MovieChat Forums > Magnum Force (1973) Discussion > The Poster With the Big Gun

The Poster With the Big Gun

posted 2 years ago by ecarle (14979)
8 replies | jump to latest

I was around when Magnum Force came out in 1973...a mere two years after the original Dirty Harry was such a big hit in 1971. They both came out at Christmas. In the early 70's, Christmas time was even bigger than summer for blockbusters and genre hits , interesting that both Dirty Harry and Magnum Force were so ultra-violent and yet "Christmas entertainment." (Indeed Warner Brothers released Magnum Force just ahead of The Exorcist as a Christmas 1973 attraction.)

But hey: look at that POSTER. Look at that GUN. The famous ".44 Magnum, that would blow your head clean off." I saw that poster in the newspaper in 1973 and I gotta admit: I was pretty damn jazzed to see the movie. (As were my friends.)

Where ever the world may be on gun control right now(2022 as I post this) ..in 1973 a movie could be advertised BY the gun...the gun is almost as big as Eastwood in the poster.

The poster shown here was the "coolest" of the Magnum Force "gun posters," but there was at least one more poster in which -- thanks to the lens and/or trick photography -- the poster allowed the gun to fill up about 2/3 as Eastwood pointed it straight out at us.

To "continue the motif," the opening credits to Magnum Force in the MOVIE ITSELF are played entirely over Harry's big manly hand gripping the .44 and filling the screen with the gun in profile. The background is pure red behind the hand(probably not really Eastwood's, but who knows) and the gun; Lalo Schrfin(returning to score this after Dirty Harry) is much less sly, much more heavy and "militaristic" and the credits end with a shortened voiceover of Harry's "Do you feel lucky?" speech.

The the hand turns and points the gun right at us...and fires.

I would say that -- between the movie posters in the newspapers and the opening credit sequence...Magnum Force just might be the Biggest Gun Fetish Movie of All Time.

And it still looks cool...doesn't it?

[–] Tabbycat (878) a year ago

Screenwriter Milius was an avowed gun nut.
Hence all the shooting practice and competition scenes.

[–] Gd5150 (11747) a year ago

The rare magnum .44 LB (long barrel) with its highly accurate 37” barrel.

[–] Mrmojo4700 (21454) a year ago

It appears that way on the poster. Lol

[–] bozo_500 (13104) a year ago

also the fact its called MAGNUM Force, probably one of the only movies to be titled after a gun

Other MF posters
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/41/5f/c8/415fc887fbc0bc088b884fbe5cd409ca.jpg
https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1318/0685/products/Dirty-harry-photo-closeup_1200x.jpg
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RrWApfddvKU/W8RqhMgdl_I/AAAAAAAAb1c/tQXF4SItaJovnaD1bigZ1SU8kY7yAdlwwCLcBGAs/s1600/MF%2Bsub%2B2.JPG
https://cdn.cinematerial.com/p/500x/staft44p/magnum-force-german-vhs-movie-cover.jpg

The novel I had (and still might someplace)
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3e/1b/dd/3e1bdddf7bef5cd5a72da158ed6a03b6.jpg

[–] ecarle (14979) a year ago

What an array of gun posters! The one I remember most.. as the best...is the second one down. Eastwood holding the gun straight up. Notice that the original Dirty Harry 1971 poster didnt quite focus on the gun so much. BTW another San Francisco cop movie opened against Magnum Force at Xmas of 1973...Walter Matthau in The Laughing Policeman..a newspaper had fun contrasting a photo of Matthau extending an itty bitty police snub nose versus Eastwood with his hand cannon. Steve McQueen as SF cop Bullitt also only used a snub nose..and very rarely...only once in his movie. CONT.

[–] ecarle (14979) a year ago

Harry's giant handgun rather resembled a Western six shooter and helped transform the Western into the cop action movie, using Spaghetti Western star Eastwood to make the transition. Which was pretty unintentional given that Harry was first offered to Frank Sinatra and then to Paul Newman when Sinatra pulled out over a hand injury...from the fight scene in 1962's The Manchurian Candidate. Sinatra had trouble holding the Magnum!

[–] MaximRecoil (4598) 9 days ago

"Harry's giant handgun rather resembled a Western six shooter"

Not even close. The stereotypical "Western six shooter" is a Colt Single Action Army and Dirty Harry's gun was a Smith & Wesson Model 29. The former is a single-action revolver with a fixed cylinder and the latter is a double-action revolver with a swing-out cylinder. Here's a comparison picture (the two guns are approximately to scale with each other):

https://i.imgur.com/bhs6syD.png

The shape of the grips, hammer, trigger, trigger guard, and sights are all completely different.

The curve at the back of the frame where the hammer rests curves outward for the SAA and curves inward for the M29.

The M29 has a cylinder latch that you slide forward to swing out the cylinder which the SAA doesn't have because it has a fixed cylinder.

The M29's trigger is positioned toward the center of the trigger guard because it's double-action and therefore needs room for about an inch of rearward travel, while the SAA's trigger is positioned toward the rear of the trigger guard, because it's single-action and only ever needs a short pull of the trigger.

The M29 has a substantially bigger frame and thicker-walled barrel, which is why it weighs 10 or 12 ounces more than an SAA.

One of the most distinctive visual characteristics of the SAA is its ejector rod housing, which is offset to the side (it would be in about the 8 o'clock position relative to the barrel, if you were facing the muzzle). The M29 doesn't have an ejector rod housing. It has an ejector shroud but it's shaped completely differently; it's integrated into the barrel rather than screwed on, and it's not offset (i.e., it's in the 6 o'clock position).

There are other visual differences too, but those are the main ones. A Smith & Wesson M29 would look blatantly anachronistic in a Western movie or TV show.

[–] BKB (9880) a year ago

I'd say MAGNUM FORCE is probably the Best in the series behind the original movie.. Anything after that almost becomes too cartoonish and this movie was based on a True Story