The film lags whenever Eastwood isn't on screen, but even his dryly humorous patter can't offset the very sour, mean tone of the rest of the film.
Comment
06/18/09
Sudden Impact (1983)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:31
Fresh:18
Rotten:13
Average Rating:5.6/10
Runtime: 1 hr 57 mins
Genre: Action/Adventure
Synopsis: Clint Eastwood is Detective Harry Callahan in SUDDEN IMPACT, the third sequel to DIRTY HARRY. This is probably the most violent film of the series. Here the brutal but effective Callahan is looking... [More]
Starring: Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman
Director: Clint Eastwood
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Reviews for Sudden Impact
It is viewed by many aficionados as the best of the five movies about the hard-nosed, authority-defying San Francisco cop.
04/30/09
Top CriticBy my count, more than a dozen people are murdered on camera, about half by Miss Locke and most of the others by Mr. Eastwood. This gives them something in common as lovers.
05/20/03
Top CriticTo all those cowboy movies we saw in our youth, all those TV Westerns and cop dramas and war movies, Dirty Harry has brought a great simplification: A big man, a big gun, a bad guy and instant justice.
10/23/04
Top CriticFreudian’s could have a field day examining the obsession that Harry has with the size of his weaponry in this flaccid police thriller
12/06/01
Boy did Ronald Reagan love this movie!
12/06/05
The fourth installment in the Dirty Harry series (7 years after the third) has the unlikely tale of Eastwood's Callahan after a murderous woman bend on revenge against the men who raped her and her sister 10 years earlier.
01/01/00
Eastwood’s new catch word is 'Swell,' the body count is higher than ever, he’s honed his snarl to perfection, and the ending is straight out of High Noon.
11/20/01
The beauty of the Dirty Harry movies isn't all the famous lines but is Clint Eastwood's wonderfully dry and threatening delivery of them.
12/13/01
This is the first entry in the series to have been directed by Eastwood himself, and action is put over with great force, if also with some obviousness.
03/26/09
Top CriticEastwood the star needed a hit to bolster his flagging ratings; now that he's got it, maybe Harry will be put out to stud, with his Magnum.
06/24/06
Dirty Harry draws again. Vintage Clint.
10/30/04
The worst of the Dirty Harry films, made even more excruciating by Sondra Locke's presence. Fans of the series will find several worthwhile moments, however.
03/19/03
Not as strong as the first three Dirty Harry movies, but this fourth one has enough classic Harry Callahan moments to make it a worthy addition to the series.
10/09/05
Probably Sondra Locke's best performance.
09/22/02
Worth watching, just for THEE line.
11/04/03
not one of Dirty Harry's better days
07/29/02
Sadly, Clint was still sleeping with Sandra Locke and giving her work! The worse of the "Dirty Harry" films...didn't "make my day"
03/15/08
Harry starts to parody himself with this one.
12/08/05
Latest News for Sudden Impact
May 11, 2006:
Dirty Harry Gets a Video Game and an HD Facelift
Big fan of the "Dirty Harry" series? Well then get ready for an all-new video game version of the angry cop's violent adventures (a game that will feature the voice... More...
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