Sudden Impact can be fun, if you do not take it too seriously. But it is so unrelievedly brutal and ugly, particularly in the last part, that even hard-core Dirty Harry fans may find themselves recoiling from the experience.

This is the first entry in the series to have been directed by Eastwood himself, and action is put over with great force, if also with some obviousness.

Eastwood the star needed a hit to bolster his flagging ratings; now that he's got it, maybe Harry will be put out to stud, with his Magnum.

"Sudden Impact" is good, dirty fun.