Magnum Force is a 1973 American neo-noir action-thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on Rawhide and Hang 'Em High, directed the film. The screenplay was written by John Milius and Michael Cimino (who later worked with Eastwood on Thunderbolt and Lightfoot). The film score was composed by Lalo Schifrin. This film features early appearances by David Soul, Tim Matheson, and Robert Urich. At 123 minutes, it is the longest of the five Dirty Harry films.

Plot

After being acquitted of mass murder on a legal technicality, Carmine Ricca, the boss of the Italian-American San Francisco Mafia, leaves the court in his limousine. While traveling on a city road, the driver is pulled over by a San Francisco Police Department motorcycle cop, who calmly guns down all of the occupants of the car. Inspector Harry Callahan visits the crime scene with his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith, despite the fact that the two are supposed to be on stakeout duty. Their superior, Lieutenant Neil Briggs, seems eager to keep Callahan out of the murder investigation.