Friday 6 February 2009

The Enforcer 1976

The Enforcer is the 1976 third film in the Dirty Harry series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector 'Dirty' Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.
The film opens as two gas men are lured by a scantily-clad lady to a remote spot and killed by a man, Bobby Maxwell (DeVeren Bookwalter). Maxwell's gang, The People's Revolutionary Strike Force, use the gas men's uniforms and vehicle for a scene later in the film.

Below: How The Enforcer would have opened when seen in UK cinemas with its original X certificate
To watch the original trailer, click below:
To watch the opening credits and listen to Jerry Fielding's great score, click below:
Below: Here's a nice little vintage ABC TV promo from 15th March 1982 for The Enforcer's Monday Night Movie slot
The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Bradford Dillman UK QUAD poster 30x40
The Enforcer 1976 Original US Biography press sheets at the time of The Enforcer
The Enforcer 1976 16mm original TV Spot 20 Clint Eastwood
The Enforcer 1976 16mm original TV Spot 30 Clint Eastwood
The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Bradford Dillman Original Australian Day bill

The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Bradford Dillman Original Belgium
The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Bradford Dillman Original German
The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Bradford Dillman Original Japan Poster
The Enforcer 1976 Clint Eastwood Tyne Daly Bradford Dillman Original French poster
The Enforcer 1976 Colour mounted Slides x 6
The Enforcer 1976 Commercial poster of the US 1 sheet design Rolled

The Enforcer 1976 DVD Widescreen Clint Eastwood stars as Dirty Harry in the second sequel with trailer and original making of featurette
The Enforcer 1976 Extremely rare Original Rolled US Insert Poster absolute Mint condition
The Enforcer 1976 German Original Program
The Enforcer 1976 Japan Orig full colour mini Poster
The Enforcer 1976 Japan Original packed and fully illustrated colour Brochure
The Enforcer 1976 Widescreen Clint Eastwood Remastered NTSC Laserdisc
The Enforcer 1976 lobby set x 12 German
The Enforcer 1976 lobby set x 16 French photos

The Enforcer 1976 Lobby card set x 8 USA Size 14 x 11
The Enforcer 1976 Mini lobby set x 8 USA Size 10 x 8
Above:The Enforcer 1976 Original U.K. film- tie in Paperback (which featured a shot from MAGNUM FORCE)
Below: The U.S. Version of the paperback featured the colour version of the original film art.

The Enforcer 1976 Original Trailer 8mm (To view trailer go to top)
The Enforcer 1976 Original US TV Spots 16MM full set of 5 different.

            
The Enforcer 1976 Original 35mm Cinema Trailer
The Enforcer 1976 Original Warner Brother Press Release
The Enforcer 1976 Premiere CD soundtrack release music by Jerry Fielding Aleph Records 038

The Enforcer 1976 10 x 8 Press Stills b/w x 42 + 2 Colour
The Enforcer 1976 stunning rare set of unpublished candid photos taken on location x 40
Below: Clint's stunt double and long time friend Buddy Van Horn can be seen on the far right in Clint's costume.
Below: The Crew move to Alcatraz Island!
The Enforcer 1976 U.K. Original Press book
The Enforcer 1976 U.K. Original Press sheet with car art cover

Here's some other Material available from around the world
Below: A 2nd UK Quad poster design Size 30 x 40

Below: Sharky's Machine / The Enforcer UK Double Bill Quad Poster 30 x 40
Below: The U.S 1 Sheet poster Size 27 x 41
Below: The very rare U.S 1 Sheet Teaser poster Size 27 x 41
Below: The US Pressbook
Below: The U.S. Laserdisc Original issue, not from the Laserdisc box set above
Below: The Japanese Laserdisc
Below: The Spanish 1 sheet design poster for The Enforcer
Below: An example of a Spanish press still for The Enforcer
Below: The Enforcer Original Danish poster
Below: A couple of great shots of Clint, taken during The Enforcer on location Alcatraz Island
Below: Some more great shots of Clint in the Enforcer
Below: The Enforcer Original set of Italian Fotobustas

ORIGINAL REVIEWS
Los Angeles Times, Dec. 22, 1976
The Enforcer is Clint Eastwood's third and arguably best "Dirty Harry" movie. To be sure, Eastwood's Harry Callahan, veteran San Francisco Police Department homicide inspector, is just as tough and ornery as ever, but this time he's been presented with unprecedented humor.

Indeed, this humor results from the film's tonic, highly developed sense of the absurd that runs through its fast-paced mayhem. The Enforcer finds it absurd that so many people- and so many pressure groups- still fail to comprehend how nasty the realities of police work can be. It is equally absurd - but also funny- to see a group of elderly women in the back room of a massage parlor busily writing (ah, the personal touch) form letter replies for a mail order porno film business. The ladies' final duty is to plant a heavily lipsticked kiss on each letter!

As always, Harry's maverick but not irresponsible ways have him in hot water with his bureaucratic superiors. But in the crunch they've got to fall back on him for help in tracking down the murderous, elusive terrorist group, the People's Revolutionary Strike Force, which eventually snatches the mayor (John Crawford), no less.
Harry has outlived several partners, and his newest is a woman (Tyne Daly), which naturally does not sit well with the macho Callahan. Not surprisingly, Miss Daly proves her mettle- and then some.
With any "Dirty Harry" movie- or any cop picture, for the matter- there's going to be violence, but in this instance it assumes neither gratuitous nor preposterous proportions. Violence is presented as the ugly fact of life that it is; indeed, the film takes a very clear-eyed look at the way things really are.
Written by various hands, The Enforcer, which boasts an exceptionally fine Jerry Fielding jazz score, marks a terrific directorial debut for James Fargo, who has been Eastwood's first assistant on several films. Eastwood never stints on quality, so San Francisco's photogenic locales are utilized to full advantage, and he is backed by a good cast that includes Harry Guardino as Harry's long-suffering lieutenant, Bradford Dillman as his unctuous, highly political captain and Albert Popwell as a shrewd black leader. Eastwood himself is as authoritative as ever, and Miss Daly, in her first major part, is excellent, attractive yet credibly brisk and staunch as a policewoman should be. -Kevin Thomas

Time, Jan. 10, 1977
It is being advertised as the dirtiest Harry of them all, but this third adventure of the San Francisco cop who finds nothing but blundering bureaucratic blundering above him and unpunished crime all around him shows Clint Eastwood's creation in a mellow mood. Oh, he can still total a liquor store in the process of rescuing hostages, and he still has the fastest lip in the business when backtalking a superior. But in The Enforcer, Harry appears halfway along the road to becoming a lovable curmudgeon.
Street Pro. For example, forced to work with a female partner (nicely played by Tyne Daly, daughter of actor James Daly), he makes the predictable grumpy noises about women's lib. Yet- surprise- he ends up not merely respecting her but more than a little in love with her. As he looks around for clues to the munitions robbery and extortion plot that are his major concern, Harry shows a gift for talking to militant blacks, if only because they respect his rough, straightforward machismo. Indeed, it turns out that while the entire liberal establishment believes the robbery of political extremists, Harry, your wise street pro, knows the criminals are using revolutionary rhetoric merely to cover their tracks. In the end, the crooks snatch the mayor, and Harry and his partner snatch him back, in the process wiping out the miscreants in a satisfying burst of not too horrific gunfire.
Are we to understand that Harry is cleaning up his act? Perhaps, or it may be that with some of the heat burned out of the law-and-order issue, Harry can be seen not as the instinctive fascist some once thought him but as an apolitical, job-oriented man whose impatience with the niceties of the law is motivated by frustration over the slenderness of his resources and the shakiness of his backing. That is not the sound of a protofascist mob chortling encouragement at the screen when Harry lets fly, but the voice of perfectly nice people happy to see Harry do what they would all like to do- shake the System loose from its routines, pieties and general lack of responsiveness to the common needs of both key-punch operators and tough cops. One might wish that The Enforcer had the cinematic smarts imparted by director Don Siegel to the original Dirty Harry, a tenser, tauter piece of work. But The Enforcer is fairish fun- and certainly no threat to liberal democracy. -Richard Schickel

Below: Here's a nice rare advert from Warner Brothers - 5 days after film's release
Below: Great collective of The Enforcer Press Stills - incs a great deal of shots I have never seen before
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Below: The Enforcer DeVeren Bookwalter and Bill Ackridge
Below: From my cuttings collection, a rare rehearsal shot while shooting the film's climax.
Below: A couple of rare candid shots from The Enforcer, many thanks to Kevin Walsh for sending these to me,
 
Below: A rare photograph of Clint as Dirty Harry in The Enforcer
Below: The New Zealand Daybill poster, proof enough that not all of the poster artwork was of the highest quality
Below: The Enforcer original Japanese press ticket
Below: Here's a rare candid featuring Clint in the financial district of San Francisco, my thanks to Kevin Walsh for sending me this great shot. 
Below: A rarely seen photo from The Enforcer, thanks to Davy Triumph
Below: One of the icon images from The Enforcer - Callahan with a badge 
Below: A couple of shots of Jocelyn Jones who played the sweet bad ass Miki in The Enforcer
Below: A great large size U.S. advertisement for The Enforcer
Below: A variant of a popular Enforcer shot
Below: A rare press still of the crew with Clint setting up a shot
Below: The U.S. 24 sheet poster for The Enforcer (105" X 232") 
Below: THE ENFORCER original bumper sticker from 1976. This was given away at theatres at that time. The sticker measures 13 7/8" X 3 5/8"
Below: The Enforcer Rare Australian press sheet

4 comments:

Fry3000 said...

This blog is very complete, that's awesome.
By the way, I love the Dirty Harry movies.

Clint's archive said...

Hello Fry, I try to make it as complete as possible, still a lot of stories and items to add, which will take some time, but I'm sure will be worth it in the end. Welcome back anytime.
Thanks for leaving a comment
TCEA

Fry3000 said...

Hi, you're a true fan, I like that. I'll make sure to come back on this blog frequently, as I like many Clint Eastwood movies.
Thanks also for leaving a comment on my blog, even if I don't know if you could read my article, since it is in French.

Anonymous said...

Merci d'avoir un blog interessant