Despite being viewed as a classic crime thriller nowadays the original film in the DIRTY HARRY franchise received very verbal complaint from critics two of which were by legendary critics Pauline Kael and Rober Ebert described it as being " Fascist " . Maybe that's going too far but you have to consider that up till that time Hollywood always divided good and evil in absolutes . With the birth of " New Hollywood " in the late 1960s the lines started becoming very blurred . Certainly Harry Callahan doesn't stomp around in jackboots but is torturing confessions out of suspects to be condoned ? Maybe the reason the audience cheered the demise of Scorpio in the original was because it was a good compromise ? Yes shooting suspects caught red handed is certainly justice no matter how rough the liberals may claim it to be
It's obvious the makers of MAGNUM FORCE are mindful of this . It's certainly a tough compelling thriller with an interesting premise of cops forming a death squad to liquidate criminal elements in society but often you get the impression characters become literary devices in order to say " Nope Dirty Harry wasn't a fascist movie and here is the difference ... " There's slight niggling flaws that stops the film becoming a persuasive film in its own right . It would have been very interesting if Lt Briggs had arrested Harry and how it would have stood up in court . It also begs the question at the end if Harry would have to reveal he's killed the vigilante cops or if he's not going to mention anything on the matter . But these are minor flaws in a film that's the only one in the franchise that comes close to the brilliance of the original
It's obvious the makers of MAGNUM FORCE are mindful of this . It's certainly a tough compelling thriller with an interesting premise of cops forming a death squad to liquidate criminal elements in society but often you get the impression characters become literary devices in order to say " Nope Dirty Harry wasn't a fascist movie and here is the difference ... " There's slight niggling flaws that stops the film becoming a persuasive film in its own right . It would have been very interesting if Lt Briggs had arrested Harry and how it would have stood up in court . It also begs the question at the end if Harry would have to reveal he's killed the vigilante cops or if he's not going to mention anything on the matter . But these are minor flaws in a film that's the only one in the franchise that comes close to the brilliance of the original