Sudden Impact

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Sudden Impact

R,

1983,

1h 57m,

Action/

Mystery & Thriller

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Watchlist

52%

42 Reviews

Tomatometer

54%

10,000+ Ratings

Popcornmeter

52%

Tomatometer

42 Reviews

54%

Popcornmeter

10,000+ Ratings

Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) was gang raped, but the crime went unpunished. Now she demands revenge, killing off the men that attacked her years before. The murders attract the attention of Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), who is on a forced vacation due to his violent approach to police work. The case gets complicated when Harry develops a relationship with Jennifer, and it's up to Harry to make the right decision when Jennifer's life is threatened for a second time.

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Critics Consensus

Sudden Impact delivers all the firepower -- and the most enduring catchphrase -- fans associate with the Dirty Harry franchise, but it's far from the best film in the series.

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Harper Barnes

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

May 12, 2023

Sudden Impact can be fun, if you do not take it too seriously. But it is so unrelievedly brutal and ugly, particularly in the last part, that even hard-core Dirty Harry fans may find themselves recoiling from the experience.

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Variety Staff

Variety

Mar 26, 2009

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.

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Time Out

Jun 24, 2006

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.

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Richard Freedman

Newark Star-Ledger

Jan 7, 2026

"Sudden Impact" is good, dirty fun.

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Eddie Harrison

film-authority.com

Feb 11, 2024

2/5

…annoyingly garbled morally…Eastwood is so busy subverting audience notions of who Dirty Harry is that he neglects to provide much fan service at all…

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George Anderson

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

May 13, 2023

It probably won't matter to audiences, enjoying the preposterous body count, that Sudden Impact takes Dirty Harry treacherously close to self-parody.

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Rey G

Dec 6, 2018

This is one of the most brutal films I've seen in quite some time. Virtually every scene seems to be a set-up for some punks to make the mistake of annoying our hero, who then proceeds to beat the living daylights out of them, or simply blows their heads off. I am 100% convinced that if any serving officer did what the Eastwood character gets away with in this film, he would not only be stripped of his badge, but also be looking at a considerable stretch in prison. Another striking aspect of the picture is the violence used against the fairer sex. The female cast members get punched in the face, kicked when on they're on the ground.. And that doesn't even include the constant flashbacks we get of Sondra Locke's sexual assault ordeal (We get one every time she carries out one of her revenge attacks on her aggressors). The misogyny displayed on screen is incredible and is unlikely to endear itself to anyone concerned about domestic violence.

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George R

Mar 26, 2018

This classic movie delivers on action, go ahead make your day and watch it.

Draco R

Feb 18, 2018

A Very Good Movie In The Trilogy

Luke R

Aug 5, 2017

Another solid entry, although this is where the series started losing the feel of the original few. Still good but not the best of the series. We did get one of Clint's best quotes from this one though

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Anakin R

May 7, 2017

Dirty Harry is becoming a legend!

Ron W

Mar 24, 2017

One of my all time favorite movies. This is probably the best out of the Dirty Harry franchise.

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Clint Eastwood

Director

Clint Eastwood

Insp. 'Dirty' Harry Callahan

Sondra Locke

Jennifer Spencer

Pat Hingle

Chief Lester Jannings

Bradford Dillman

Capt. Briggs

Paul Drake

Mick

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Synopsis

Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke) was gang raped, but the crime went unpunished. Now she demands revenge, killing off the men that attacked her years before. The murders attract the attention of Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood), who is on a forced vacation due to his violent approach to police work. The case gets complicated when Harry develops a relationship with Jennifer, and it's up to Harry to make the right decision when Jennifer's life is threatened for a second time.

Director: Clint Eastwood
Producer: Clint Eastwood
Screenwriter: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Charles B. Pierce, Earl E. Smith, Joseph Stinson
Distributor: Warner Home Vídeo
Production Co: Warner Bros., The Malpaso Company
Rating: R
Genre: Action, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Dec 9, 1983, Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Jan 1, 2009
Runtime: 1h 57m
Sound Mix: Mono

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