Movie review: ‘The Enforcer’

FloridaGator80
A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

Even a great actor and filmmaker such as Clint Eastwood can see a franchise hit the slippery slope of “sequels never measure up” and his “Dirty Harry” (click here to read my review) series of films is no exception. After the original, it went quickly downhill. “The Enforcer” is the third of five “Harry” films and fits in perfectly in the chronological order – not as good as the ones before and better than the two after. The truly excellent performance in “The Enforcer” comes from an unexpected quarter: co-star Tyne Daly with an impressive performance. However, even a mediocre Clint effort as “Dirty Harry” is better than many. So, check out “The Enforcer.”

‘The Enforcer’
(1976; 96 minutes; rated R; directed by James Fargo and starring Clint Eastwood, Tyne Daly and Harry Guardino)

TYNE DALY IS JUST ‘MARVELOUS’ HERE

(NOTE: I expanded this review with additional opinion and trivia and the updating of links plus the correction of a supporting actor’s first name on July 17, 2018. I again expanded it on Feb. 24, 2026.)

I’m sure that you’ll cringe while watching “The Enforcer” from 1976 when the issue of feminism is addressed by Clint Eastwood as “ ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan.” The stereotypes reek and it’s often painful to watch, but if you can get past them, then the terrific performance by Tyne Daly, through her interplay with Eastwood, makes it more than worthwhile to watch or re-watch “The Enforcer.”

“The Enforcer” is the third installment of the “Dirty Harry” series and Eastwood’s iconic character has fallen far since the 1971 original. The second, “Magnum Force” (click here for my review), was solid and worthy of the original, but the rest fall pretty far beginning with “The Enforcer” and rock bottom is reached with emphasis by the last (“The Dead Pool” in 1988).

If it wasn’t for Daly’s work here, I wouldn’t even be taking a look back at “The Enforcer.”

A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

The year of 1976 was great for Clint, but not because of “The Enforcer.” It’s because his masterpiece “The Outlaw Josey Wales” came out (click here to read my review). Although he wouldn’t win an Oscar for it (or be nominated, for that matter), it has been said that his Oscar for “Unforgiven” was the Oscar he should have won for “Josey Wales.” I agree. “The Outlaw Josey Wales” is simply Clint’s best – both in front of and behind the camera, while “Unforgiven” is also a sensational film.

Now, back to “The Enforcer” …

The film opens with a group of “radicals” (today they’d be labeled “domestic terrorists”) stealing a utility company truck. You get to meet the villain, who enjoys a visceral, physical thrill by killing people. The group, which is supposedly doing it “for the people,” is plotting a big move. The parallel plot here involving Eastwood is that the San Francisco Police Department is working hard to promote women and it doesn’t set well with him.

A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

Of course, Daly is the officer from personnel looking to become a street cop and she gets the promotion despite never having made an arrest and (another, “of course”) is ultimately assigned as Eastwood’s partner.

Together they go out, kick butt and (“of course” is here again) Daly earns Eastwood’s respect. However, I will say that Daly does it with toughness and courage and not by some other convoluted plot strategy.

Just like other “Dirty Harry” films, Eastwood has a signature phrase here and it’s a sarcastic, “Marvelous.” Well, I’d say that “Dirty Harry” would call Daly’s work here “marvelous” without being sarcastic.

The biggest stereotype in the film is the woman who is the mayor’s aide (Jan Stratton) watching the police promotion interviews. She appears matronly, with her hair in a conservative bun and is called “Ms.” But while the chauvinism is rampant, Eastwood, who calls the woman “Mrs.,” does make one good point – the fact that Daly has never made an arrest and seeking a major promotion over male officers with experience.

Nevertheless, the bad guys are bad and the good guys good and it is just terrific to watch Daly work. Here’s my look at some of the efforts in this one …

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

    A five-time Golden Globe nominee (not for this one) and a six-time Primetime Emmy winner and nominee 10 other times, Daly plays “Kate Moore” and she is in truly exceptional form. From her emotions, expressions and even in his physical drama, Daly does a great job by holding her own and even surpassing Eastwood in scenes. By the end, she is in total command of herself and any situation or scene. It’s wonderful work by a versatile actor. Daly is most recognized from TV’s “Cagney & Lacey” (many of nominations for both Globes and Emmys) and has been in dozens of TV shows including “Judging Amy” and even “Mission: Impossible.” She has also been in films such as the little-remembered but OK thriller “Telefon” with Charles Bronson (click here to read my review). Her other nominations was for TV’s “Christy.”

  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

    A four-time Oscar winner and seven-time nominee and five-time Golden Globe winner and nine-time nominee (not for this one), Eastwood is again basically himself in this one playing the tough, no-nonsense homicide detective that he created. He’s derailed again by a higher-ranking officer who doesn’t expect him to use violence when confronted by gun-toting criminals. Eastwood shows a decent range of emotion while working with Daly and it’s something he doesn’t normally have to do on screen. Among Eastwood’s other films that I enjoy are “Where Eagles Dare” (click here to read my review); “In the Line of Fire” (click here for my review); and, my all-time Eastwood favorite, “Kelly’s Heroes” (click here for my review). Click here for a list of all awards and nominations for Eastwood …

  • In “Dirty Harry’s” world, an incompetent higher-ranking officer always makes his life miserable and the work in this one is ably done by Golden Globe winner (not for this one) Bradford Dillman as “Capt. Jerome McKay.” Dillman oozes organizational incompetence while grasping at any way to ingratiate himself to his bosses. Good job, Bradford, it’s not easy to be such a self-important schlub with a brown nose. Dillman was in “The Way We Were” and “Escape from Planet of the Apes.” He won his Globe as “Most Promising Newcomer” for 1958’s “In Love and War.” Dillman died at 87 in 2018 of complications from pneumonia.
  • DeVeren Bookwalter plays really bad guy “Bobby Maxwell.” I’d say Bookwalter overplays the character, but he’s not given that much to work with. Bookwalter was another relative unknown actor playing the baddest bad guy opposing “Dirty Harry” – he was in his second movie with this one, following 1971’s “The Omega Man” with Charlton Heston. Tragically, there isn’t many credits by which to judge his ability. Bookwalter’s career had only 10 acting credits before he died of stomach cancer in 1987 at the much too-young age of 47.
  • I don’t usually comment on a very minor character, but Robert Hoy does a good job playing “Buchinski,” who is a criminal who gets his head stuck in a toilet by Eastwood. Hoy’s character is a reference to Eastwood’s action-genre competitor Charles Bronson, whose real last name is … you guessed it, Buchinsky (the “y” is changed for the film). Hoy was in the wonderful “Operation Petticoat” (click here to read my review). Also, Hoy was in “Telefon” with Bronson and Daly. Hoy died at 82 of cancer in 2010.
  • A promotional still photograph from the movie “The Enforcer.”

    Albert Popwell played both good and bad guys in “Dirty Harry” films and here, just as “The Enforcer” is the middle film in the franchise, Popwell is a good-bad guy and does his best work in the franchise with this one. Popwell plays “ ‘Big Ed’ Mustapha,” who is the leader of a black militant group wrongly accused of the crimes being committed in San Francisco. He’s tough, worldly wise and, like Daley, holds his own with Eastwood. Popwell was in all the “Dirty Harry” movies except “The Dead Pool” and has also been in “The Buddy Holly Story” as a record company executive. He died at 72 of acute endocarditis in 1999.

Two “Dirty Harry” regulars appear here with Harry Guardino as “Lt. Al Bressler” and John (yes I’m Robert’s younger brother) Mitchum as “Inspector Frank DiGiorgio.” Both reprise their characters with workmanlike efforts but are pretty much lost in the wake of the Eastwood-Daly relationship. Guardino had a varied career from “Houseboat” to Eastwood films such as “Any Which Way You Can” (click here for my review), while Mitchum was also with Eastwood in “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” Guardino died at 69 of lung cancer in 1995, while Mitchum died at 82 of a stroke in 2001.

I won’t give a spoiler alert for the ending, but will just leave it with “The Enforcer” wrapping on a stereotypical note that “Dirty Harry” gets his man and dispatches him in a most stereotypically and gloriously satisfying way – that’s stereotypical because Eastwood fans know he always gets the criminal.

“The Enforcer” was the ninth ranked movie at the U.S. box office in 1976 with $46.2 million in ticket sales, according to Wiki. It was made on a $9 million budget and so, like most Eastwood films, left a smile on investors’ faces. The No. 1 film of the year was “Rocky” with $117.2 million. Here are the other films from 1976 that I’ve reviewed:

Assorted cast and film notes (via IMDb.com):

  • Eastwood’s birth name is Clinton Eastwood Jr.; “Tyne” is Daly’s middle name and Ellen is her first name; and Mitchum’s middle name was Newman.
  • Stirling Silliphant, an Oscar winner for adapting the screenplay for “In the Heat of the Night,” reportedly suggested Daly for the film. In turn, she reportedly refused three times before accepting it – but only if a romantic link between her character and “Harry” be cut (and Eastwood agreed with this assessment).
  • Directly from IMDb.com: “When Harry is about to intervene in the convenience store siege, his partner DiGiorgio (John Mitchum) asks if he needs help, but Harry responds that he ‘may need to move fast and doesn’t need too much linguini slowing him down’. This is a reference to Dirty Harry (1971) when DiGiorgio cannot climb over the fence with Harry to get into the football stadium, due to his weight, with the excuse ‘Too much linguini.’”
  • Eastwood was set to direct “The Enforcer,” but, since was directing “The Outlaw Josey Wales,” which was out the same year, he decided against it.
  • Four years after the release of “The Enforcer,” a writer sued Eastwood and claimed that Clint plagiarized his work. Eastwood responded that he took inspiration from a Humphrey Bogart film with the same name and that it was owned by the studio responsible for “The Enforcer.” The lawsuit was reportedly dismissed.
  • The original title of the screenplay was “Moving Target” before being called the bland “Dirty Harry III” and finally “The Enforcer.”
  • “The Enforcer” is the only “Dirty Harry” film without music composer Lalo Schifrin.
  • Finally and directly from IMDb.com: “The baseball game featured in the film is from 8/4/1976. Pete Rose is seen striking out to end the top of the second inning, with Johnny Bench & Gary Nolan left on base.”
  • Click here for IMDb.com’s extensive trivia page for “The Enforcer” …

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