The Dead Pool

The Dead Pool

1988 "Dirty Harry Just Learned A New Game."
The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool

The Dead Pool

6.3 | 1h31m | R | en | Action

Dirty Harry Callahan returns for his final film adventure. Together with his partner Al Quan, he must investigate the systematic murder of actors and musicians. By the time Harry learns that the murders are a part of a sick game to predict the deaths of celebrities before they happen, it may be too late...

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6.3 | 1h31m | R | en | Action , Thriller , Crime | More Info
Released: July. 13,1988 | Released Producted By: Malpaso Productions , Warner Bros. Pictures Country: United States of America Budget: 0 Revenue: 0 Official Website:
Synopsis

Dirty Harry Callahan returns for his final film adventure. Together with his partner Al Quan, he must investigate the systematic murder of actors and musicians. By the time Harry learns that the murders are a part of a sick game to predict the deaths of celebrities before they happen, it may be too late...

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Cast

Clint Eastwood , Patricia Clarkson , Liam Neeson

Director

Edward C. Carfagno

Producted By

Malpaso Productions , Warner Bros. Pictures

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slightlymad22 Dead Pool (1988)Plot In A Paragraph: Dirty Harry Callahan (Clint) must stop a sick secret contest to murder local celebrities, which includes himself as a target.After a two year absence, and with considerably darker hair than in his last two movies, Eastwood is back on familiar ground in a by the numbers Dirty Harry flick, it's all there, Harry constantly being shouted at by his superiors, is eventually suspended, a partner who is not around when the movie reaches its conclusion plenty of action and Clint having memorable one liners. But whilst the other movies looked big budget for their day, Dead Pool looks and feels cheap, almost like a TV, it doesn't help the the directing is uninspired too. Buddy Van Horn is a friend of Eastwood's and I'm assuming that's how he got the job, as he only directed three movies, and Eastwood was the star in all of them. Evan C Clark is fine as Harry's partner Al, based on this performance I never would have guessed that Liam Neeson would grow old in the industry!! Likewise Jim Carrey, who gives the impression he is reading his lines from a none to helpful prompt book. Patricia Clarkson bothered me as I couldn't place her, until I realised she was Kevin Costner's wife in The Untouchables.I love Guns N Roses, but the extended use of the song is a little too much, and the appearance by the band seems forced. When director Peter Swan (Neeson) says "We needed a music video tie in" you can't help but think that's all it was. I do enjoy the call backs to previous movies Callaghan muttering "Swell" and "Marvellous" and informing the bad guy he is out of bullets!! The newspaper clipping mentioning Scorpio being caught etcThe film is fine, but like so many of the others it's only vaguely engaging and pretty much instantly forgettable. And that is not what I want from a Dirty Harry movie. The last sequel Clint Eastwood ever made, was the least successful of the five Dirty Harry films at the box-office. Dead Pool also ruined the run of each Dirty Harry movie grossing more than the previous movie. It only grossed $37 million at the domestic Box Office to end the year the 30th highest grossing movie of 1988.
connorbbalboa To start off this review, I'd just like to say that I'm getting weary of watching so many film series that start off good, but continue pointlessly and decline over time. The Rocky and Rambo series are two examples of this in my eyes. I really don't think that Rocky needed any sequels, but somehow most of them turned out to be good. But if it wasn't for Rocky Balboa and Creed that came out in recent years, I'd say that the franchise overstayed its welcome and ended poorly with both Rocky IV and V. In terms of the Rambo series, the only one that is genuinely good is the original film called First Blood. The rest of the series is so different in tone and what the message is (although Part 2 tried to follow up on the original's Vietnam War themes). Even though Rambo (2008) is better than Rambo III at least, it mixed a serious tone with ridiculous moments like Rambo surviving a nuke with a pretentious moral argument with some missionaries saying that violence isn't the answer that didn't always work. Now we come to the Dirty Harry series, where besides the original, most of the films that came after were at least watchable and tried to expand on the character of Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan. Not this film, though.The plot for the this entry is probably the stupidest of all of them. Having gained more fame than ever before, Harry becomes involved in this game called the Dead Pool, where numerous people in the entertainment business try to guess which celebrities will die next. Harry sees that he is on the list, and hence a whodunit search is made with film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) as a primary suspect. Along the way, he pursues a glossed-over romance with reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson).The first thing to note about this film is that it is terribly unsubtle about addressing the controversies of film violence and how it may affect people in real life. A lot of the characters, including Swan, talk about it the way film critics and filmmakers would talk about it in documentaries, and all of these references don't have any real agenda, other than to try to be smart, which it isn't; even one of the celebrities who is murdered is supposed to represent famed critic Pauline Kael, who said the first Dirty Harry was "fascist". Even Friday the 13th Part VI: Jason Lives did a better job of blending its referential humor about horror films into the story. Also, as I already mentioned, the romance between Harry and Sam is very quickly glossed over and doesn't get a lot of focus; the romance is also terribly shallow. Sam looks like she just wants to get into Harry's pants and Harry just seems to think that Sam is good-looking.Even the villain is terribly realized, with a twist that comes at the last minute as to who is really killing these celebrities. The motivation of the villain isn't even enough to forgive it. It seems that besides the first Dirty Harry, the only film in the series that actually had great villains was Magnum Force, because the villains in that movie were basically Harry and his philosophies about upholding the law taken to the extreme. The villains in each of the films afterwards just seemed to be a poor man's Scorpio (the killer from the first film) and just act really crazy. To make a great villain, you need much more.Also, while Sudden Impact, the previous film in the series directed by Eastwood, managed to blend together the grittiness of the 70s and the action and mood of the 80s, the 80s side takes over completely, with its references to drug use and over-the-top violence. As a result, this does not feel like a Dirty Harry film, but more like an 80s action film that stars Eastwood, who just happens to be playing Harry Callahan.One thing I will say I like is that Harry is finally recognized as a guy who actually gets the job done, despite using brute force. After four films of Harry having to listen to the complaints of his superiors about being too excessive on the job, it seemed that people were finally making sense about what Harry has done. At the same time, it takes away from the tension between Harry, the cop who will go the extra mile to get things done, and the public, that thinks his philosophies are outdated and undemocratic. In fact, there is no theme about the rights of the accused like in the other films. Harry just gets into trouble with the bad guys and his superiors complain, like it's any other cop movie. There's also an anti-press message, but like the romance, it's glossed over.To conclude, The Dead Pool is the worst of the Dirty Harry films and results in making another film series go one film too long. There was no point in making the film and it doesn't advance Harry's character or the series in any way.
ElMaruecan82 Detective Harry Callahan is the 'Cleopatra' of movies as age cannot wither him.Indeed, it is hard to believe that 17 years have passed between "Dirty Harry" and "The Dead Pool" yet Detective Harry Callahan oozes the same macho bad-ass charisma with a little touch of wisdom. Today, the film is almost thirty and Eastwood is one of the most celebrated directors and iconic living presences of Hollywood. If I doubt he can still pull the same stunts than his cinematic counterpart, I cannot believe there's something the man cannot do, in fifty years, The Man With No Name made a name out of himself, and the fifth 'Dirty Harry' film is a fine opportunity to remember it."The Dead Pool", released in 1988, by Buddy Van Horn, has probably gained more attention this year, with the popular and anti-heroic superhero "Deadpool" and that the creators admitted that the game concept hiding behind the title inspired Deadpool's name, adds a new level of appreciation. Not that it needed it, had the title been "The Deadly Game", "The Last on the List", or "Don't Play with Harry", I guess the film would have been as exciting and entertaining. As long as Dirty Harry is played with the same mix of intensity in work and detachment outside by Eastwood, as long as we see him fighting first and wrestling with bureaucratic issues, and as long as the series of crimes mix the heart-pounding elements of thrillers with elements of mystery, it can't go wrong.And "The Dead Pool" doesn't, it starts with a series of deaths and murders that seem to have no connection whatsoever, starting with a drug-addict rocker played by James Carrey (the first name won't fool anyone), the first suspect is Liam Neeson as a slasher film director, and Neeson's look, more than Carrey's and Eastwood's really date the film (and not in the least handsome way). Other celebrities are killed; inspiring an interesting comment from Harry's newly assigned Chinese teammate (a good thing for the cop's image) that "deaths always come at three". The film doesn't reveal until the final third the identity of the killer, so it might compromise his chance to top the list of Callahan's antagonists, but if the criminal doesn't really hit a strike, his methods do and some contribute to one of the best moment of the film.Indeed, how many times, did we get to have car chases in action movies, ever since "Bullitt" and "The French Connection", the car chase has become a staple even exploited by comedies, but I'm not sure the audience of 1988 was still easy to be wowed by such a tiresome cliché, no matter how spectacular it was. It better had to be original, so 1988 had Roger Rabbit and Bob Hoskins on the animated cab, and Dirty Harry being chased by a tiny model toy car full of explosives. The route is exactly the same than in the iconic "Bullitt" as if the two legendary cop movies set in San Francisco had to compete in the same fields, well, it took five films to establish this funny kinship and even surpass the original. Well, that's one car chase, I won't easily forget, and it's for this attention for novelty, this desire to surprise the viewers that "The Dead Pool" deserves some praise.And that's not all. The film doesn't overdo the bad-ass attitude of Harry, he' still has the same reflexes but he gained in maturity and has developed a capability for listening with age. And I like how this sequel, like all the sequels, develops something new about Harry. While the first film makes him look like a fascist icon, the second responded to the allegation by confronting him to real fascists cops, the third focuses on villains from the political opposite side, the fourth one contradicted the macho reputation by focusing on a female antagonist with 'understandable' motives and now, the final film, focuses on the responsibility of the media for contributing to our fascination with crimes and violence. As viewers, we're also forced to question our own fascination toward Dirty Harry, a nice way to come full circle with the series.On that level, I loved the performance of Patricia Clarkson as the TV host Samantha Walker, who shares that fascination toward Harry, the myth, the figure, the symbol, whatever and would dream of making a story out of him. Of course, to live up with himself, and be worthy of such an admiration, the only answer could be 'no' and near the end, even Samantha learns to have limits in her works, after all, in every business, one's got to know his limitations. The genuine relationship that grows between Harry and Samantha is very touching, there's not necessarily a romance, but something intrinsically rooted in Callahan, a will to protect the weak, or to correct the wrong. And now, that he looks like an older and wiser man, not that sexy, lanky cop with the brownish mane and that smile during the Magnum monologue, there's a new layer of humanity and emotions behind that old crank."The Dead Pool" is something I didn't think was possible, a fifth continuation of a successful cop series. That some franchises like "Die Hard" or "Lethal Weapon" got quickly over-the-top or lost their touch after the third film and not in the "Dirty Harry" means that there's something more durable in Harry Callahan, that even transcends the context of his job. I can't pinpoint the exact quality, but I think it might be the fact that he's a lonely hero, a sort of mythical presence who doesn't rely on other protagonists, likely to change or to change him. No wife, children, buddies or sidekick, like Superman or John Wayne, Dirty Harry is one of the most enduring myths of American cinema.
FlashCallahan A rock singer is found dead of an overdose, but there are signs that it was not accidental, so Harry is assigned to investigate. Initially Harry is suspicious of Peter Swan, the man who directs the singer's videos. He also crosses paths with a television reporter, Samantha Walker and after being threatened with a law suit, the two of them form a bond. Harry discovers that Swan and several other people are playing a game called the dead pool, where they make a list of individuals, who are high risk, and turns out that Squares was on Swan's list, and Harry's also on the list. And someone is following him.......Well if you are sleeping just before the film starts, it's opening music will wake you up. But for all the wrong reasons. Even though I listen to this soundtrack quite a lot, the opening track by Schifrin is hilariously inappropriate, and sets up the mood for this film.If you watch it as a standalone movie, and try to forget that its a Dirty Harry movie, there is lots of fun to be had. Otherwise, it's just a script that was going round Hollywood for a while, and they decided to whack the Dirty Harry moniker on there to put bums on seats.And it worked to an extent.It's a good enough idea, high risk celebrities on a list and they just happen to die is quite a high concept, but at the same time, it's very early eighties slasher fodder, in fact, there are scenes that are very reminiscent of Stallone's Cobra.Eastwood is wonderful as usual, and for a police officer, shooting people in the back is no problem.We also have Liam Neeson spending the film acting sinister and having a rat hang off the back of his head as the main suspect, but it's all too perfect to have him as the killer, so come the end, it's just a random no one who is responsible for all the shenanigans.Oh and Jim Carrey is in it as James Carrey.It's throwaway stuff, poor for a Dirty Harry movie, but for a Clint Eastwood action vehicle, it's a pretty enjoyable 90 minutes.