Sudden Impact

Sudden Impact
A picture of Detective Harry Callaghan against a city skyline. In front of him is glass with a bullet-hole.
Theatrical release poster by Bill Gold
Directed byClint Eastwood
Screenplay byJoseph Stinson
Story by
Based onCharacters
by Harry Julian Fink
R.M. Fink
Produced byClint Eastwood
Starring
CinematographyBruce Surtees
Edited byJoel Cox
Music byLalo Schifrin
Distributed byWarner Bros.
Release date
  • December 9, 1983 (1983-12-09)
Running time
117 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$22 million[1]
Box office$150 million[2]

Sudden Impact is a 1983 American neo-noir action thriller film, the fourth in the Dirty Harry series, directed, produced by and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only Dirty Harry film to be directed by Eastwood himself) and co-starring Sondra Locke.[3] The film tells the story of a gang rape victim (Locke) who decides to seek revenge on her rapists 10 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.

The film is notable for the catchphrase "Go ahead, make my day", written by John Milius and uttered by Clint Eastwood's gun-wielding character in the beginning of the film as he stares down an armed robber who is holding a hostage. This is the last Dirty Harry film to feature Albert Popwell.

  1. ^ Box Office Information for Sudden Impact. Archived October 18, 2014, at the Wayback Machine The Wrap. Retrieved April 4, 2013.
  2. ^ Thompson, Douglas (August 15, 2007). "Nine – White Hat, Grey Heart". Clint Eastwood - The Biography of Cinema's Greatest Ever Star. Kings Road Publishing. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-78418-574-9. Sudden Impact, made five years earlier, had by then earned more than $150 million.
  3. ^ Canby, Vincent (December 9, 1983). "Sudden Impact (1983) FILM: 'IMPACT,' WITH CLINT EASTWOOD". The New York Times.