When this film was originally released it was promoted with the notably unimaginative tagline "Dirty Harry is at it again". Whatever this pitch lacks in originality is more than compensated for by it's complete and total accuracy. "Sudden Impact" retains all the aspects that made the previous three Dirty Harry movies so successful- tight pacing, a compelling plot, strong supporting characters, endless gunplay, and bone-dry humor. Some of these elements are not only retained but amplified- this is easily the darkest, bloodiest, and most overtly right-wing installment of the franchise.
The plot is somewhat intriguing: after killing a ridiculous number of hoodlums, Inspector Callahan is sent on a forced "vacation" by his superiors to the sleepy coastal town of San Paolo. He is tasked to investigate the background of a recent homicide victim who was shot in the genitals before being put out of his (no doubt considerable) misery by a second shot to the head. Early on in the film, the audience is made aware of the identity of the killer- an artist named Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) who is hunting down the thugs who gang-raped her and her sister at a fun fair some ten years earlier. This incident is shown in a very disturbing flashback, snippets of which recur before each new murder. As more bodies start to appear with the same M.O, it becomes clear to Harry that both the local police chief and his new love interest (guess who?) know more than they are telling. To make matters even more complicated, the one-time rapists realize who is hunting them and start to hit back hard.
"Sudden Impact" offers relentless action from beginning to end. Clint Eastwood directed this film himself and expertly handles a series of set pieces that culminate in an exhilarating climax. Sondra Locke's performance effectively conveys the blend of ruthlessness and fragility that define her character. That having been said, it is fair to wonder if another actress (who was not Eastwood's off-screen companion at the time) could have brought more charisma and dramatic weight to the role- Theresa Russell and Cybill Shepherd jump to mind as possible candidates. Members of the supporting cast that punch significantly above their weight include Albert Popwell as Harry's partner Horace, Paul Drake as the psychopathic Mick, and the truly scene-stealing Audrie J. Neenan who portrays the vicious Ray Parkins.
However the film has some notable problems- some of the subplots (the animosity between Harry and a gang of twentysomething hoodlums, a Mob vendetta against him) take up too much screen time and don't really have any bearing to the larger story. Their only real use is to raise the body-count to absurd levels. In the first half of the film it sometimes appears that Dirty Harry shoots people more often than he has to use the restroom. However the film moves into top gear as it progresses and the triangulated cat-and-mouse game between Callahan, Spencer, and her former tormentors assumes prominence. This second hour makes it clear that a more stripped-down and slightly refocused screenplay would have given "Sudden Impact" the potential to be a first-class, neo noir-style thriller that could have taken the series to new levels but still have contained more than enough .44 magnum heroics to satisfy the Harry loyalists. Instead we get the film that Eastwood and Warner Bros. clearly wanted to make- a superbly executed but prototypical Eighties action flick that mostly declines to particularly challenge the intelligence of it's intended audience.
This was by far the biggest grossing of the series at the box-office and it is not hard to see why. Though not the film that it could have been, this is still big, trigger-happy fun. Even after repeated viewings, it's going to make your day.

Oh what a condescending movie! Set in Los Angeles, the center of the universe from the POV of Hollywood filmmakers, this movie tries to be a deep social commentary on contemporary American angst.
Stereotyped, smarmy characters of widely varying socio-economic backgrounds cross paths in their everyday, humdrum lives. The plot is disjointed and desultory. Numerous unimaginative plot contrivances keep the film going, like: a drive-by shooting, an abandoned baby left in the weeds, a gang of thugs intimidating a lawyer, a guy flying through the night sky over the city, a kid at summer camp.
And through all these events, the one constant is the generous helping of sociological "insights" imparted through the dialogue, as characters compare notes on their life experiences. One character tells another: "When you sit on the edge of that thing (the Grand Canyon), you realize what a joke we people are; ... those rocks are laughing at me, I could tell, me and my worries; it's real humorous to that Grand Canyon".
And another character pontificates about the meaning of it all: "There's a gulf in this country, an ever widening abyss between the people who have stuff and the people who don't have ... it's like this big hole has opened up in the ground, as big as the ... Grand Canyon, and what's come pouring out ... is an eruption of rage, and the rage creates violence ...".
Aside from the horribly unnatural and forced dialogue, aside from the shallow, smarmy characters, aside from the dumb plot, the story's pace is agonizingly slow. Acting is uninspired and perfunctory. The film's tone is smug and self-satisfied, in the script's contempt for viewers.
This was a film project approved by Hollywood suits who fancy themselves as omnipotent gurus, looking down from on high. They think their film will be a startling revelation to us lowly, unknowing movie goers, eager to learn about the real meaning of American social change.