Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 14, 1974)
W' V v V w 4 4 , m v - ' - ,," . " V ' ' ' ' . -i i - i At the end of the film Dirty Harry, Clint Eastwood takes off his detective's badge and throws it into the water along SlHp tho flrvnt-ini knJ.i U i - ..vuiuiy wuy ui nit; indHidc sniper-muraerer ne nas just killed. He is disgusted at the hindering legal system that had given him so much trouble in apprehending his criminal. But in Magnum Force, a sequel to Dirty Harry, the badge is back on and Detective Harry Callahan once more is on the job amid stranae characters anH wnmoH rhiincrr.h;Qr i,r,A : , - " ' fv- 1 1 jvpi I iiij IWUMU III a San Francisco background. Except for Eastwood and a lot of S action, the films have little in common. Magnum Force finds Harry up against a group of killers, dressed like oolicemen who city's biggest crime leaders. Harry is still his independent self, plagued by a hounding police supervisor (Hal Holbrook) who riA iwivk u LZ a : I - I . B cuetiive, dux violent, metnous. The arrangement of the forces of good and evil are much more complex than in Dirty Harry. That film was almost a piece of propaganda against the liberals and their choking off o an effective means for the police to combat crime. The evil there was a maddened killer, released on a legai technicality and finally eliminated only by the frowned-upon methods of Harry. Evil was easily defined and identifiable. It killed innocent young persons, and the audience was manipulated to desire only one end-to see this contemptible rot hurt and squashed. In Magnum Force things are not so easy. The film is meaningful in terms of contemporary politics and seems not so much a product of its director (Ted Post, a rather mediocre filmmaker with past credits like Hang 'Em High, Bsneath the Planet of the Apex and The Harrod Experiment) as it does of its screenwriter and author, John Milius. Milius perhaps is the foremost figure in a recent trend that has seen young, brash, film schooled and coltecjo-bred writers emerge as a strong force in Hollywood. The movie soon lets us know that the villains are a small group of rookie traffic cops. They a;e well trained end deadly shots who are working for a corrupt high official in the police force. When we first see them, they are nice guys well-groomed and likeable All-American types. They seem a reflection on the Watergate era when some of the real villains arc within the system and not so easily identified or as easy to hate. But they are brutally efttctive nonetheless, easily stopping cars on the highway and then simply firing slug after slug into the bodies of criminal bi(j shuts. In Dirty Harry, the poiico were getting killed-now the police are the Killers. Where he had previously cione outside tho legal system, Hurry now seems to sink back into it. "You hate the system", he says, ' but until some one comes up with some changes like something he would have said in Dirty Harry,, but situations have changed. Thot film was propaganda for police power, arid this one shows where it has led." Harry as an independent also uses that power, but he is stil! the incorruptible, brave protector of the people. Eastwood is perfect for the part. He is ihe cjreat stone face of the '70s; a cool daring, rugged character whose style reflects his hug box office appeal. Kids in the film love him, anct tho young woman who lives down the hall asks him point blank, if she can go to bed with him. He is not dynamic superhero. He is tho type who c;n boatd a hijacked airplane impersonating a pi!ot, even though ho has no idea how to fly. A few minutes later he will walk away, th hijackers dead and the passengers safe. Cool and unemotional, he is, as Eastwood himself put it, "a dream character for most , t men. The ending is not as satisfying as the test of the film. Instead of the hunter, it finds Harr being chased by the young policemen trying to kill him because he knows their secret. It is worth noting that here is not seen handsome smiling faces of young men. All that is visible is the grim determination hidden behind the sunglasses, helmets and uniforms. But Magnum Force remains, above ali this, a very good action entertainer that holds the moviegoer on the edge of his chair for an exciting, fast -paced ride. It is probably not as technically manipulative ;s Dirty Harry, but it is equally as meaningful. Especially during times when criminals are being found in unexpected places and the mean?, perhaps, do riot always justify the end. ft A i a. r v W . I ? 1 tK 4, I ,V I, :Vr. ., .i 'r iff x j - r Clint Eastwood takes airu in Mdynum Form. S )Vv , Mill I m HIS imU !. lilllillILIMIWllICWaJBa Your toughest professor just caught you in his bedroom with his daughter. He's grading your final exam right now. Good luck, ''7? rrr STARTS mm on uh ttfia aw cm mui 3 tw trx pvs rww ac w ona Coupon Expires Jan. 21 l i 5 E S fcyj ff4 S jfja W ! CjuufioiyiJ i Ui e THIS COUPON GOOD FOR 50c TOWARDS PURCHASE OF ANY SANDWICH, SPAGHETTI OHDfRS, LASAGNE ORDERS, SALAD, BUNCH OF LUNCH 'PIZZA, GALiC ROLLS OR CHILI ORDERS 'AT SHAKEV'S? Food & Fun SING A - LONG Co-re Room Pilchers of beer $) o--A0 p.m. nightly f (Excepf Surtday) I i i 1 I 360 MO. 48th (KlWlW 464-8323 f SHI M ak MM Mfti iW MCiil ftiim CVV ilb SOSft 4m fCMB Mffi if is & O - f - o i i 1 I ,4 : m : il ! m ' ,,!i!l i rat i&t-jvi tin TT;TTn i ii Si ! II I ' Ml n o p 1 j 1 1 1 if M III:. All: 3 if 13 "flit H BIS . K..iWM.imliiiriMmMwL " km fj"-? 1 o "1 ', 2-1 13