Sudden Impact (1983)

  So this rounds out my Dirty Harry collection, even though there is a fourth sequel called The Dead Pool that I'm going to have to pick up at some point.

Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is getting real tired of being told that his methods of police work are too violent and too antiquated.  His boss (Bradford Dillman) is even more tired of telling him.  When Harry causes a suspect under surveillance to have a heart attack, Cpt. Briggs assigns him background work on a murder case in a tiny town outside San Francisco.  The local chief (Pat Hingle) tells him in no uncertain terms that he is not welcome, even when another body turns up murdered the exact same way.  Smelling something fishy, Harry investigates anyway.

This is one of his final collaborations with Sondra Locke, who got her big break in The Outlaw Josey Wales.  I straight-up did not recognize her so I looked her up on IMDb.  Holy crap, you guys.  If you want to read some trashy tabloid-style deconstruction of her relationship with Eastwood, look no further.  I don't typically concern myself with who actors are as people.  That's less important to me because it's not like I'm ever going to meet them.  Also, you can't really judge someone by what is reported about them.  That's not the totality of who they are.  That being said, Locke and Eastwood had a nasty bitter break-up, culminating in two lawsuits which effectively ended Locke's career in Hollywood.  That's the kind of break-up that gets made into a Lifetime network movie.

Since I am not in the business of celebrity gossip, I will say nothing more about it and instead focus on the more important issue:  the movie itself.  This was definitely the darkest in tone of the series.  Harry is much more worn-down, on the verge of burn-out even.  This also shows more brutalization of the victims.  I know all of the previous films have been violent, but this one feels much closer, like you're right on top of the action, or at least in the same room.  A lot of that comes from Eastwood taking the directorial reins on this outing.  He has always had a very specific vision for the films he takes on and while that has run to maudlin in recent years, this is a very precise work well deserving of the tagline "the Dirtiest Harry of them all."