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Sudden Impact

1983

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman ...

6.1

7,045

Action. Thriller Clint Eastwood returns to his popular Dirty Harry character and directs himself in the role for the first time. A rape victim is exacting revenge on her aggressors in a small town outside San Francisco. "Dirty" Harry Callahan, on suspension for angering his superiors (again), is assigned to the case.

	Author	Review
United States	Roger Ebert Chicago Sun-Times	"A 'Dirty Harry' movie with only the good parts left in. All the slow stuff, such as character, motivation (...) has been pared to exactly the minimum necessary to hold together the violence (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United States	Richard Brody The New Yorker	"Being drawn into Eastwood’s view of a society rendered dysfunctional by its misplaced sympathies, I found myself seeing something else at the same time: a view of a society and the very idea of what society means"	POS
United States	Vincent Canby The New York Times	"Mr. Siegel also directed the original 'Dirty Harry', which wasn't a great movie but looks like a classic next to 'Sudden Impact' (...) The screenplay is ridiculous, and Mr. Eastwood's direction of it primitive"	NEG
United States	Dave Kehr Chicago Reader	"The best Dirty Harry after 'Dirty Harry'."	POS
United States	James Berardinelli ReelViews	"A viscerally effective, fast paced thriller (...) [it] Sudden Impact is arguably the most compelling chapter (…) Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)"	POS
United Kingdom	Chris Petit Time Out	"Eastwood 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."	NEG
United States	Variety Staff Variety	"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."	POS

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