1973,114 minutes, Colour.
Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook.
Directed by Ted Post.
Magnum Force is the sequel to Dirty Harry, which was one of the critical and financial successes of 1971-2. It confirmed Clint Eastwood's popularity and was one of the best examples of the police genre the year that The French Connection won the Oscar.
Don Siegel directed Dirty Harry. This time T.V. and movie director Ted Post directs (Hang 'Em High, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, The Baby). The film is enjoyable although violent. Hostile critics pointed out that Dirty Harry reflected the policy of the Nixon administration - more power to the police to clean up the cities. Legal processes obstructed true justice. With Watergate, the Nixon administration wanted to rely on the law and the system, so now Harry Callaghan supports the system because there is nothing better. The villains are now extremist right-wing vigilante police. Clint Eastwood received posts from President Nixon. But whether such theories are valid, viewers can decide. Magnum Force is probably good, violent drama.
1. How did the film stand up as a police thriller? What were its best features? Its insights into the workings of the San Francisco police, murders, mystery, hijacking?
2. What kind of person was Harry Callahan - as a policeman, as a man, doing his own thing within the system, his sincerity? How humane was he? The visit to his family, casual relationship with the girl, ideas of justice? What motivated him to work in the police force?
3. What are the implications of the "Magnum Force"? Is there any value in having vigilantes?
4. Why did these policemen set themselves up as the magnum force? What right did they have to over-ride the system? Was the initial sequence convincing for establishing vigilantes?
5. Comment on the styles of execution by the force and their impact during the film. What were your reactions at these cold-blooded murders - executions?
6. What kind of people were Davis, Sweet and the other young policemen? Their clean-cut image, seeming sincerity, shooting ability? The good impression they made on Harry? Why was Briggs behind the vigilantes, what motivated him? What was his relationship to Harry?
7. How did Harry compare with the force as a policeman? What attitudes did he stand for, how reasonable did he seem beside them? Comment on Early, his companion?
8. Was the finale exciting? What cinema techniques did the film use to keep audience interest and to keep audiences excited?
9. Was the film too violent? What is your opinion of Americans and guns, police in such a violent society?
10. What picture of America did the film give - criminals, vice and injustice in the cities? The murders possible on the streets? The death of the unsuspecting policeman, attempts on Harry's life? Police corruption?
