The Dead Pool (1988)

Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

A Disappointing Continuation

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Clint Eastwood returns for the fifth time as the tough San Francisco cop Inspector Callaghan in this final Dirty Harry movie. This time he has to contend with a betting pool in which participants try to predict which celebrity will die first. A serial killer starts to make the game become more relevant by starting to bump members of the list off in a variety of grisly ways. Harry's unwanted newly found fame finds him on the list and a potential target for the killer.This entry in the series has definitely got a good concept. It's an idea that should really have been executed better though and unfortunately the film is a somewhat routine affair, made worse by a little too many stupid scenes. There are two threads to the narrative. One involves a Mafia don who Harry put in jail trying to have him executed by getting his henchmen on the outside to take him out; while the second, and main, plot strand focuses on the dead pool serial killings themselves. The latter idea is a decent one, but the whole Mafia thread was pretty woeful and unconvincing. Harry makes the Mafia boss and gangsters look like hopeless unthreatening chumps – it's not very convincing, it includes some lame humour and quite honestly could have been completely removed without any damage to the overall film whatsoever. The dead pool part of the story looks at wider aspects than simply a serial killer investigation; it considers the role of sensationalist media and the influence of violent entertainment. The latter aspect is brought out by the inclusion of a horror film director played in a remarkably annoying fashion by Liam Neeson. This guy directs films with moronically generic titles like 'Night of the Slasher'; I mean, honestly, could the script writers not have come up with something a little more convincing than this? Anyway, the focus on Neeson's tiresome character allows for the film to sneer at such violent movies but at the end of the day The Dead Pool is a pretty violent film itself, so it has something of a cheek denouncing violent films as a plot point!More predictably, Harry has yet another new unwanted partner to assist him, an Asian American who, needless to say, has some kung fu moves which he employs when apprehending a criminal. It's this kind of daftness that makes this Dirty Harry the silliest instalment in the series, as well as a car chase where Callaghan and his partner are chased through the streets of San Francisco by a tiny remote-control model car with a bomb attached to it. It's so ridiculous it's what would have happened if the famous car chase in Bullit (1968) had been directed by Andy Sidaris. Lastly, for additional campy value we have a pre-fame Jim Carrey portraying a hair metal rock star whose latest song is 'Welcome to the Jungle'. When this film came out Guns 'n' Roses were pretty unknown so few people associated this song with them, to hear it now trying to be passed off as by anyone other than them is pretty strange to say the least; the members of the group even appear as background fodder in a couple of scenes.Despite its obvious shortfalls The Dead Pool is pretty entertaining for the most part. It's undoubtedly kind of silly but it gets the job done. Some of the clichés, irritating characters and rubbish humour do bring it down a peg or two but it has enough efficient muscular cop thriller dynamics to ensure that it is still a decent enough watch.

The Dead Pool (1988) is Clint Eastwood's most underrated and the fifth final flick in the "Dirty Harry" series. I love this movie and I think is better than The Enforcer. It is one of my personal favorite action movies of all time. It is the last Dirty Harry movie and it is well done with action sequences and great music opening theme. This was the third film I saw in my youth as a child. The first and the second movie were Dirty Harry and Magnum Force. I grew up with this film. The scene where Rook (David Hunt) kills with a knife Walker's (Patricia Clarkson) cameraman scares the hell out of me. Evan C. Kim as Al Quan also did a great solid job Harry's partner since than I don't see him in the film business anymore. I don't agree with critics this film is bad, which is not. I have always loved this movie, I even saw the VHS tape in 2003 on a sale sadly I didn't bought it, but I have now whole collection on Blu-ray disc. Patricia Clarkson was in my opinion much better than the actress Sondra Locke. I love the theme music in the opening scene and I love this action flick. This is the first time I see Jim Carrey in this flick as Johnny Squares who gets murdered in his trailer which the killer fills him with drugs. Liam Neeson is also in here as Peter Swan the movie director who becomes the murder suspect in this flick on a dead pool list of people who also Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) becomes the target as him self in it. This movie was directed by Buddy Van Horn who directed previously Any Which Way You Can (1980) the sequel to Every Which Way but Loose (1978) Clint Eastwood films and Pink Cadillac (1989). The Dead Pool is the fifth and final installment in the Dirty Harry film franchise. The 1988 sequel finds Inspector Callahan (Clint Eastwood) trying to solve a series of murders that appears to be linked to a list of celebrities that were deemed likely to be dead in the near future. The film's cast included Liam Neeson, Evan Kim as well as the feature film debut of Jim Carrey. I think this movie is close to The Rookie (1990) another Clint Eastwood flick that Clint directed it him self and I love it. Because Michael Goodwin who plays the character Lt. Ackerman, the last name Ackerman was later used in Charlie Sheen's character The Rookie (1990). Both of the movies are each other like and they are both good. Just in The Rookie Clint plays different character than Harry Callahan. The basic plot about, this film, is more about a psychopath killer who stalks Hollywood stars including the director and making his own movies. The film does have a plot wholes, like the killer was revealed by the end of the movie and his motives. Just trough whole movie the actor David Hunt is shown by the end of the movie. This great last chapter in the career of Inspector Harry Callahan can not be missed! You have got to check out the remote controlled car chase...reminiscent of that great Sunday drive scene in "BULLITT", with Steve McQueen! Look for the great Jim Carrey acts to GUNS N' ROSES' Welcome To The Jungle, as a junkie rock star...side splitting stuff!! Eastwood delivers the goods in his last appearance as the San Francisco cop who took care of the bad guys...HIS WAY!! BANG...with that .44 Magnum Smith & Wesson hand-cannon!! Be sure to add this movie to your collection. I got the DIRTY HARRY 5 film collection on Blu-ray !! I recommend this movie as well as the others!!The Dead Pool is a 1988 American action film directed by Buddy Van Horn, written by Steve Sharon, and starring Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry film series, set in San Francisco, California.Back in the day, Roger Ebert called this final Dirty Harry film the best since the original. I'll take it a step further: I think it's the greatest Harry film of all. And he even gets the girl at the end! An awesome end to one of the greatest film series in history...Please just don't let them start remaking these films! I'll have to smother myself! Anyway this movie is great and none, I repeat NONE of the Dirty Harry movies are bad, they are all great and I love them all. This movie deserves 9 from me. This is my fourth favorite film in the series, the last one will be The Enforcer.

This is the fourth and last sequel to Dirty Harry, where Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds himself on a list of a betting game thought up by filmmaker Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). The game's object is to see which local celebrity would be the first to die.Eastwood continues his justice-seeking and sarcastically witty portrayal of Callahan and delivered some great gun-totting action, never-say-die attitude and humorous one-liners that kept me laughing and engaged at the same time. The random crimes foiled by Callahan continue to pop up within the main plot and kept the movie interesting and fast-paced. Jack N. Green gave us a nice cinematographic view of San Francisco and Buddy Van Horn directed a movie with a solid cast. I especially liked the chemistry between Eastwood and Patricia Clarkson and liked seeing the appearances of Liam Neesom and Jim Carrey in one of their earlier film roles.In addition, Callahan pairs up with new partner Al Quan (Evan C. Kim), which I thought is one of the better pairings as Quan had good rapport with Callahan and seemed to be more engaged on his mission and ***spoiler ahead*** ultimately having a better fate toward the end of the movie than previous counterparts. ***spoiler ends*** I also liked Quan's martial arts sequence during the restaurant scene.While the plot has lesser surprises, it is still a fun movie with some occasional unique scenes (the toy race car scene) popping up throughout the story. A fitting end to the Dirty Harry trilogy.Grade B+

"Dirty Harry" Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is publicly credited with putting mob boss Lou Janero in prison. He is put on a list, the Dead Pool. He is ambushed and Callahan kills a bunch of bad guys. He's assigned a new partner Al Quan (Evan Kim) to watch his back. Rock star Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey) is a drug-addicted drunken mess and he is murdered while on a video shoot directed by Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). After shooting a bunch of stickup guys at a Chinese restaurant, Harry finds a list of names including his and Johnny Squares'. Reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) breaks the news of the Dead Pool which Swan participates in. He goes out with Samantha and is ambushed once again. A man claiming to be Swan kills movie critic Molly Fisher who is on Swan's list. The killer uses remote control cars to blow up people including an attempt on Harry.Dirty Harry turns into something campy. It starts with Jim Carrey as a rock star. Harry is shooting every bad guy in this thing. Then the killer uses a remote control car in one of the sillier car chases in the streets of San Francisco. Finally the killer turns out to be a random crazy Swan fan and Harry shoots him with a harpoon. If this was any other character, I would laugh. This is Dirty Harry and that allows some shoot 'em up fun.