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Enforcer, The
Warner Bros. // R // November 20, 2001
List Price: $19.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
"She wants to play lumberjack. She's going to have to learn how to handle her end of the log."
-- Clint Eastwood as "Dirty" Harry Callahan, The Enforcer
Harry Callahan, shortly after arriving at a situation where a group of thugs were holding a shopkeeper and three of his patrons hostage, was informed that the crooks demanded a get-away car equipped with a police radio. Callahan, being such a stand-up guy, took it upon himself to deliver just what they asked for. Perhaps if the badniks had been more specific in their terms, Callahan wouldn't have plowed the automobile directly through the plate-glass window, picking off the robbers one by one. The Enforcer is the third of Eastwood's five outings as Dirty Harry, and though audiences may have gobbled up Callahan's unconventional style of law enforcement, his actions are a constant thorn in the side of his superiors.
Callahan's latest shenanigans came bundled with a $15,000 price tag and a series of impending lawsuits, which is a far cry from the sort of enlightened image the mayor is trying to project for San Francisco's finest. The consequence is that the hopelessly sexist Callahan is saddled with a female partner, Kate Moore (Tyne Daly, best known for her role as Lacey, as in Cagney and...). The intense scrutiny and excessive regulations are a constant frustration for Moore and Callahan, who already aren't on the best of terms. All of this makes it exceedingly difficult, of course, for them to track down the vicious Hippie Terrorists (actually named the People's Revolutionary Strike Force, but who's counting?) that are wreaking havoc on the city. With a plot to kidnap the mayor in the wings, Moore and Callahan each have to overcome their deficiencies and, y'know, stop the bad guys.
The Enforcer is generally considered to be the worst in the Dirty Harry series. So much time has passed since I've watched the others that they all amount to an indistinguishable blur to me, but it's not too terribly difficult to see why The Enforcer bears that distinction. Much of this can be attributed to the looney plot. The terrorists are cartoonish caricatures, and their motivations for blackmailing the city for $2 million are vaguely described, at best. Even in 1976, weren't hippie terrorists already passé? The inconsistent pacing also leaves much to be desired. Eastwood does sneak in a few immensely quotable lines as Callahan, though Dirty Harry often comes across as more of a mediocre impression than a continuation of such a great role. Daly, years before her career-spanning role as Mary-Beth Lacey, is convincing as a pencil-pusher clawing her way to the front lines in the war against crime. The action is well-executed, aside from an excruciatingly long foot chase, though The Enforcer is unable to sustain the heights of its excellent opening hostage sequence. Much of the distaste among fans for this movie, I'd imagine, comes strictly by comparison. The first Dirty Harry, and to a lesser extent, Magnum Force, are so widely regarded as great that a movie that's merely 'pretty good' seems much more disappointing than it would taken on its own.
Video: The Enforcer, like the rest of Warner's Dirty Harry DVD releases, has been given a spectacular new anamorphic widescreen transfer. The 2.35:1 image looks amazing, and if the vintage footage in the supplemental material is any indication of how horrendous The Enforcer looked on VHS, then this new presentation will be a revelation to completists of the series. The level of clarity and detail is remarkable, and the print used for the transfer is in immaculate condition. The image is virtually free of any flaws, and the presence of dust and speckling is kept well in check. The shades of green and brown that appear throughout the film are of the sort that only existed in the 1970's , and though the palette overall seems somewhat muted, this is in keeping with the vast majority of similar efforts from the same era. Grain is often present but not intrusive, and I didn't spot any overly generous application of aperture correction either. Very nicely done.
Audio: Newly remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, The Enforcer sounds as great as it looks. The dialogue still boasts that sort of monaural muddiness, though the quality doesn't creep into other aspects of the audio. Far too many of the mono-to-six-channel remixes I've had the displeasure of sitting through have had an inescapably gimmicky quality, where directionality seems forced and the placement of effects is unnatural and exaggerated. That is thankfully very much not the case here. The soundstage is expansive and lively, filling every square inch of the room. There are numerous pans and split-surrounds, all of which are expertly executed. The Enforcer makes excellent use of various discrete surround effects, and the placement of ambient noises and the like sucked me directly into the action. The LFE offers quite a kick to gun shots and the handful of explosions, as well as contributing greatly to the lower-end of Jerry Fielding's score. Along with the Dolby Digital mix is a French mono track and a variety of subtitles.
Supplements: A brief featurette entitled "Harry Callahan / Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films" details the iconic status of both the actor and his most infamous character. Alongside a series of text-based extras is the theatrical trailer.
Conclusion: The Enforcer may be the least favorite entry in the series, but it still mops up the floor with the innumerable imitations that Harry Callahan has wrought in the past thirty years. No Dirty Harry collection would be complete without this disc, and the $19.98 list price is easy enough to swallow. The Enforcer unquestionably isn't the best starting point for the uninitiated, but it's still recommended.
-- Clint Eastwood as "Dirty" Harry Callahan, The Enforcer
Harry Callahan, shortly after arriving at a situation where a group of thugs were holding a shopkeeper and three of his patrons hostage, was informed that the crooks demanded a get-away car equipped with a police radio. Callahan, being such a stand-up guy, took it upon himself to deliver just what they asked for. Perhaps if the badniks had been more specific in their terms, Callahan wouldn't have plowed the automobile directly through the plate-glass window, picking off the robbers one by one. The Enforcer is the third of Eastwood's five outings as Dirty Harry, and though audiences may have gobbled up Callahan's unconventional style of law enforcement, his actions are a constant thorn in the side of his superiors.
Callahan's latest shenanigans came bundled with a $15,000 price tag and a series of impending lawsuits, which is a far cry from the sort of enlightened image the mayor is trying to project for San Francisco's finest. The consequence is that the hopelessly sexist Callahan is saddled with a female partner, Kate Moore (Tyne Daly, best known for her role as Lacey, as in Cagney and...). The intense scrutiny and excessive regulations are a constant frustration for Moore and Callahan, who already aren't on the best of terms. All of this makes it exceedingly difficult, of course, for them to track down the vicious Hippie Terrorists (actually named the People's Revolutionary Strike Force, but who's counting?) that are wreaking havoc on the city. With a plot to kidnap the mayor in the wings, Moore and Callahan each have to overcome their deficiencies and, y'know, stop the bad guys.
The Enforcer is generally considered to be the worst in the Dirty Harry series. So much time has passed since I've watched the others that they all amount to an indistinguishable blur to me, but it's not too terribly difficult to see why The Enforcer bears that distinction. Much of this can be attributed to the looney plot. The terrorists are cartoonish caricatures, and their motivations for blackmailing the city for $2 million are vaguely described, at best. Even in 1976, weren't hippie terrorists already passé? The inconsistent pacing also leaves much to be desired. Eastwood does sneak in a few immensely quotable lines as Callahan, though Dirty Harry often comes across as more of a mediocre impression than a continuation of such a great role. Daly, years before her career-spanning role as Mary-Beth Lacey, is convincing as a pencil-pusher clawing her way to the front lines in the war against crime. The action is well-executed, aside from an excruciatingly long foot chase, though The Enforcer is unable to sustain the heights of its excellent opening hostage sequence. Much of the distaste among fans for this movie, I'd imagine, comes strictly by comparison. The first Dirty Harry, and to a lesser extent, Magnum Force, are so widely regarded as great that a movie that's merely 'pretty good' seems much more disappointing than it would taken on its own.
Video: The Enforcer, like the rest of Warner's Dirty Harry DVD releases, has been given a spectacular new anamorphic widescreen transfer. The 2.35:1 image looks amazing, and if the vintage footage in the supplemental material is any indication of how horrendous The Enforcer looked on VHS, then this new presentation will be a revelation to completists of the series. The level of clarity and detail is remarkable, and the print used for the transfer is in immaculate condition. The image is virtually free of any flaws, and the presence of dust and speckling is kept well in check. The shades of green and brown that appear throughout the film are of the sort that only existed in the 1970's , and though the palette overall seems somewhat muted, this is in keeping with the vast majority of similar efforts from the same era. Grain is often present but not intrusive, and I didn't spot any overly generous application of aperture correction either. Very nicely done.
Audio: Newly remastered in Dolby Digital 5.1, The Enforcer sounds as great as it looks. The dialogue still boasts that sort of monaural muddiness, though the quality doesn't creep into other aspects of the audio. Far too many of the mono-to-six-channel remixes I've had the displeasure of sitting through have had an inescapably gimmicky quality, where directionality seems forced and the placement of effects is unnatural and exaggerated. That is thankfully very much not the case here. The soundstage is expansive and lively, filling every square inch of the room. There are numerous pans and split-surrounds, all of which are expertly executed. The Enforcer makes excellent use of various discrete surround effects, and the placement of ambient noises and the like sucked me directly into the action. The LFE offers quite a kick to gun shots and the handful of explosions, as well as contributing greatly to the lower-end of Jerry Fielding's score. Along with the Dolby Digital mix is a French mono track and a variety of subtitles.
Supplements: A brief featurette entitled "Harry Callahan / Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films" details the iconic status of both the actor and his most infamous character. Alongside a series of text-based extras is the theatrical trailer.
Conclusion: The Enforcer may be the least favorite entry in the series, but it still mops up the floor with the innumerable imitations that Harry Callahan has wrought in the past thirty years. No Dirty Harry collection would be complete without this disc, and the $19.98 list price is easy enough to swallow. The Enforcer unquestionably isn't the best starting point for the uninitiated, but it's still recommended.
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