Sudden Impact (1983, Clint Eastwood)
Sudden Impact is the absolute nadir of the Dirty Harry series. Even with Clint himself at the helm, Harry's four go-around is really something awful, a nasty, dull and tiresome flick with little to commend it but grisly violence and a few one-liners.
In this go-around, Harry is put on forced vacation after he literally scares a Mob boss (Michael V. Gazzo) to death. Harry is dragooned into helping the small town of San Paolo investigate a serial killer, and immediately butts heads with the local authorities. He also falls for local artist Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke), who is quite obviously the serial killer and why bother to pretend it's a mystery?
Sudden Impact is a boring and tired film, no doubt reflecting Clint's own growing disinterest in the series. The script slavishly follows the series conventions, with Harry busting up a robbery, dispensing pithy quotes, losing an expendable partner (Albert Popwell, having renounced his criminal ways) and sparring with testy superiors. The plot is thoroughly predictable, with Clint borrowing Sergio Leone-style flashbacks and the mirror-shooting bit from Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. And don't get me started on the godawful ending, which wouldn't have passed muster on Walker, Texas Ranger.
Clint's direction is lazy, with boring camera work and by-the-numbers action: his heart clearly isn't in the film. The only creative action scene is an amusing bit where Harry pursues a criminal by driving a bus full of bloodthirsty seniors. He also amps up the violence and sadism: the rape flashbacks are shown at length, our killer gets her jollies shooting people in the balls, and Clint repeatedly punches out a nasty lesbian (Audrey J. Nienan) for laughs. Lovely.
Clint is in fine form in front of the camera, as always: His "Go ahead, make my day!" remains one of the all-time great movie lines. Unfortunately, he surrounds himself with a gaggle of horrible supporting actors, who take up way too much screen time with haphazard ham. All of them are just plain bad, with a special shout-out to Sondra Locke, Clint's partner of the time. The girl is unattractive and thoroughly untalented, and is a blight on every film Clint shoe-horned her into. So it is here, 'twas ever us.
The Dead Pool (1988, Buddy Van Horn)
Harry's final outing is miles better. The Dead Pool is no less derivative of its predecessors than Sudden Impact, but it's far more palatable due to a welcome injection of self-parody. Hey, when you're fifty-eight and still playing a two-fisted action hero, you'd better be able to poke fun at yourself.
This time, Harry finds himself placed in a "dead pool" list of celebrities betted on by a group of ghoulish gamblers. Harry doesn't take kindly to this, and his investigation initially leads him to arrogant film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson), whose star (Jim Carrey) died in mysterious circumstances - and whose list matches the pattern of killings. Harry must avoid this new killer along with the thugs of another Mob boss (Anthony Charnota) while romancing pretty reporter Samantha (Patricia Clarkson).
The Dead Pool avoids being another tired rehash through Steve Sharon's witty script, which plays most of its material for laughs. The film is effectively a ninety-minute pisstake, with Harry going through the motions with a clever wink and nod. In one of the funniest action scenes ever, Harry and his partner are chased around San Francisco by a remote control car! Whether that's awesome or awful, I leave for you to decide. Other scenes have Harry intimidating an incarcertated gangster with a well-muscled inmate (Diego Chairs), and brandishing a harpoon (!) at film's climax. The puerile and hypocritical attacks on media violence are easy to ignore in the overall spirit of fun.
Clint's getting up there in years but he's as feisty as ever. As Clint would continue to play variants of Harry for years to come (The Rookie, In the Line of Fire, Gran Torino), it's nice to see him practice self-deprecation. He's backed by a good supporting cast, for once: Evan C. Kim is easily Harry's most likeable partner, Patricia Clarkson (The Untouchables) makes a charming love interest and Jim Carrey shines in a pre-stardom bit part. Liam Neeson (Batman Begins) plays a boring jerk director and David Hunt's (TV's Everybody Loves Raymond, oddly enough) psycho is equally one-note.
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