Which of these is your favourite cop thriller? Also, who do you prefer, Harry Callahan or Lou Torrey? I like Callahan, he's the last of the bad@$$ cops, but in terms of hardness, I think Torrey has a bit of an edge.
sharenice choices.
I find it interesting that you would use Magnum Force instead of Dirty Harry, most people find D.H. superior, but i, and a few others, think Magnum Force is a very underrated movie.
The Stone Killer on the other hand, i love it (despite Michael Winner's career long weakness of showing fits of action brilliance buried under poor actor direction). Bronson MADE the movies he did with Winner as enjoyable as they are. One can merely check out Winner's action films with other actors to see how lackluster a director he really was.
I have to say, Magnum Force wins for me. Better direction, better script, better cinematography (almost no scene is a throw-away, good compositions and lighting throughout), subtly well-rounded Eastwood performance. The only thing Stone Killer has going for it is Bronson, Paul Koslo and very cool Jack Colvin.
The soundtracks are both brilliant, but Magnum's wins out.
Torrey does have an edge, but it's the edge of cynicism, which doesn't make him tougher for me.
If the initial question is about project vs. project, then I have to agree with Chavarino (only about 11 months later) simply because Magnum Force is a better developed film.
BUT I if it is just about who is a harder cop, then I must refer to driving, no one ... and I mean NO ONE is as hard-core a driver as Torrey is/was ... this of course was propelled by Bronson's stare from behind the wheel.
And the fact is, despite being hard, Harry did have a sense of humanity. Torrey had none ... Harry would have gone around the corner, maybe take out a mailbox ... Torrey just drove through that store.
Yeah yeah, it's been done a bunch of times since, but the difference is (again) Bronson's stare.
"Magnum Force" by far. Anything with Harry Callahan, really, except for "Sudden Impact" (I blame Sondra Locke). Lou Torrey was more of a live wire, but Dirty Harry delivers the goods.
shareI LIKE BOTH
shareI liked THE STONE KILLER---definitely a hardcore '70s cop thriller flick and it turned out to be a pretty good one. IMO, Bronson's portrayal of a hardnosed cop seemed a bit more laid back and realistic this time---for one thing, his character dosen't go around shooting anybody unless they shoot at him first, he dosen't go around just beating the hell out of people, but he dosen't take any s*** from anybody, either. Funny how this film seems to always get overlooked for some reason,even though it's a Bronson vehicle---because it's actually pretty good----especially if you love '70s cop thrillers, like from the THE FRENCH CONNECTION on down. Saw this on the MOVIES channel, which mean they might show it again soon.
shareMagnum Force is better.
shareI’d say Magnum Force is a little better.
share