Main thing this movie does specifically well is capturing the sense of true freedom. It achieves this through both its characters and story.

Or well, it's not like this movie features a tightly written script, with all kinds of dramatic and forced developments in it. It's actually a movie that lets stuff simply happen and observes, without building up to something or necessarily reach a conclusion. But this is actually something that makes the story and the movie in general such a great one to follow. It's deliberately underwritten, which also means that it doesn't ever force anything upon you. This perfectly suits the overall atmosphere and spirit of the movie, of absolute freedom.

Same exact thing goes for all of its character. They are the sort of easy going, laid back characters, that are still not without purpose in life and have all their individual goals and dreams. They might not talk about it much but once you read through the lines, you can still catch this.

By focusing purely on the here and now, you are starting to feel involved with the characters and their journey across America, in their muscle cars. It's telling everything from their perspective and it doesn't really matter that there isn't an awful lot to its story. Nothing ever feels irrelevant or boring once you start to understand and feel the movie its characters.

So you could say that trough its minimalism this starts to become an effective and involving movie to watch!

8/10

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Perhaps it's not really the Sam Peckinpah movie some people expect it to be but it's a real fine movie nonetheless.

It's not as violent as other Peckinpah movies (at least not till its final 20 minutes or so) and it's actually being more of a psychological thriller than anything else really. It's also a more of slow moving and subtly build up one, that takes its time to set up its character and to build up all of its tension.

But saying this is a psychological thriller doesn't mean it's being a very typical one as well. It's still a movie with its very own style and approach to the genre. It's as if Sam Peckinpah ignored the existence of all of the other genre movies out there and simply decided to do his own thing with it. The result is a real unique looking and feeling genre movie, that is a greatly constructed- and acted out one.

The style gets only enhanced by the fact that this is a '70's movie. That means that it's filled with some nice looking and experimental camera-work and editing. It's mostly a dark and gritty looking movie, that perfectly captures the atmosphere of rural England.

Because it's being a somewhat slower moving movie, it mostly relies on its characters and actors to keep things going and interesting. And this movie manages well with doing so. What I liked about Dustin Hoffman's performance and character was that he was being a very average guy, in about every way imaginable. And even more than that; he was being somewhat of a weakling and pushover, until things go too far.

Like basically every Peckinpah movie, this movie has a big and violent showdown, with still a very humane and emotional touch to it. Lets just say it's like "Home Alone" gone wild, after the main character finally decides to make a stand against the 'evil' townspeople. It's not half as ridicules as it might sound to you and it's something that absolutely works out well, since it's basically the moment the entire movie had been building up to.

A greatly done psychological thriller with some rich characters and great depth to it as well.

8/10

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In essence this is being a very typical detective story, in which a tough cop has to stop a killer. "Dirty Harry" is of course a far from typical movie though. There are several things about it that makes this movie more special- and unlike any other genre attempt.

The first reason is also the most obvious one; its main character. Clint Eastwood plays a classic character, in the same vein as for instance a Steve McQueen- or Charles Bronson, in his best days, type of character. A tough looking guy, who backs down for nobody or anything and with an high sense for justice and righteousness. A good guy acting and thinking as a bad guy. Really, these type of characters often have more bad guy characteristics to them but yet they still work out really well as good guys, since they 'fight' for the right causes and are on the good side, even though they quite often break the law.

It's all very consistent with the raw and gritty style of the movie, courtesy of director Don Siegel. It's the sort of movie that feels realistic and is not just purely made to entertain. It has very little exaggerated moments in the sense of moments that feel like they couldn't ever happen in real life.

You could say that it's also being a slow moving- and not all that spectacular movie because of that but I would mostly disagree. It's fast paced with also plenty of excitement and action in it. Of course when compared to modern genre movies it's nothing too spectacular but it definitely has other qualities to it. It's rawness being one of them, which makes this a very straightforward and effective movie within its genre.

There really aren't too many distractions in this movie. It focuses just on the Dirty Harry character and all he is concerned about is getting the bad guy. So no other drama, no distracting love story, or other sentimental ploys. The movie is what it is and it doesn't ever pretend to be more than it truly is.

And the story as it is, is just fine. It has plenty of depth and good developments in it, all driven by a good and interesting crime story. It's not really being predictable in any way, which is also mainly due to its villainous character, played by Andrew Robinson. He's a very unpredictable and psychotic character, that no one is safe for. Not every plot development is convincing but it helps to let the story move along and to keep things fresh and interesting.

A great, gritty, cop movie, even still in today's perspective.

8/10

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My goodness, this movie was a genuine trip. undoubtedly the film-makers were on something as well when they did this movie and I wish I could say it resulted in a great movie.

The one and foremost reason why this movie is still considered to be a somewhat important one is because it is seen as the first true blaxploitation flick. And really, I absolutely love blaxploitation, no matter how bad and crazy those movies can get at times. It's because the movies are fun to watch, with its over-the-top characters and situations. I however got very little pleasure out of this movie. So while it perhaps was the first, it's also far from the best the genre has to offer.

Maybe because it's the first, it's also obviously a far from polished and typical genre movie. Some classic blaxploitation ingredients are there, while the movie is also being filled with a ton of more stuff, that was completely redundant and helped to make this movie a way too odd one at times.

This movie at times feels like a true psychedelic trip, with its odd scenes, crazy editing, visuals and music. It could had worked out if it helped to move the movie forward with but it really doesn't. The movie doesn't feel like its going anywhere and it really feels like a long sit as well, even though the movie is only about 97 minutes short. I most certainly was glad when it finally was over, since I was longing for the end, about 60 minutes in of it.

Don't even ask me what this movie is all about. Yes, I know that Sweetback is on the run but why and for who exactly all remains a big mystery to me. I also really don't know what the character of Sweetback was supposed to be all about and why he got a movie based around him.

The movie feels incredibly random with all of its scenes and developments. The movie has the occasional sex scene in it, no doubt all put in there so Melvin Van Peebles could allow himself to have some fun. He did not only played the main character but also directed and wrote the movie, among many other things. And believe me, at least some of the sex in this movie is real, since Melvin Van Peebles actually contracted gonorrhea from an 'actress' while shooting this movie.

It was also weird seeing an 14-year old Mario Van Peebles having a sex scene in this, as a young Sweetback, with an adult woman. How did they ever get away with this? I doubt it was real sex they were having but still...they were obviously really naked and on top of each other.

Because Van Peebles had to finance this movie himself, it most certainly isn't the most classy or best looking movie. The movie does not only has a cheap look to it but also a just plain bad look. At times it's really hard to say what's going on since the picture quality is too bad or a scene gets too dark at times to tell what's happening.

I can most certainly appreciate and like a good old fashioned blaxploitation flick but this movie just isn't very good or fun to watch.

4/10

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