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 out, that's sufficient for him, because he knows his audience will accept it." Although the film was a major success after release, grossing $58.1 million in the U.S. alone, a new record for Eastwood, it was not a critical success. "The New York Times" critics such as Nora Sayre criticized the often contradictory moral themes of the film and Frank Rich believed it "was the same old stuff". Pauline Kael, a harsh critic of Eastwood for many years mocked his performance as Dirty Harry, commenting that, "He isn't an actor, so one could hardly call him a bad actor. He'd