Sudden Impact Sudden Impact Sudden Impact is a 1983 American action thriller and the fourth film in the "Dirty Harry" series, directed by Clint Eastwood (making it the only "Dirty Harry" film to be directed by Eastwood himself), and starring Eastwood and Sondra Locke. The film tells the story of a gang rape victim (Locke) who decides to seek revenge on the rapists ten years after the attack by killing them one by one. Inspector Callahan (Eastwood) famous for his unconventional and often brutal crime-fighting tactics is tasked with tracking down the serial killer. As Callahan investigates the killings, he becomes romantically
Clint Eastwood in the 1970s praised his performance as Dirty Harry, describing him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character", the film was widely criticized because of Eastwood's portrayal of the ruthless cop. Feminists in particular were outraged by the film, and at the 1971 Oscar telecast, protested outside holding up banners which read messages such as "Dirty Harry is a Rotten Pig". Many critics expressed concern with what they saw as bigotry, with "Newsweek" describing the film as "a right-wing fantasy", "Variety" as "a specious, phony glorification of the police and police brutality with a