Sudden Impact (1983)

Four movies into the franchise and Dirty Harry is starting to run out of steam. Despite being directed by star Clint Eastwood, Sudden Impact isn't as entertaining or as watchable as its three predecessors.

Sudden Impact feels more like a movie with Dirty Harry Callahan in it than an actual Dirty Harry movie. Callahan (Eastwood), after apparently intentionally giving a mob figure (a fun cameo from Michael V. "Frank Pentangeli from The Godfather, Part II" Gazzo) a heart attack, is given an assignment out of town to investigate a murdered man's past in San Paulo. He meets artist Jennifer Spenser (Eastwood's then-lover Sondra Locke) and starts romancing her, not knowing that Spenser is killing the men who raped her and her sister years ago.

Eastwood is excellent as always in the shoes of Inspector Callahan, menacing and grimacing his way through another picture. The film includes one of the most famous scenes in Dirty Harry's career, right next to the "Do I feel lucky?" speech - here, he provokes a hostage taker by brandishing his trademark Magnum at the man and growling, "Go ahead, make my day." This scene alone is worth the price of admission; indeed, the first half or so of the film is all Eastwood's and ends up being the better half. Dodging mafia assassins and bonehead superiors, piecing together evidence ballistic report by report, and even acquiring a dog named Meathead in this one, Callahan continues to do it all.

Yet the film suffers for its unwillingness to relinquish full control of itself to Dirty Harry. Perhaps this is due to the fact that Eastwood is behind the camera for this adventure as well as in front of it, but the fact remains that the film spends far too much time on Jennifer's character and her backstory. Locke, unfortunately, is not an actress cut out to hold 49% of a Dirty Harry picture, which Sudden Impact asks her to do. The film also seems uncertain as to how it should react to Jennifer's crimes of revenge - is she a villain, a victim, a combination of both? Until the film's final moments, when Dirty Harry re-enters the plot and has a chance to weigh in, the film waffles like a long-faced senator from Massachusetts.

The film (according, at least, to Wikipedia) is the darkest and "dirtiest" of the Dirty Harry pictures, and at this it succeeds, so kudos to Eastwood as director for accomplishing this look and feel for the fourth film in the franchise. The film, however, is slowly-paced whenever Jennifer is on-screen - the film seems confused as to who its main character - and ultimately its hero - ought to be. Callahan continues to captivate; Jennifer, unfortunately, muddles this adventure.

While still fun and not the worst movie one could find to watch on a weekday afternoon, Sudden Impact is relatively lackluster when compared to its sterling predecessors - particularly the original, Dirty Harry, which still remains the greatest of the films. Stay tuned to see how The Dead Pool, the final Dirty Harry movie (despite rumors that Gran Torino would be the sixth outing for Callahan), measures up.


The MPAA gave Sudden Impact an R rating, a rating which would stand today for its gritty depictions of violence and of sexual assault, its strong profane language, as well as a brief scene of nudity (what are these types of scenes doing in a Callahan adventure?).