BEFORE: I'm going to use this opportunity to drop in the rest of the "Dirty Harry" films, with Clint Eastwood carrying over from "Tightrope". I watched the first two films in the series back in 2010, and now I can finish, thanks to the Encore channel, which ran them all a month or two ago. Without ads - see, Fox Movies, it CAN be done.
It's easy enough to switch from serial killer films to cop films - since most killer films have cops in them, and vice versa. Cinematically speaking, they need each other. But there's a special connection here, since the first film in the series found Harry Callahan tracking a serial killer named Scorpio, loosely based on the Zodiac killer. And Dave Toschi, one of the S.F. cops who worked that case, was sort of the inspiration for Dirty Harry as a result.
THE PLOT: Dirty Harry must foil a terrorist organization made up of disgruntled Vietnam veterans. But this time, he's teamed with a rookie female partner that he's not too excited to be working with.
FOLLOW-UP TO: "Dirty Harry" (Movie #589) and "Magnum Force" (Movie #590)
AFTER: Harry Callahan is back, once again playing by his own rules and bucking the system. Trouble is, that makes this film feel a little bit by the numbers, without the presence of a "Go ahead, make my day!" moment - guess I have to wait for tomorrow's film for that.
The closest it comes is when Harry stops a liquor store robbery and hostage situation in his own break-the-rules style. After that, it's all pretty much downhill. It's sort of sad that there was a time in film history when "Vietnam vet" was shorthand for "renegade gun nut". That kind of sells a lot of people short, if you ask me. Somehow the Vietnam vets, Black Panthers and gun stockpilers are all linked together here, but I'm thinking there might not have been too much crossover between those groups in reality.
It's also hard to remember a time when women weren't an active part of the police force. 1976, the bicentennial year, firmly in-between the year the Equal Rights Amendment was passed, but a few years before it expired without ratification in 1982. So clearly it was a hot topic - and no doubt some people hemmed and hawed about female cops the way that people do so now about gay marriage or gays in the military.
Women could be on the police force in the 1970's, but it seems like they were relegated to desk jobs or perhaps writing traffic tickets. We couldn't give a loaded gun to a woman with PMS, obviously. Women are irrational, hormonal creatures, after all. God, it sounds so antiquated, it's not even humorous.
All these sexist and anti-hippie and racist sensibilities come together and form a very average piece of cinema. Unless I'm missing something. I liked the use of Alcatraz island as scenery - it reminded me that Clint Eastwood was also in "Escape From Alcatraz".
Also starring Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, Bradford Dillman.
RATING: 5 out of 10 rocket launchers
"Suitable For Framing," a 1971 episode of "Columbo." A wealthy art collector has apparently been murdered in his home by a burglar who apparently made off with some priceless ($40,000!) Degas sketches. Columbo and other cops are swarming over the crime scene, collecting evidence. Columbo calls in to Central: we need a female cop!
ReplyDeleteYes! Because Columbo knows that in these sexist times, some of the best minds on the police force are underutilized. This is a perfect opportunity to call in a bright young graduate of the academy he met recently, a woman with a sharp intellect, a keen sense of justice, and expert familiarity with the art world!
Mmm...no.
He has a theory that the "burglar" that the security guard heard running away from the house was a woman. He has the cop run down the back stone pathway while the guard listens. Yes, the shoes he heard were definitely ladies' heels.
Oh, and she was in a police uniform that basically made her look like the senior stewardess on a flight crew.
Yay, sexism!