Monday, August 27, 2012

134 - Sudden Impact

    Harry Callahan investigates a murder, and his boss gets fed up, and transfers him to San Paulo to get him out of the way.  It turns out a lady is killing off a group of people who raped her and her sister ten years prior, and Harry is caught investigating the whole thing.
    I liked this a little more than the last one, which felt pretty scattershot.  This one is much more focused, and Harry doesn't have as many side adventures.  But it does have some real weaknesses.  Mostly, it's a little dated.  It came out at the end of 1983, and it has the action music to show it.  Synth drum rolls all over the place.  The movie ends with the last bad guy falling from a great height, and being impaled on a carousel horse.  When it happens, it looks like the cheesiest action ending possible.
    There's also an effort to insert some humor into the movie.  Harry has a small bulldog that he has to take care of, which he names Meathead.  There are two instances apiece of Meathead 1) urinating on something, and 2) farting when he turns around.
    And personally, I don't like that Harry never puts Meathead on a leash.  It's pointed out to him his first time out that there are leash laws.  He just never cares about it.

    The plot is pretty much standard female revenge stuff.  Not as gory as I Spit on your Grave, but still the same basic story.  Checking the wiki article - yes, the movie was adapted from a different project into being a Dirty Harry movie.  Eastwood directed this one, and he did a good job.  There are a fair number of memorable shots.  It's understandable.  For some reason, some of the shots look like they have a soft focus, but I can't tell if that was intentional.  It usually just blurs light a bit.

    A few other things.  The victims are shot in the head.  In at least two of the instances, the person lets out a slumping moan after they collapse.
    There's a very classy sequence near the end, as the lady is hiding from her attackers on a carousel.  This is really cool - every shot is moving in several directions, the lighting is low, but just enough to see what's happening.

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