Sudden Impact by Joseph C. Stinson

(pb; 1983: movie tie-in)

From the back cover

“Rape─and revenge!

“There he was! She had never been able to forget his face. His face─and the leering, jeering gang who  had been with him enjoying her pain and humiliation as each one took his turn. Well, he wouldn’t get away. He deserved to die.

“This murder will only be a beginning. And Dirty Harry finds himself smack in the middle of revenge on a grand scale as he tracks the woman who is tracking the rape gang.”

Review

This is a fun─as in darkly amusing, brutal and violent─lazy afternoon book (based on Stinson’s screenplay). Stinson streamlines this short, blunt, ugly, action-dominated and not-for-the-sensitive movie tie-in into a read that one should not take seriously, lest one slip into pompousness or equally unattractive attitudes. This is not high art this is well-written pay-the-bills work.

Readers who are especially sensitive about the subject of rape (Sudden suggests that a bullet will go a long way toward alleviating post-violation suffering), occasional blue collar racism (Harry affectionately thinks of a close friend, Horace, as a “darky son-of-a-bitch”) and general Dirty Harry-isms will probably not like Sudden. If you fit that description, and read it anyway and are offended, that’s on you, no one else.

I do not know if this is a collector’s item or not, but if you find a good condition copy of Sudden for a relatively cheap price─like I did─it might be worth picking up.

#

The film version─the fourth of five Dirty Harry flicks─was released stateside on December 9, 1983. Joseph C. Stinson, sometimes billed as Joseph Stinson, wrote the screenplay, based on Earl E. Smith and Charles B. Pierce’s story. An uncredited Dean Riesner also contributed to the story. Stinson also wrote Clint Eastwood's City Heat (1984) and was an uncredited writer on Eastwood's Heartbreak Ridge (1986).

Eastwood, who directed the film, played “Dirty Harry” Callahan. Sondra Locke played Jennifer Spencer. Albert Popwell, who appeared in two other Dirty Harry films as different characters (Magnum Force, 1973, and The Enforcer, 1976), played Horace King. Mark Keyloun played Officer Bennett.

Audrie Neenan, billed as Audrie J. Neenan, played Ray Parkins. Jack Thibeau played Kruger. Nancy Parsons played Mrs. Kruger. Paul Drake played Mick.

Pat Hingle, another Eastwood-flick semi-regular, played Chief Jannings. He, playing different characters, appeared in an episode of the Clint Eastwood show Rawhide (Season 7 episode 14: "The Book"; original air date: January 8, 1965). He also appeared in Hang 'Em High (1968).

Mara Corday played “Loretta—Coffee Shop Waitress.” She also appeared in four other Eastwood flicks as different characters (Tarantula, 1955, in which Eastwood played an uncredited "Jet Squadron Leader"; The Gauntlet, 1977; Pink Cadillac, 1989; and The Rookie, 1990).