Sudden Impact is a Dirty Harry movie with only the good parts left in. All the slow stuff, such as character, motivation, atmosphere and plot, has been pared to exactly the minimum necessary to hold together the violence.

A viscerally effective, fast paced thriller.

A brutally hard-hitting policier which casts Clint Eastwood as audiences like to see him, as the toughest guy in town.

The film is split down the middle, with many elegant symmetries and curling plotlines bridging the two halves: one part is a bracing, funny, almost Keaton-esque comedy starring Harry as a deadpan center of disaster; the other is a brooding, brutal film noir, starring Sondra Locke as a vengeful femme fatale.

Harry is more fun, and he is less the fascist. Considering the genre -- bloody crimebusting and to-hell-with-your-rights- pal -- these are no small blessings. [12 Dec 1983, p.C6]