Great Film overall

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

"Magnum Force" is almost as good as the original "Dirty Harry". The action never lets up yet manages never to exhaust the viewer. It has a nice little mystery yet it's not a whodunnit. It's a macho movie but it doesn't mock the squares like Clint's also great "Thunderbolt and Lightfoot". Add to the mix a topless Suzanne Somers and you get a fantastic piece of entertainment.

Magnum Force (1973)Plot In A Paragraph: Dirty Harry is on the trail of vigilante cops who are not above going beyond the law to kill the city's undesirables.How do you follow up one of the best movies of the 70's?? By making a solid sequel like this is the answer!! Magnum Force is not only a worthy sequel, it's a really good movie in general. Hal Holbrook is an actor I've always liked seeing and David Soul is fine too, but this is Clint's movie and he dominates every scene from start to finish. Magnum Force was Clint's biggest hit at this point as it grossed $39 million at the domestic box office to become the 6th highest grossing movie of 1973.

As sequels go this is a tad better than the majority and gives Clint Eastwood a chance to develop his Dirty Harry Callaghan persona. Unlike at least one other person I had no problem with the sequence where Callaghan foils an attempted plane hi-jack. Whilst it's true it has nothing to do with the main plot - finding out who comprise the vigilantes within the department - it reminds us that Harry gets results albeit via unorthodox methods and telegraphs that sooner or later he'll root out the vigilantes. It would have been nicer if Hal Holbrook didn't make it so easy for the audience to catch wise to him but overall it's a satisfying and entertaining divertissment.

The second "Dirty Harry" film, directed by Ted Post (a friend of star Clint Eastwood's from their days in television), is full of smash-ups, crash-ups, a pimp killing a prostitute with drain cleaner down her throat, a metal girder catching a crime czar right in the face, and a police inspector (Eastwood's partner) dispatched in a shameful manner--by opening a bobby-trapped mailbox! The plot is inverted from 1971's "Dirty Harry"--this time, the kids are all right and the cops are the bad guys. No matter; Eastwood's Harry Callahan dispatches with the legalities and mows down the crooked rookies just as he did with the hippie sniper from the predecessor. The screenwriters (John Milius and Michael Cimino!) don't even attempt to recognize the irony inherent in the scenario--it's just a plot gimmick to them, another way to go with this character. Still, for fans of completely mindless action fare, one could do worse than "Magnum Force". It has built-in audience approval, which is impossible to shake; one goes into the movie knowing exactly what to expect--and enjoying that all expectations are fully met. Post keeps it moving--thumping, thumping--like an erotic dance for would-be assassins. ** from ****