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Sudden Impact

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Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact theatrical poster
This file may be deleted at any time.
Directed byClint Eastwood
Written byCharles B. Pierce
Earl E. Smith
Joseph Stinson
Produced byClint Eastwood
StarringClint Eastwood
Sondra Locke
Paul Drake
CinematographyBruce Surtees
Edited byJoel Cox
Music byLalo Schifrin
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release dates
December 9, 1983
Running time
117 min.
Country United States
LanguageEnglish
This article is about the movie. For the monster truck, see Sudden Impact (truck).

Sudden Impact is a 1983 movie and the 4th film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood. The movie is probably best remembered for Harry's catch phrase "Go ahead, make my day.", often incorrectly attributed to the original movie in the franchise. In 2005, it was voted in a poll by the American Film Institute as the sixth most memorable line in cinema history. It is widely considered to be the dirtiest and most violent, of the series next to Magnum Force.

Plot

Years have passed since he foiled the psychotic Scorpio Killer, corrupted officer Lt. Neil Briggs, and the unruly People's Revolutionary Strike Force. But now Harry Callahan, now in his 50's, is back on the trail of a new cold-blooded killer, who may be more dangerous than himself or any of the killers he ever faced.

Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) and her sister were gang raped years ago, after a female friend of the gang, Ray Parkins and had persuaded them to come to a fair. The brutal rape left the sister permanently catatonic and almost vegetative. Jennifer is now out for revenge. She kills her attackers one by one, shooting them first in the genitals then between the eyes, except for the female who is shot in the heart.

In the beginning of the film, Jennifer is seen with one of the rapists named George Wilburn (Michael Maurer). It is early morning and she is with him in a car when she kills him. After the murder, she leaves without a trace. Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) in the meantime is seen in a court room where he has brought a young blonde haired suspect named Hawkins (Kevyn Major Howard) to trial. The case is dismissed as a travesty because Harry did not have the right to seize the evidence used to prove Hawkins guilty.

File:Sudden-impact-10.jpg
"Go ahead, make my day."

After insulting Hawkins in the elevator ("To me you're nothing but dog shit"), Harry goes to his usual coffee diner and orders the usual black coffee. The waitress tries getting his attention by pouring massive amounts of sugar into his coffee and Harry, who is reading a newspaper, does not notice. As he walks out, he takes a sip of coffee and spits it out in disgust. As he returns to complain, he sees that the open signs were switched to closed. A robbery ensues but Harry stops it, going in the back way where he shoots up the gang of robbers. One is left alive and grabs the waitress as hostage, but Harry points his .44 Magnum handgun at him and says a very famous line written by Joseph C. Sinston, "Go ahead, make my day."

The police arrive shortly afterward when the robber drops his gun. Jennifer, meanwhile, is shown at an art exhibit but claims that she must miss it because she needs to visit someone up north. She arrives at a hospital to visit her vegetated sister, Elizabeth. Jennifer tells of what she did to George Wilburn and then leaves her sister. Later that night, Harry is at a mobster named Threlkis' granddaughter's wedding party. Harry antagonizes Threlkis (Michael V. Gazzo) in front of his own granddaughter, accusing him of killing a young hooker. Threlkis faints as Callahan pulls out papers where the hooker may have confessed everything and he dies of a heart attack.

The following day, Callahan and the rest of the cops are investigating the car containing the deceased George Wilburn in it. Wilburn has his genitals shot and his head with a bullet in it. Shortly afterwards, Callahan is talking to his superiors, Captain Briggs (Bradford Dillman), Lieutenant Donnelly (Michael Currie) and the Police Chief. He is lectured about how he handled the Threlkis case, and Callahan is defensive on how that case was his to handle. His superiors demand that Callahan relax and take a vacation.

After Callahan leaves a restaurant that same night, he is attacked by four of Threlkis's hitmen. After killing three of them, one escapes. Lieutenant Donnelly then orders Callahan to not be so reckless and demands he take a break with "peace". Out in the forest, Callahan practices shooting with his .44 Automag handgun. His friend Horace King (Albert Popwell) shows up shortly afterwards to talk to him, convincing him he had the best place for Callahan to go for a vacation.

Driving home in San Francisco late at night, Callahan is attacked by Hawkins and his buddies. The chase results in Hawkins and his friends dead, having driven off a pier into the water in their car. Lieutenant Donnelly sees that this is the last straw and orders Callahan to investigate the Wilburn killing. Callahan relucantly agrees and is sent down to San Paulo (Santa Cruz). Without realizing it, Jennifer Spencer has also gone down to San Paulo to fully exact revenge on her rapists who live there. Her story for staying at San Paulo is to renew the carousel house and paint the merry-go-round horses at the San Paulo Fairgrounds (Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk). While walking on the beach at the fairgrounds, there is a flashback of Jennifer and her sister's rape and it is shown what actually happened.

During the time in San Paulo, Callahan receives a bulldog named Meathead from Horace in his hotel room. He also stops a bank robbery in progress when he arrives and he saves the life of young Officer Bennett (Mark Keyloun). While taking Meathead for a walk, he runs into Jennifer who falls off her bicycle when Meathead barks at her. The two have a brief exchange of words and then part. At night, Callahan walks into a bar for a beer and meets the malicious Ray Parkins. After insulting Ray, Callahan demands to know if anyone knows George Wilburn. When he tells how Wilburn died, Ray just starts a raucous laughter which pursues to a laugh riot.

Kruger (Jack Thibeau), one of the rapists, goes fishing at the beach the following morning only to be followed by Jennifer and murdered in the same fashion Wilburn was. When his body is reported to the cops, Callahan shows up only to be yelled at by Chief Jannings (Pat Hingle) for continually interferring with the San Paulo's police job. Back in the San Paulo police station, Callahan asks Bennett to find out anything he knows about the case. Harry finds a picture of Jannings' son's friends on the wall, and he has Bennett investigate that too. At dusk, Callahan stops by Mrs. Kruger's fish market only to be kicked out after brawling with her brothers Eddie (Russ McCubbin) and Carl (Robert Sutton).

Callahan is attacked by the missing hitman who was hired by Threlkis later that night at the motel, and he ends up killing him. Ray Parkins (Audrie J. Neenan) talks to Tyrone (Wendall Wellman), another rapist, about what is happening. Tyrone disregards her and tells her to leave his store. Later that day, Tyrone is also killed by Jennifer. Callahan meets up with Jennifer again at an outdoor restaurant. The two talk again in a more polite manner and converse about the murders. Upon hearing Callahan is a cop, Jennifer becomes worried that he is on to her.

Now with Wilburn, Kruger and Tyrone dead, Ray Parkins calls Mick (Paul Drake), the leader of the rapists, to come down for help from Las Vegas. When Callahan finds Tyrone dead, he heads over to Ray's house at night and sees Jennifer's car parked out front. Jennifer hides, and Callahan goes inside to find Ray. Mick attacks Callahan, and after a brawl, Callahan takes Mick as prisoner to the police station. Then Jennifer enters and confronts Ray. Ray Parkins being a woman, she is shot first in the heart and then the head.

Meanwhile, Mick is bailed out by Eddie and Carl while Callahan returns to Ray Parkins' house only to find the woman dead. Horace is seen driving up to Callahan's motel that same night to visit him- he is carrying his powerful shotgun and some alcohol. Upon arrival into Callahan's room, Horace is greeted by Mick, Eddie and Carl, who slit his throat and steal his gun. After buying a few beers, Callahan meets up with Jennifer late at night by the pier. The two talk and this time Jennifer invites Callahan up for a drink at her place, where he sleeps with her. After a brief sleep, Harry gets out of bed when it is still dark and goes to Mrs. Kruger's fish market after Officer Bennett informs him that Eddie and Carl bailed Mick out.

As Callahan leaves after receiving no cooperation from Mrs. Kruger (Nancy Parsons), he is ambushed by Mick, Eddie and Carl. A melee ensues with Callahan being dumped into the water, his .44 Magnum handgun lost. Jennifer is then seen going to the house of Alby (Matthew Child), who is Chief Jannings's son. She prepares to kill Alby only to find out that Alby is in a vegetative state just like her own sister. Jennifer is stopped cold by Jannings who orders her to drop her gun. After doing so, Jannings explained how he covered up the rape because he was a public figure and the guilt drove Alby insane which caused him to drive straight into a wall.

Suddenly Mick arrives with Eddie and Carl who takes Jennifer hostage then shoots Jannings when he reaches for the gun. At the film's climax, Eddie and Carl (led by Mick) manage to turn the tables on Jennifer, and are set to gang-rape her again at the same fairground a decade earlier. Jennifer puts up a fight and seeks shelter in the carousel where she turns it on and hides in it. After desperately fleeing from the merry-go-round, Jennifer runs out followed by Mick and his two friends, but Callahan's silhouette appears on the boardwalk, and he is holding the .44 Automag handgun. While Eddie and Carl are killed, Mick is left, using Jennifer as a shield. With nowhere left to go, Mick forces her up the roller coaster (Giant Dipper) where they stop at the turnaround point and Mick taunts Callahan who is watching below. Jennifer is able to punch Mick after he gets too cocky and Callahan takes the bait, and fires 4 times into Mick's chest. The rapist topples off the roller coaster and directly down onto the moving merry-go-round where he impales himself on the horn of a unicorn.

Justice is finally given to Jennifer at the end of the movie. Callahan decides to let Mick be misidentified as the killer, allowing Jennifer to remain free.

Cast

Reagan tribute

  • Ronald Reagan used the "make my day" line in a speech threatening to veto legislation raising taxes.

Production Notes

  • Harry is seen wearing Gargoyles sunglasses - the sunglasses were later made famous by Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Terminator (1984).
  • Bradford Dillman is seen in the film as Captain Briggs; in the previous film, The Enforcer, he portrayed Captain Jerome McKay. It is unknown if McKay and Briggs are distant relatives. Hal Holbrook played Lieutenant Briggs in Magnum Force.
  • Contrary to popular belief, the .44 Automag used by Callahan was not an AMT firearm, but one built specifically for this film. [1]
  • Harry drives a tan 1974 Plymouth Satellite sedan, similar to the one he had in the last film, The Enforcer. In the previous film, he drove through the front of a liquor store although his unmarked cruiser in the film was fire-bombed by a Molotov cocktail.
  • Roberta Flack sings "This Side of Forever" for the end credits of this movie; this is an extended version of the usual Dirty Harry end credit theme.
  • The film marks the second time that Harry loses his .44 Magnum, this time he loses it as he was being beaten up in the boardwalk by Mick and his henchmen who have manage to kick the gun right out of his hand and into the water.
  • Many of the film's scenes were filmed in Santa Cruz, California. The memorable chase scene in the downtown business district offers a rare glimpse of the area before it was devastated by the Loma Prieta earthquake of October 17, 1989.
  • The highest grossing film in the Dirty Harry series making more than $67 million.[citation needed]

References

  1. ^ http://www.the-dirtiest.com/automag.htm

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