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Sudden
Impact (1983)   
Preceded
by:
The Enforcer (1976)
Succeeded by:
The Dead Pool (1988)
Review
In the only entry in the
Dirty Harry series
directed by Clint himself, Harry Callahan finds himself in pursuit of a
seemingly sexually motivated serial killer, of course while also battling his superiors over protocol and methods. The latter has
become tediously repetitive by now, but the main plot line, which is
told from the perspective of Sondra Locke's character, has a crude
Hitchcockian quality. This obvious nod to the master of suspense is
Eastwood's best achievement in an otherwise often stupidifying film.
Harry Callahan himself no longer seems to be on a mission to serve and
protect; he's just a crooked cop rebelling against authorities and
protocol – or normal police work, if you will. And Clint's increasingly
wooden acting makes him lifeless to boot. The same can be said about his
interplay with real-life partner Sondra Locke. They seem to be on
completely different wavelengths. The only player adding some zest here
is Paul Drake as the main villain, but as with the rest of the bad guys,
he is wildly over the top – probably a defence mechanism to
avoid dealing with the jungle of personality disorders they harbour.
The film's best asset: yet another evocative jazz score from Lalo
Schifrin.
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