Ted Post, who had previously worked with Eastwood on Rawhide and Hang 'Em High, directed the film.

In 1973, after being acquitted of a mass murder on a legal technicality, Carmine Ricca, a mobster and the boss of the Italian-American San Francisco Mafia, drives away from court in his limousine.

While traveling on a city road, the driver is pulled over by a San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) motorcycle cop, who calmly guns down all of the occupants in the car.

Inspector Harry Callahan visits the crime scene with his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith, despite the fact that the two are supposed to be on stakeout duty.

He later meets rookie officers Phil Sweet, John Davis, Alan "Red" Astrachan, and Mike Grimes while visiting the police firing range.

At an annual shooting competition, Callahan learns that Davis was the first officer to arrive after the murders of Guzman and McCoy.

Palancio attempts to escape, but Callahan jumps on the hood of his car, causing him to lose control and crash into a crane, killing him.

Davis and Astrachan appear, causing Callahan to flee onto a derelict aircraft carrier in a shipbreaker's yard.

David Soul, Tim Matheson, Robert Urich, and Kip Niven were cast as the young vigilante cops.

Milius thought it was important to remind the audiences of the original film by incorporating the line, "Do ya feel lucky?"

[3] With Milius committed to filming Dillinger, Michael Cimino was later hired to revise the script, overseen by Ted Post, who was to direct.

[4] The addition of the character Sunny was done at the suggestion of Eastwood, who reportedly received letters from women asking for "a female to hit on Harry" (not the other way around).

In the script, they merely went into the morgue and Harry said, "I don't feel bad for that son of a b****, 'cause two weeks ago one of his girls was in here and he'd poured Drano down her throat."

Both Eastwood and Van Horn went on to direct the final two entries in the series, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool, respectively.

Post later remarked: "A lot of the things he said were based on pure, selfish ignorance, and showed that he was the man who controlled the power.

"[6] The orchestra, arranged and conducted by Lalo Schifrin, included:[8] The film received negative publicity in 1974 when the scene where the prostitute is killed with drain cleaner was found to have allegedly inspired the Hi-Fi murders, with the two killers believing the method would be as efficient as it was portrayed in the film.

"[15] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times found the film "too preoccupied in celebrating violence to keep it in focus.

"[7] Gary Arnold of The Washington Post was positive, praising the film as "an ingenious and exciting crime thriller" with "a less self-righteous message" than the original Dirty Harry.

"[18] On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 70% based on 27 reviews, with the critic consensus being: "Magnum Force ups the ante for the Dirty Harry franchise with faster action and thrilling stuntwork.