Plot: What’s it about?
Detective Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is at it again. Still the renegade, rebel cop, Harry seems to get in one mishap after the other. A serial killer is on the loose in the streets of San Francisco shooting men in their genitals and then the head. Why? The killings then move south to a small town and it’s Harry who is forced to investigate. We do learn that it’s Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) who is the one doing the killings, we know this from the get-go. We also learn through a series of flashbacks that Jennifer and her sister (who was still in high school at the time) were gang raped by a group of men and one woman who encouraged it all. Some ten years in the past, it has affected Jennifer and she has finally sought out physical revenge against all of those involved. So, one by one, she has been going around killing them all to get even. On a side note, her sister is in a near comatose state as a result of the incident some years back. Meanwhile Harry can’t seem running into trouble where ever he turns and if he’s not jumping out of cars that are on fire, he’s shooting men robbing restaurants muttering some phrase "Go ahead…make my day". Hmmmm…never heard of it.
As the case leads him to a smaller town south of San Francisco, he is teamed with the local law enforcement there under the command of Captain Briggs (Pat Hingle). Briggs is aware of Callahan’s reputation and instantly does not like him. Harry is doing research and it turns out that he and Jennifer bump into each other, literally. As the two become closer (they were linked romantically off screen as well), it becomes more of a challenge for Jennifer to go about her killing of the half dozen people who responsible for raping her. Harry, on the other hand, is going about his business as a detective trying to solve the case. What ever are they to do?
It had been seven years since the last Dirty Harry movie, The Enforcer, and by this time the franchise was starting to lose it’s life (no pun intended). I found Sudden Impact to be almost boring despite the constant killing and gunfire. Eastwood seems to be merely going through the motions as Dirty Harry here and maybe this is why there was only one more Dirty Harry movie after this. While the movie is most famous for it’s one liner "Go ahead…make my day", this is used in the first fifteen minutes of the movie and gives you nothing to look forward to. With the same cast as a lot of Eastwood’s movies (Pat Hingle, Sondra Locke) it feels like a recycled version of The Gauntlet. Though this title does bear the Dirty Harry name, I could really do without it. Still, some people love this movie and if you’re one of them, it looks good and sounds good as well. So consider your day made.
Video: How does it look?
Presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 image, the film has a very good look to it. While not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, it’s the best this film has had the chance to look. The colors are warm and rich and the level of detail is excellent, though in some scenes it tends to fade out a bit and give a softer feel to it. Black levels are right on target, as this is a dark movie in more than one facet. A bit of artifacting and some slight edge enhancement are the only problems I really saw with the transfer. When Harry mutters “Go ahead…make my day”, there’s a bit of shimmering. Aside from that, no problems persist!
Audio: How does it sound?
Like the rest of the Dirty Harry movies in the series, Sudden Impact has a re-mastered Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. While none of the Dirty Harry movies sound terrific, this is one of the better-sounding ones. I would make the assumption that it’s because of the age of the film that it sound a bit better than its predecessors. Dialogue has a tiny bit of distortion to it, but nothing too distracting. I caught a few times when the surrounds kicked in, but not many. On the whole, it’s a good track, but it doesn’t enhance the experience too much. I will say, however, that I caught Harry’s .44 magnum activating the sub almost every time he fired (and that was a LOT), so that may help things a bit.
Supplements: What are the extras?
Sudden Impact has the fewest amount of features out of the set, it contains the original theatricfal trailer in anamorphic widescreen as well as the “Memorable Lines” found on all the other discs. A few production notes are also found.
