In my opinion it's definitely true that once you have seen one of those '70's westerns, you have seen about 80% of them. They are all similar, with both style and setup, which is probably part of the reason why westerns never really have been my kind of thing. These type of movies can still often distinct itself from the average genre attempt through its main character and actor portraying them. This movie has Clint Eastwood, so really, things couldn't had gone very wrong for this movie.

And Eastwood doesn't just simply star in it, he also directed it, making this his first directed western as well. He of course had lots of experience as an actor in the genre already, so it wasn't a very big surprise he turned to directing one as well, pretty early on in his directing career.

I wouldn't exactly call this movie a genre great but it's definitely still a good movie. It's simple with its setup and settings, which makes this a pretty straightforward and easy and pleasant to watch genre movie. It has very little distractions in it, which also means that the movie isn't exactly being a very deep or involving one but it does help to make this a pleasant viewing experience.

It definitely still has some missed opportunities in it, in my opinion. It for instance could had done more with all of its townspeople, who now instead all remain a bit too shallow and too much in the background. It also felt somewhat uncomfortable to see what an unpleasant character Eastwood was playing. He's not exactly a bad guy himself but definitely not the sort of guy you would love to hang around with.

The movie doesn't always follow the typical genre clichés in that regard, which does of course helps to make this a somewhat more original genre attempt. It shall please those who want to see something different but at the same time it will also please those who expect a more typical and genre cliché driven Eastwood western. It has something for everybody in it really.

It's simply a good genre movie that I just wasn't very taken with all of the time.

7/10

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It was quite surprising to find that this second Dirty Harry movie even beats the original. It's better written and even uses- and handles its main character in a better and more intriguing way.

At first it really looks as if this movie is going to be nothing more but just another rehash of the first movie. It seemed to feature a similar type of plot and progressed in almost the exact same manner. However, the further the movie progresses, the more starts to become clear about the story and the direction it's heading at. You think this is going to be yet another movie about a serial killer but there really is far more to the story, as you'll find out.

I won't spoil anything but there are some nice twists and turns in the movie, that shake things up. It even makes this a somewhat surprising and also original genre movie.

It's really not necessary either to watch the first "Dirty Harry" movie before you go and see this one. It's really a movie on its own, with a new story and also mostly new characters in it. All of the events that happened in the first movie are mostly irrelevant for this one and you'll get into this movie and its main characters just as easily as you would when you have already seen the first movie.

Compared to the first movie, which was great as well by the way, they had improved on certain things. The character of Harry himself for instance is given some depth and background this time around, making him even more human like and likable. You get a better sense of the character so to speak.

The movie also still feels very raw and straightforward. There is some pretty graphic violence in the movie and the Clint Eastwood character Harry Callahan of course isn't afraid to use his Magnum more than once throughout the movie. There is some real good action and some nice thrills in this movie, that all look and feel very typical for an '70's genre production, which is a big compliment of course.

There really wasn't much that I didn't liked about the movie. It did everything right, had a great genre story in and of course one iconic main character, who lifts the movie even up to greater heights, also mainly thanks to Eastwood's performance.

An absolute must see for the lovers of crime/cop movies.

9/10

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