Magnum Force (1973) on Netflix
A motorcycle officer guns down a mob boss acquitted on a technicality, and more killings of criminals follow. Inspector Harry Callahan takes the case against Lieutenant Neil Briggs's wishes.
- Netflix3.7/5
- IMDb7.2/1072,446 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes67%
Trailer
Plot summary
Carmine Ricca, a San Francisco Mafia boss, leaves the courthouse cleared of mass murder on a technicality, and a motorcycle officer pulls his limousine over on the road and shoots everyone inside. Inspector Harry Callahan and his new partner, Earlington Smith, called Early, reach the scene, and Lieutenant Neil Briggs would rather Callahan stayed away from the case. More killings follow, each victim a criminal the courts have let go, and City Hall presses the police to stop them. Callahan takes down airplane hijackers and a drugstore holdup, and among police and a public fed up with the system the unknown shooter is admired.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Magnum Force (1973)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Terrence Malick had introduced the rogue-cop death squad concept in an unused draft for the first film, Dirty Harry; director Don Siegel disliked the idea and had Malick's draft thrown out, but Clint Eastwood remembered it for this film.
SPOILER
The film received negative publicity in 1974 when the scene in which the prostitute, played by Margaret Avery, is killed with drain cleaner was found to have allegedly inspired the Hi-Fi murders; the two killers said they were looking for a unique murder method when they stumbled upon the film.- Eastwood had numerous disputes with Post during filming over who was calling the shots, and refused to authorize two important scenes Post had directed because of time and expenses; one was at the climax, a long shot of Eastwood on his motorcycle as he confronts the rogue cops.
- With Milius committed to filming Dillinger, Michael Cimino was later hired to revise the script, overseen by Ted Post, who was to direct. According to Milius, his own "simple script" did not contain any of the final action sequences, the car chase and the climax on the aircraft carriers.
SPOILER
The drain cleaner reference was repeated in at least two other films, Heathers in 1988 and Urban Legend in 1998; according to John Milius, the drain-cleaner scene was never meant to be filmed at all and was only mentioned in his original script.- Milius was a gun aficionado and political conservative, and the film would extensively feature gun shooting in practice, competition and on the job; given that strong theme, the title was soon changed from Vigilance to Magnum Force in deference to the .44 magnum that Harry used.
