The Poster With the Big Gun

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?