The Enforcer

Dirty Harry part three doggedly revives the formula of its predecessors, with Eastwood again the tough San Francisco cop, at odds with his liberal superiors, stalking psychopaths, this time a supposedly revolutionary group of kill-crazy kids. Whereas the earlier films went some way to exploring the political and personal tensions of operating as a modern lawman, this simplifies to the point of crudity - 'It's a war, isn't it?' - and misuses Eastwood's monolithic presence, primarily as a butt for gags like lumbering him with a female partner. This last could have worked, especially with Eastwood tiring of his image (cf. The Outlaw Josey Wales), but the scriptwriters fail dismally to develop the relationship, opting instead for a predictable one-note comedy of encumbrance. Yet despite inferior contributions from most departments, Eastwood carries the picture, and Tyne Daly does well as the female cop against very stacked odds.