Read more about Neil Briggs at: Wikipedia Official Site: Warner Bros. Magnum Force is the 1973 sequel to the 1971 film Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series. The screenplay was written by John Milius (who provided an uncredited rewrite for the original film) and Michael Cimino. This film features early appearances by David Soul, Tim Matheson and Robert Urich as the primary antagonists, the vigilante traffic cops. At 124 minutes, it is also the longest Dirty Harry film. In 1972, mobster Carmine Ricca (Richard Devon) drives away from court after being acquitted on a technicality. An unseen SFPD motorcycle cop stops Ricca’s limo for a traffic violation. Suddenly, the patrolman pulls his service revolver—a .357 Magnum Colt Python—shoots all four men in the car, then rides away. Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and his partner Earlington Smith (Felton Perry) visit the crime scene. Callahan is controversial within the department. His superior Lieutenant Briggs (Hal Holbrook) views Callahan and his tactics—such as his handling of the Scorpio case, and foiling an aircraft hijacking at the airport by impersonating a pilot—as reckless and dangerous. The dislike is mutual, with Callahan mocking Briggs about the fact Briggs had never pulled his gun since he had been on the Police Force, saying "Well, you're a good man Lieutenant, and good men always know their limitations". Others, such as rookie traffic cops Philip Sweet (Tim Matheson), John Davis (David Soul), "Red" Astrachan (Kip Niven), and Michael Grimes (Robert Urich), see the inspector as a role model. The young officers' zeal and marksmanship impress Callahan. More criminals are killed. A motorcycle cop attacks a mobster's pool party, using a satchel charge and a 9mm Smith & Wesson M76 machine gun to kill multiple people. A pimp (Albert Popwell) who killed one of his prostitutes (Margaret Avery) is himself shot by a motorcycle cop. Callahan realizes that the pimp had let his killer approach him and had offered a bribe. He deduces that a cop is likely responsible, perhaps his old friend Charlie McCoy (Mitchell Ryan), who is suicidal and unstable after leaving his wife. |
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Neil Briggs