I have been toying with the idea of a reality traveler story. A cataclysm wiped out the super hero population: every mutant, artificial posthuman, radiation empowered being, alien, synthetic life form, cyborg, magic user, supernatural entity, and deity died on that day. An extremist group composed of AIM, HYDRA, and followers of Chthon created a Nihil Cube, a variant of the cosmic cube, designed to eliminate every superhuman hero. The bomb was prematurely detonated and eliminated both heroes and villains. The wide scale death attracted the attention of Thanos, who acquired the cube and enhanced its ability. The Mad Titan used to extinguish all life including the cosmic entities like the elders of the universe and the Celestials. Despite his accomplishment, Death still rejected him. An enraged Thanos then travels to parallel realities to repeat his rampage. His actions attract the attention of a higher reality, which sends a champion to defeat him.
The Hero:
He hails from a utopian reality where all of the science heroes used their intellects to usher in a golden age. His signature weapon is a Richardtech recreation of Noh-Varr’s Kree Weapons Band. It is composed of unstable molecule alloy and is the amalgamation of his reality’s Heroic Age weaponry. It assumes the form of repulsor revolver based on Starktech, Parkertech impact webbing pistol, and a beam axe derived from Weapon X. It possesses a mobile force field generator constructed from Nathan Summers’ Cone of Silence, the Ghost’s intangibility circuitry, and modified Ultimate Nullifier built to destroy the Nihil Cube. He also possesses technology from the World: a nanite-based Greylock and bacterial variant of James Howlett’s healing factor. A dimensional transportation spell from the Book of Vishanti is implanted in his mind.
Technology:
The Greylock is a variant of the Doomlock based on Nate Grey’s former dimension crossing ability. It protects the user reality friction.
The impact webbing is a web pellets that releases tendrils which ensnare the target upon impact.
The beam axe is based on the energy claws used by Strike Force X.
Being on vacation, I can’t help but worry about how Doc is doing. For those of you who may not know, Doc is the black cat who owns me and Erin. Along with being adorable, cute, and lovable, Doc is also the world’s leading expert in the field of feline ennui. When he meows, he simply says, “Meh,” and it’s not unusual for me to come home and discover that he’s wearing a red beret and chewing on a cigarette holder.
Naturally, it’s hard for me not to worry that he may be stuck in a rut without me being there and I can only hope that, if he is, Erin will take a lesson from today’s scene that I love. From Monty Python’s Flying Circus, here comes Confuse-A-Cat.
Today, we continue our look at the Dirty Harry film series by reviewing the third film in the series, 1976’s The Enforcer.
There’s a moment, towards the end of this film, where Harry (played as always by Clint Eastwood) is preparing to blow away one of the bad guys. Before firing, Harry mutters something under his breath. The first time I watched the film, I couldn’t make out what Harry was saying so I turned on the captioning and watched the scene again to discover just what exactly Harry had said before dispensing justice.
The line: “You fucking fruit.”
Yes, The Enforcer finds Harry at his most reactionary and it’s a good thing too. Whereas Magnum Force found Harry fighting his fellow cops, The Enforcer could have just as easily been called Harry Vs. Occupy San Francisco. This time around, the bad guys are members of something called The People’s Revolutionary Strike Force. They’re led by a psychotic ex-pimp named Bobby Maxwell (played by an actor with the wonderful name of Deveren Bookwalter) and they’re fond of saying things like, “For the people!” before striking. To be honest, The Enforcer’s villains are some of the most forgettable in the history of the franchise but that’s appropriate. As opposed to the original Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, The Enforcer is less concerned with being a struggle between equals and more about Harry killing people.
The Enforcer opens with Harry preventing yet another armed robbery. This time, he manages to destroy the entire store while doing so and ends up costing the city of San Francisco several million dollars. Harry’s new superior, Capt. McKay (played by Bradford Dillman) isn’t amused and, as a punishment, temporarily transfers Harry over to the Personnel Department. I have to say that McKay is a very brave man since Harry blew up the last superior who attempted to reprimand him.
Working Personnel, Harry has to sit in on interviews for promotions. While doing so, he is informed that the Mayor has ordered them to find three women to promote to inspector. “Women!?” Harry growls in shocked response.
While Harry is busy attempting to impede the march of progress, his old partner DiGiorgio (John Mitchum) stumbles upon Bobby and the revolutionaries stealing weapons. As often happens with Harry’s partners, DiGiorgio is killed by the bad guys and Harry is transferred back to Homicide so he can investigate the death. Helping Harry out is his new partner — Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), one of the three women who have recently been promoted to inspector.
While Harry and his new partner are busy tracking down Bobby, Capt. McKay tries to pin the crime on yet another revolutionary force, a group of black militants led by Big Ed Mustapha.
Big Ed is played by Albert Poppwell, who previously appeared in Dirty Harry as the “I’s got to know” robber. When Harry first meets him, Harry says, “Haven’t I met you before?” Though the film never explicitly says so, I like to think that the two characters are one in the same.
As for Bobby and the People’s Revolutionary Strike Force, they’re busy kidnapping the mayor and demanding $5,000,000 for his release. Of course, it’s up to Harry and Moore to rescue the mayor and put all the “fucking fruits” back in their place….
Looking over other reviews of the Dirty Harry franchise, The Enforcer often seems to be dismissed as almost an afterthought. Daly’s performance is usually praised (and quite rightfully so because she does give the film’s best performance) but the rest of the film is usually dismissed. To a certain extent, that’s understandable. As I mentioned before, Bobby Maxwell is not that interesting of a villain and Harry is at his most one dimensional here.
That said, I think The Enforcer is actually underrated. There might not be much nuance to Eastwood’s performance here but he gets by on charisma alone and he has a likable chemistry with Daly. As opposed to what we’ve been conditioned to expect from most other films, Harry and Moore’s relationship never turns romantic. Instead, by the end of the film, they truly are equals.
The Enforcer was followed, nearly a decade later, by Sudden Impact. We’ll take a look at that film tomorrow.
Through the Shattered Lens 