The Enforcer is a 1976 American neo-noir action-thriller film and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo in his feature directorial debut, it stars Clint Eastwood who reprises his lead role as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. The film co-stars Tyne Daly, DeVeren Bookwalter and Bradford Dillman, with John Mitchum and Harry Guardino each reprising their roles from previous entries for their final appearances in the series.
The film follows the further adventures of Inspector Callahan (Eastwood) as he and his new partner, rookie Inspector Kate Moore (Daly) team up to foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam War veterans led by Bobby Maxwell (Bookwalter). It was written by Stirling Silliphant and Dean Riesner, from a story by Gail Morgan Hickman and S. W. Schurr and is the only Dirty Harry film not scored by Lalo Schifrin; instead, the film’s soundtrack was composed by Jerry Fielding.
Plot In Marin County, two gas-company workers are lured by a scantily clad woman named Miki to a remote spot in Mill Valley and killed by Bobby Maxwell. A group calling itself the People's Revolutionary Strike Force (PRSF), led by Maxwell, poses as a terrorist organization to conceal their true purpose.
San Francisco Police Department Inspector Harry Callahan and his partner Frank DiGiorgio deal with a con artist at a restaurant and then respond to a holdup at a liquor store. The robbers take hostages and demand a police car to escape in. Callahan drives his car into the store and guns the robbers down in the resulting chaos. Callahan's superior, Captain Jerome McKay, reprimands him for using "excessive force" and transfers him to the personnel department to work on promotion boards. Callahan learns the mayor's new affirmative-action rules require promotions go to several women, including Kate Moore, a senior desk officer with no field experience.
When the PRSF steals M72 LAW rockets, M16 rifles, a taser, and other weapons from a warehouse, DiGiorgio and another officer catch them in the act. Maxwell fatally stabs a security guard at the front gate, then DiGiorgio, runs over his partner, and kills one of his own badly injured followers having been shot by DiGorgio accidentally. Callahan transfers back to homicide, dismayed to find Moore is his new partner. At a United States Army demonstration, Callahan pulls Moore out of the dangerous backblast area of a LAW rocket and tells her that he doubts her ability to perform in dangerous situations.
When Callahan and Moore leave an autopsy at the Hall of Justice, a bomb explodes in the restroom. They capture the bomber after a foot chase and meet "Big" Ed Mustapha, the leader of a black militant group called Uhuru, which the bomber formerly belonged to recently. Callahan makes a deal with Mustapha for information, but McKay arrests the group for the PRSF's crimes. With his credibility damaged, Callahan refuses to participate in a televised press conference that the publicity-seeking mayor intends to use to commend the partners for Mustapha's arrest. McKay suspends Callahan and takes his badge but Moore pledges to continue to help him and they share drinks in a sign of mutual respect.
The PRSF ambushes the mayor's motorcade outside a Giants game at Candlestick Park, killing his bodyguard and aide and taking him hostage. Callahan bails out Mustapha, who leads him to a priest responible for mentoring Maxwell. At the church where Callahan tackled the bomber, Wanda, one of Maxwell's teammates, attempts to shoot Callahan, but she is killed by Moore. The priest reveals that the PRSF members are hiding on Alcatraz Island. The duo arrive on the island and split up to free the mayor. After killing the remaining members of the PRSF, Moore warns an exposed Callahan of Maxwell, who then shoots her instead. Callahan avenges Moore by cornering Maxwell in an old guard tower and blowing it up with a LAW rocket, obliterating Maxwell. Ignoring the mayor's profuse gratitude, Callahan abandons him and walks over to his partner's corpse as McKay arrives in a helicopter and announces to the now dead Maxwell and his men that the SFPD will give in to all of his demands.
Cast
Production
Script
The first script was written in 1974 by two young San Francisco-area film students, Gail Morgan Hickman and S.W. Schurr, with the title Moving Target. After seeing Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, the two fledgling writers decided to pen a screenplay of their own featuring the character of Inspector Harry Callahan. Inspired by the Patty Hearst kidnapping in 1974, the storyline had Inspector Harry Callahan going up against a violent militant group reminiscent of the Symbionese Liberation Army. In the script, the militants kidnap and ransom the mayor of San Francisco.
After the screenplay was finished, Hickman visited Eastwood's Carmel restaurant, the Hog's Breath Inn, and approached Eastwood's business partner, Paul Lippman, asking if he would give their effort to Eastwood. Lippman was initially hesitant, but finally agreed. Although Eastwood thought the script needed work, he liked the concept, particularly the priest with militant leanings and the portrayal of black militants, which was based on the Black Panther Party.
Warner Bros., meanwhile, eager to capitalize on the success of the two Dirty Harry films, had hired seasoned screenwriter Stirling Silliphant to write a new Harry Callahan story. Silliphant wrote a script called Dirty Harry and More, in which the Callahan character was teamed up with a female, Asian-American partner named More. Eastwood liked the female partner angle, but felt the script spent too much time on character and did not have enough action. Eastwood then showed the Hickman/Schurr script to Silliphant, and Silliphant agreed to rewrite it.
Silliphant wrote the script throughout late 1975 and early 1976, and delivered his draft to Eastwood in February 1976. While Eastwood approved, he believed the emphasis was still too much on the character relationships rather than the action, and was concerned the fans might not approve. He then brought in screenwriter Dean Riesner, who had worked on the scripts of Dirty Harry and Coogan's Bluff, to do revisions.
Casting Recurring characters Lieutenant Bressler (Harry Guardino) and Frank DiGiorgio (Mitchum) reprise their roles for the last time in a Dirty Harry film. Bressler was Callahan's boss in the first film of the series; DiGiorgio appeared in the previous two, but dies in this film. A new character, Captain Jerome McKay (Dillman), was introduced as Callahan's superior officer. Dillman played a similar role, Captain Briggs, in Sudden Impact.
Albert Popwell also returns as a character in this film, having played the Bank Robber in the first film of the series and Sidney the pimp in Magnum Force.
The character of Kate Moore, Harry's female partner, went to Tyne Daly. Daly's casting was initially uncertain, given that she turned down the role three times. She objected to the way her character was treated in parts of the film and showed concern that two members of the police force falling in love on the job was problematic, given that they would be putting their lives in jeopardy by not reaching peak efficiency. Daly was permitted to read the drafts of the script developed by Riesner and had significant leeway in the development of her character, although after seeing the film at the premiere, was horrified by the extent of the violence. Regarding Callahan's relationship with Moore, Eastwood stated:"Starting Over: 1970-1990". You Must Remember This: The Warner Bros. Story (2008)
Filming When production began, the working title of the film was Dirty Harry III, in keeping with other sequels of the time. Eastwood felt that the film needed a title of its own, and in the middle of production came up with The Enforcer.
After his disputes with Ted Post on the set of the previous Dirty Harry installment, Eastwood fully intended to direct The Enforcer himself. Eastwood's replacement of Philip Kaufman on The Outlaw Josey Wales (and the consequent need to handle post-production on that film) left him without enough time to prepare himself to direct The Enforcer. As a result, Eastwood gave the director's chair to James Fargo, his longtime assistant director, who made his debut as a full director on this film. Eastwood had the final say on all the critical decisions, but since the two men were far more familiar with each other's working styles than Eastwood had been with Ted Post, they rarely butted heads during production.
Filming commenced in the San Francisco Bay area in the summer of 1976. Eastwood was initially still dubious about the quantity of his lines and preferred a less talkative approach, something perhaps embedded in him by Sergio Leone.McGilligan (1999), p.276 The film ended up considerably shorter than the previous Dirty Harry films, and was cut to 95 minutes for its final running time.
The music score for The Enforcer was written by Jerry Fielding, making The Enforcer the only Dirty Harry film without a score by Lalo Schifrin. The film 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. Eastwood never intended to make more Dirty Harry films, but private agreements with the studio allowed him to do more "personal" films in exchange for doing the subsequent sequels.
Reception Critical response