Sudden Impact

1983 "Dirty Harry is at it again"
6.6| 1h57m| R| en| More Info
Released: 08 December 1983 Released
Producted By: Malpaso Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

When a young rape victim takes justice into her own hands and becomes a serial killer, it's up to Dirty Harry Callahan, on suspension from the SFPD, to bring her to justice.

Watch Online

Sudden Impact (1983) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Clint Eastwood

Production Companies

Malpaso Productions

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

All Prime Video Movies and TV Shows. Cancel anytime.
Watch Now
Sudden Impact Videos and Images
View All
  • Top Credited Cast
  • |
  • Crew

Sudden Impact Audience Reviews

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.
Donald Seymour This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.
Loui Blair It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.
Leofwine_draca The Dirty Harry series will always have a special place in my heart – just because it's so darned cool. Clint Eastwood lives and breathes the role of the unorthodox cop, and by the time of this third sequel – the fourth and penultimate movie in the long-running franchise – he shows no signs of flagging or losing enthusiasm for his subject matter, directing as well as starring as the tough cop.This has got to be the most entertaining Dirty Harry since the first movie. The series makes a fine segue from late '70s grittiness to early '80s flashiness, retaining the same hard edge that made the early films so successful. Here, Harry is once again arguing with his superiors, who this time send him on an enforced holiday to a little town where he begins to track down a serial killer. Along with that, the usual hoodlums and gangsters are gunning for our hero, leading to a literally action-packed movie in which we watch Harry chase a thug through the streets in an old people's bus (a highlight), have shoot-outs with his trusty sidepiece, and even deliver another famous line – this time, it's the "make my day" one.The main thrust of the story is about Eastwood's one time partner, Sondra Locke, as we follow her delivering her own brand of justice against a gang of men who once gang-raped her and her sister. It's a violent chronicle, exposing the psychology of such a crime, and it works, providing a fitting parallel to Harry's own character. The cast are at the top of their game here, with nobody putting a foot wrong, from the icy, slightly alien Locke, to Paul Drake as a truly loathsome baddie. There are also a ton of great character actors filling out supporting roles, like Bradford Dillman, Pat Hingle, and in particular Albert Popwell, who is fine as Harry's partner. Add in some great laughs in the form of a bad-mannered dog and you have a great film that just gets better as time goes by.
princechin This movie is about a woman named Jennifer Spencer who was raped along with her sister. Her sister now suffers brain damage, and now Jennifer exacts revenge on the abusers. With the movie constantly going back and forth from flashbacks, to Jennifer and to Dirty Harry, it takes you out of what is currently happening and this cycle continues for the entire movie, with mostly flashbacks as the movie treats the viewers as if they can't remember things from a few minutes in the past. This story that could have ended in less than two hours is dragged on for nearly an hour and fifty-three minutes, with a mediocre corrupted cop ending. This ending completely underminds recent Dirty Harry ideologies and movies, he doesn't like the system, but he vaguely follows it.
Idiot-Deluxe "Go ahead - make my day" "Remember that "cock-shot stiff" out by the cliffhouse" "How the hell was I supposed to know he was going to vapor-lock" "Yeah, you're a legend in your own mind / Goddamn you Callahan!""Listen Punk! To me you're nothing but dog sh*t, yah understand and a lot of things can happen to dog sh*t, it it can be scraped up with a shovel off the ground, it can dry up and blow away in the wind or it can be stepped on and squashed - so take my advice be careful where the dog sh*t's you!"Sudden Impact, the 3rd (and best) sequel of the Dirty Harry franchise was released in December of 1983, which was sort of a down period for good old Clint, as several of his films of that era are not that good, some throw-away's even; but Sudden Impact is a great one and surely is the best of Eastwood's early-80's out-put.Directed by the man himself, Sudden Impact comes brimming with action and humor and has, on a intermittent basis, some of the best dialog in the series. The movie is studded with several sequences where Harry just happens to be at the right place at the right time to take out the trash, but more often than not he's targeted by an ongoing assortment of street punks, mobsters, psychopaths, rapists and even a couple of smarmy rogue-fisherman - you'll find it's palate of foe's is more widely varied than any other Dirty Harry film. The first half-hour is largely Harry just taking out the trash, which is great and always a blast to watch, but after that the movies plot starts to solidify.Sudden Impact is a tale of revenge, sweet revenge and is one of only a handful of films out there that features a female serial-killer; played by Sandra Locke (Clint's fling at the time). Locke's pale skin and dark eyes gave her the right look for the role, she's especially effective when staring down her victims. A dark and violent film and the most violent of all the Dirty Harry films and yet oddly Sudden Impact doesn't pack the highest kill-count of the series, that distinction goes to Magnum Force. Like others have mentioned, the film absolutely revels in a dark and murky morass that's overflowing with deliciously evil characterizations and over-the-top portrayals by a few highly odious, low-life, criminal scoundrels who form a loose-knit gang in the coastal region of San Paulo, California; I believe that's south of San Fran - the home of Harry. You see in this movie, Harry's being targeted by so many people, that his bosses get fed up with all the noise that invariably follows Inspector Callahan, so they assign him to a case outside of San Fransicsco - in San Paulo. On the matter of his bosses, Sudden Impact probably has the best of those familiar scenes, where Harry quarrels with his so-called superiors back at the station. In other words those testy, tersely-worded, clamoring for leverage harangue's, that ALWAYS revolve around Harry's unique (and often blunt and to the point) policing methods.The pace of the film is efficient, but not necessarily fast and everything seems to fit together well, meaning no scene is wasted or unnecessary. As I mentioned before Sudden Impact is notably potent in conveying/depicting a certain over-riding and distinctively odious criminal element, that REALLY permeates the movie - especially in the second half. It's as if you're utterly basking in it's sleaze - it's that thick. There are several key aspects that color this film a dark shade, such as: It takes place primarily at night (particurlarly in the latter half) which literally adds to the pervasive darkness that this film so potently emotes, there's the sick and oily presence of Ray Parkins - the evil, ugly, red-headed, lesbian, witch (I LOVE her crooked witchey smile!) and her cast of evil henchmen to revel in and on the audible side of the spectrum you have Lalo Schifrin's tersely phrased strings, their musical needlings effectively coat everything in a prickly, icy layer of suspense; when combined these elements effectively increase the films overall dark and menacing quality. Basically, when the sun set's Clint Eastwood did a great job in portraying San Paulo as: A Nighted Hellrealm of Scum and Villainy...... that also includes a merry-go-round.I can't stress enough just how many fun sequences this movie packs, some of these highly colorful encounters qualify as "mini-epic's" in and of themselves and show-off Harry being Harry to great effect. My intuition tells me that Clint had a really fun time making this movie and at that time the world was way over-due for some more Dirty Harry. It's a crying shame he took till 1983 to do so - that's a good 7 to 7 and half years after the previous Dirty movie, 1976's "The Enforcer". He should have made more. ***After reading some of the other reviews, it's funny how many English panty-waist's were offended by this movie - I counted several of them. LOL!***Miscellaneous Observation's: Eastwood's old chum Albert Popwell makes yet another appearance, this time as a good guy.Harry gets a new 44 Magnum, an upgrade of a sort. (I'll always see the 44 -revolver- as THE Dirty Harry gun) In the movies opening minutes, no scene in all of cinema uses the word "punk!" more effectively, then what Harry does during the "elevator scene".Harry's so potent this time around, that he dispatches an enemy using -only- some well chosen words and an envelope full of blank paper; apparently he's now as enwisened as he is dirty.
grantss It's between this and The Dead Pool for worst Dirty Harry movie.The fourth Dirty Harry movie (of five, ultimately). A woman (played by Sondra Locke) is killing off, one by one, the men who raped her and her sister several years previously. Harry Calahan (played by Clint Eastwood, of course) is on the case, but due to his law enforcement methods, there are a few criminals after him. Eventually he is sent to a small seaside town to track down some leads on the murders...This movie really doesn't add anything to the Dirty Harry story (except that he exchanges his 44 Magnum revolver for a 44 Magnum pistol...). It feels clichéd, forced, unoriginal and predictable. Even Eastwood seems to be going through the motions.On that note, the other performances aren't anything to write home about either. Sondra Locke is weak and unconvincing as the vigilante, Pat Hindle plays stereotypical small town sheriff and the bad guys are all one-dimensional.The Dirty Harry series should have ended after three movies.