The Enforcer (1976 film)

Infobox_Film
name = The Enforcer


caption = "The Enforcer" film poster by Bill Gold
writer = Story:
Gail Morgan Hickman
S.W. Schurr
Screenplay:
Stirling Silliphant
Dean Riesner
starring = Clint Eastwood
Harry Guardino
Bradford Dillman
Tyne Daly
DeVeren Bookwalter
director = James Fargo
producer = Robert Daley
cinematography = Charles W. Short
editing = Joel Cox
Ferris Webster
distributor = Warner Bros.
released = December 22, 1976
runtime = 96 min.
country = USA
language = Engish
budget = | music = Jerry Fielding
awards =
amg_id = 1:15855
imdb_id = 0074483
preceded_by = "Magnum Force" (1973)
followed_by = "Sudden Impact" (1983)

"The Enforcer" is the 1976 third film in the Dirty Harry series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as Bobby Maxwell.

Plot

The film opens as two gas men are lured by a scantily-clad lady to a remote spot and killed by a man (Bobby Maxwell). Maxwell's gang, The People's Revolutionary Strike Force, use the gas men's uniforms and vehicle for a scene later in the film.

Meanwhile, Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and his partner, Frank DiGeorgio (John Mitchum), are dispatched to a liquor store where a few men have taken hostages. The standoff ends when Harry drives his squad car into the store and shoots up the gang. Back at the station, Harry is reprimanded for the expenses on injured hostages and damage to the store by his superior, Captain McKay, and is transferred from the Homicide unit to Personnel. Harry is part of judging the interview process for new inspectors the next day. Being told that 3 of 8 new positions are going to be female, including Inspector Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), who has worked in Personnel for nine years with no experience in homicide, having made no arrests or having never been in any violent situations, Harry is disapproving of her potential promotion to Inspector.

That night, the PRSF use the stolen gas service van to enter a U.S. Army weapons storage facility to steal weapons in support of their political statement. Meanwhile, DiGeorgio and another police officer find a dead guard at the facility and DiGeorgio looks around the warehouse for any suspicious activity. He eventually finds the terrorists and holds them at gunpoint but Maxwell stabs him in his back. But as he is going down, DiGeorgio shoots a female member of the gang. Despite protests of another gang member, Maxwell finishes her off and leaves DiGeorgio for dead.

The next morning at the hospital, with his last breath, DiGeorgio tells Callahan that the men were involved in a case several years before with "cutesy-pie, little boy names." DiGeorgio then dies of his stab wound. Inspector Moore is assigned as Harry's partner. Later in the day, a bomb explodes in the Hall of Justice and Callahan and Moore chase after the PRSF bomber through the streets. Callahan obtains the help of the black militant group, Uhuru, where the bomber had been a former member. Captain McKay, later arrests the militants as they are accused of the terrorist acts.

Eventually, just as they think the case is over, McKay, Moore and Callahan are about to be commended at the San Francisco City Hall by the Mayor. Callahan then angrily reveals to the Mayor that Uhuru has been helping him in the case in front of many journalists. He is suspended by McKay and leaves City Hall furiously. Moore follows him. They have a walk through the city, chatting about their personal lives. It is from this point that Harry respects her diligence. In their final desperate act, the Strike Force kidnaps the Mayor of San Francisco while returning from a baseball (San Francisco Giants) game and Harry goes undercover to root out Maxwell, tracking the gang to their hideout at Alcatraz Island. Soon enough, a shootout ensues between the two parties. Moore is briefly distracted when she sees Harry about to get shot by Maxwell and she yells for him to move. This saves Harry's life but, sadly, causes the end of hers due to being shot by Maxwell. The mayor is saved when Maxwell is obliterated by Harry with a M72 LAW rocket. All the terrorists are killed but, once again, Harry loses another partner.

Cast

*Insp. Harry Callahan : Clint Eastwood
*Insp. Kate Moore: Tyne Daly
*Lt. Al Bressler: Harry Guardino
*Captain McKay: Bradford Dillman
*Insp. Frank DiGeorgio: John Mitchum
*Bobby Maxwell: DeVeren Bookwalter
*Mustapha: Albert Popwell
*The Mayor: John Crawford
*Lalo: Michael Cavanaugh
*Miki: Jocelyn Jones
*Karl: Dick Durock
*Father John: M.G. Kelly
*Abdul: Kenneth Boyd

Trivia

*The working title was "Moving Target", while another was "Dirty Harry III".

*In 1980, a writer sued Eastwood for plagiarism, accusing him of taking the title of the film from one of his works. Eastwood maintained that he was inspired by the 1951 Humphrey Bogart film, "The Enforcer", which was also distributed by Warner Bros. The case was dismissed. Fact|date=February 2007

*The two militant organizations depicted in the film - the People's Revolutionary Strike Force and Uhuru - were modeled on two real-life militant groups, the Symbionese Liberation Army (which kidnapped Patricia Hearst) and the Black Panther Party.

*Throughout the film, several characters refer to the LAW Rocket. This is the real-life M72 anti-tank weapon. The one depicted in the film is the M72A1, which was used during the Vietnam War.

*Harry's new partner, Inspector Kate Moore, mentions Harry's previous partners who have died: Fanducci, who was mentioned in "Dirty Harry", and Early Smith in "Magnum Force". Another of Harry's partners, Chico Gonzalez, was injured during the events of the first film and left the police force to become a teacher.

*Recurring characters Lieutenant Bressler (Harry Guardino) and Frank DiGeorgio (John Mitchum) reprise their roles for the last time in a Dirty Harry film. Bressler was Harry's boss in the first film of the series, while DiGeorgio appeared in the previous two. A new character, Captain Jerome McKay (Bradford Dillman), was introduced as Harry's superior officer. Dillman played a similar role, Captain Briggs, in "Sudden Impact".

*A brief scene inside San Francisco's City Hall was filmed outside Suite 200, then-Mayor George Moscone's office. The first film was filmed inside Suite 200, when Joseph Alioto was mayor.

*This was originally intended to be the last "Dirty Harry" film of a trilogy. A poll conducted by Warner Bros in 1983 led to the development of a fourth film, "Sudden Impact" and the resurrection of the film series.

*The 80's Speed/Thrash Metal band Laaz Rockit takes its name from the final scene of this movie.

*"The Enforcer" and Eastwood's first "Dirty Harry" films were the inspiration for two handgun patents issued to Roger C. Field, US Patent|5333531 and US Patent|5513550.

External links

*imdb title|id=0074483|title=The Enforcer
* [http://www.the-dirtiest.com/enforcer.htm Background information on the making of "The Enforcer"]