MovieChat Forums > Magnum Force (1973) Discussion > why did don siegel not return for this o...

why did don siegel not return for this one??

posted 9 years ago by McQueen1980
6 replies | jump to latest

seemed like a no brainer although bizarrely magnum force is a better movie

There is a reason Don Siegel did not direct this. I am not sure what it were, since he's not around to ask and he probably would not take my calls anyway, but I'd guess it's because the script. When Clint Eastwood approached Don Siegel to offer him the directing job for Dirty Harry, Eastwood gave Siegel four drafts of the script, one of which were written by Terrence Malick. In Malick's script, he changed the killer from being a mindless psychopath killing because he likes it, to being a vigilante who killed wealthy criminals who'd escaped justice. Siegel did not like Malick's script, but Eastwood did. Malick's ideas formed the basis for Magnum Force.

*Power don't come from a badge or a gun. Power comes from lying. Lying big, and gettin' the whole damn world to play along with you. Once you got everybody agreeing with what they know in their hearts ain't true, you've got 'em by the balls.*

[–] arthurab 7 years ago

Siegel didn't return b/c he didn't want to play second fiddle to Eastwood and b/c he didn't think the freshness of the first could be reproduced. Clint had become practically omnipotent after DH, and since his $ was paying for all the movies he was a part of, Siegel knew he'd have to defer to Clint on everything vital related to the movie.

Also, Siegel enjoyed their working relationship on DH and PMfM, and I suspect he didn't want to work with Clint in a situation where the balance of power had shifted to Clint and wouldn't be a partnership any more. That's why when they finally worked together again on
EFA, Siegel took a producer credit, as well as being the director.

[–] hocine-82 7 years ago

When Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood did Dirty Harry, they didn't plan to do a sequel.

At the end of the first movie, Harry threw his badge to the water. And that was it.
He was supposed to quit his job.

Don Siegel did Charley Varrick in 1973.

Since Dirty Harry was a box office hit, Warner Brothers wanted Clint Eastwood to do a sequel.

Moreover, Magnum Force can be seen as a reaction to film critic Pauline Kael, who hated the first film, and accused it to be fascist.

[–] ccr1633 (1435) 6 years ago

"Moreover, Magnum Force can be seen as a reaction to film critic Pauline Kael, who hated the first film, and accused it to be fascist."

I doubt Clint Eastwood or anyone involved with the first film gave a damn what Pauline Kael thought. As mentioned elsewhere, the seed of the plot for Magnum Force had much earlier been advanced by Terence Malick, and later refined by John Milius. I think the different tone of this film that you perceive is correct, in that they wanted to show a different side of Callahan, one that ultimately supports the highly flawed system over vigilantism. But I think they would've gone this route independently for artistic reasons, not because of the critics.

[–] yatzo376 (7476) 6 years ago

Disagree
DH was better movie and so was Charley Varrick

[–] millsey72 (9626) a year ago

He was busy