Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: Notesfiles; site uokvax.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!mhuxj!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uokvax!lmaher From: lmaher@uokvax.UUCP Newsgroups: net.movies Subject: Re: "Tightrope" and Dirty Harry Message-ID: <3900064@uokvax.UUCP> Date: Thu, 20-Sep-84 18:23:00 EDT Article-I.D.: uokvax.3900064 Posted: Thu Sep 20 18:23:00 1984 Date-Received: Wed, 26-Sep-84 01:16:47 EDT References: <1013@ucla-cs.UUCP> Lines: 80 Nf-ID: #R:ucla-cs:-101300:uokvax:3900064:000:3084 Nf-From: uokvax!lmaher Sep 20 17:23:00 1984 < "Do you feel lucky, bug?" > Re: "Tightrope": >/***** uokvax:net.movies / ucla-cs!reiher / 5:19 pm Sep 18, 1984 */ > > "Yep, it's another "Dirty Harry" look-alike ..." > Terry Laskodi >Similarities: > > 3. Both cops are divorced. No, Harry Callahan's wife is dead. He mentions it to his partner's wife in the first movie. This was my major point, so haters-of-magnum-action can stop here if they like. >Well, that's about it for similarities, and I've included the similarities of >style and tone as well as those of plot. Now for other side. > >Differences: > > 1. Dirty Harry movies are all extremely violent. The purpose of these I would hardly say extremely, certainly not for the first movie. All the bloodshed in all four movies put together would equal a few minutes of The Wild Bunch, which is *my* idea of an "extremely violent movie." > 2. Dirty Harry is a loner without any emotional ties, except maybe I agree with this. Dirty Harry isn't even all that close to his partners. Considering their mortality rate, a wise choice. > 3. Dirty Harry operates in complete contempt of the law. He'll get > the bad guys any way he can; if he has to break some laws to > do it, tough luck. Fans of these films would say he prefers > justice to law. Opponents say that what's really operating > is revenge. Harry follows the letter of the law, and what he sees as the spirit - to protect the public. Note that where Harry transgresses is against court decisions that view a trial as a technical exercise in detail, not a search for truth. In the first movie, Harry let the bank robber fire at him *first* before he fired back. There are very few officers who would've given a man with a shotgun that much of an opportunity. > 4. A few teases in "Sudden Impact" to the contrary, Dirty Harry > isn't really interested in sex. It takes out too much time This is a little overstated. And Block's preoccupation with sex is partially a result of working vice. > 5. Dirty Harry's partners are marked for death the moment they > get assigned to him. Block doesn't have a partner as > such, and the cops he works with aren't set up just to get > knocked down. What were the guards on Block's house for if not to get killed? I agree with your conclusion that "Tightrope" is psychological, and is much better than any of the Dirty Harry pictures except the first one. There's going to be a fifth in the series released this Christmas, I think. But they're going steadily downhill. Now that we've seen Harry with the Auto-Mag he should be retired. What is he going to use in the next film, a .460 Weatherby Magnum? ("This is the most powerful rifle in the world. A single shot will blow her head off, and if there were an elephant standing behind you it'd blow his head off too. So you've got to ask yourself one question, punk: Do I feel stupid?") :-) Actually I liked Magnum Force ("A Man's got to know his limitation."), but they should have stopped there. Carl ..!ctvax!uokvax!lmaher