DSL's Movie/TV Reviews and Discussion

[Dr. Strangelove]

uhhhhhh

[AlabamAlum]

That’s a Citizen Kane/Casablanca classic.

[Dr. Strangelove]

MAGNUM FORCE (1973)
d. Ted Post
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich, Kip Niven

Very quick summary...a group of young motorcyle cops go rogue and begin summarily executing criminals on the streets of San Francisco. There ya go.

Boy...this movie seems like a reaction to the criticism the original Dirty Harry got. Hey folks, maybe Harry doesn't play by the rules and is quick on the trigger, but he doesn't go around looking for an excuse to murder people either. The bad cops in this one are willing to kill innocent people, even other cops, to cover up their vigilante ways. And boy, this is probably the most violent, highest body count of the series. Probably the sleaziest too. Topless girlfriends to a gangster get mowed down with a cop's machine gun. A cop murders a nude mistress with no remorse. A pimp forces a hooker to drink drain cleaner in a scene I had no idea wtf was happening. Maybe drain cleaner in the early 70's came in a recognizable can? Because I had no idea what he was making her drink until later. Harry's cool partner gets blown up with a mailbox bomb. Harry's EX-partner gets murdered by the rogue cops to hide evidence. Boy, what a FUN movie!

It's legitimately action-packed but man...there's a lot of ugliness on the screen. And it's hard to say any of the cops really gets a satisfying ending (except for Robert Urich who Harry runs over in his car).

[Hannibal]

DSL -- if you are looking for gems to uncover from the '80s, this is one of my (IMHO) highly underrated favorites. Lots of tension and really good acting performances from G.W. Bailey, Jeffrey DeMunn, Yaphet Kotto, and Richard Dysart. Definiitely worth a rental on YT or Prime.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I'll have to look for that. Never even heard of it. Nice cast.

[Dr. Strangelove]

THE DEAD POOL (1988)
d. Buddy Van Horn
Starring; Clint Eastwood, Evan Kim, Patricia Clarkson, Liam Neeson, David Hunt, Jim Carey

This is not a good movie.

However, there's enough stupid fun things about it that keeps it from my bottom of the barrel in the Dirty Harry universe. Unlike most of the other films which star mostly nobodies besides Clint, this one has before-they-were-famous Liam Neeson and Jim Carey. There's also a rare car chase where Harry is fleeing from a remote-controlled toy car with a bomb strapped to it. And there's a pretty good scene where he's taken out by a squad of hitmen. Actually, the whole movie has more of a sense of humor in general than any of the 70's films.

But Lordy, the plot is nonsense. Some crazy dude is obsessed with a series of films and gets a hold of a "dead pool" list (gambling on which celebrities will soon die) and begins killing off the celebrities on said list. OK? It all clocks in at barely 90 minutes, significantly shorter than any of the previous movies.

I literally cringed when Jim Carey appears as a punk rocker shooting a music video. I wish I could un-see his lip syncing to "Welcome To the Jungle".

Like I said, this movie isn't very good, but I appreciate it more than the last one I'm going to talk about...

[Mike]

I’m old enough to remember when a police inspector from San Francisco was the good guy.

And I could be Jeff’s great grandson.

[AlabamAlum]

Hell, Calvin Coolidge could be Jeff’s great grandson.

[Tom W]

It doesn't seem possible that "Silent Cal" could be related to Jeff in any way shape or form.

[AlabamAlum]

lol

[Jeff Buchanan]

Hurtful.

[Dr. Strangelove]

I forgot to talk about the worst Dirty Harry movie of all time

THE ENFORCER (1976)
d. James Fargo
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly, DeVeren Bookwalter, Harry Guardino, John Crawford

Harry is up against the "People's Revolutionary Strike Force", clearly inspired by the real-life Symbionese Liberation Front, as they commit crimes and terrorize San Francisco.

Let's get them out of the way first. The villains suck. They're a bunch of incompetent misfits and their leader is a pathetic shadow of the psychotic Scorpio from the first movie or Mick from #4.

Onto the politics and "message". So the basic theme of the first Dirty Harry is fuck these pantywaist liberals, let me fight crime MY way. The second one was a counter-reaction which said whoa whoa whoa, even cops can go too far. This one is "you're making me partner with a woman?!?!?!"

So yeah. He's partnered with an uncharismatic, dowdy policewoman who eventually jumps in front of a bullet for him and croaks. Ah, c'est tragique. Harry thus learns that women too can be good cops (In Harry's universe, a good cop is a partner who dies).

The plot barely matters but the PRSF commits some crime and kills a few people, then decides to kidnap the mayor and take over Alcatraz Island. Now, I know this really did happen in the early 70's, that Alcatraz was occupied by protesters for two years. But I believe dozens of people took part in it. Here, four fucking dudes, at least 2 of whom are perpetually stoned, manage to do it. Midway through the movie they tease a rocket launcher and eventually, at the end, the terrorist leader ditches the hostage mayor and climbs a guard tower for no reason. Wait, there was a reason. So Harry can easily blow him up while he wails pitifully. The mayor grovels and profusely thanks Harry. But honey badger don't give a shit. He picks up his dead partner and wanders off as a helicopter shot slowly zooms out, the exact same way every Dirty Harry movie ends.

Fuck. This one kinda blows. It's watchable but...why would you want to?

[Hannibal]

I just re-watched Videodrome the other day. What an incredibly prophetic movie that was. Wow, Cronenberg was a fucking genius. If you haven't seen that one, watch it now. It is free on Peacock. "Long Live the New Flesh". We are living it.

I wish that he had kept making his signature movies. His last good legit Cronenberg film was Existenz.

[Tom W]

Eastern Promises and A History of Violence were pretty decent, but yeah, they lacked the "strangeness" that nobody does better than Cronenberg. Ultimately, I would really like to see him tackle one of Lovecraft's better stories.

[Hannibal]

I saw Eastern Promises and I thought it was kind of average. Enjoyable but not worth watching more than once.