[3] In Marin County, two gas-company workers are lured by a scantily clad woman to a remote spot in Mill Valley, where both are killed by Bobby Maxwell.
Maxwell leads a group of men and women calling themselves the People's Revolutionary Strike Force (PRSF), who pose as a terrorist organization to conceal the true purpose of their criminal activities.
When the robbers take hostages and demand a police car so they can escape, Callahan drives his into the front of the store and uses the resulting chaos to gun them down.
Callahan is dismayed to learn that under the mayor's new affirmative-action rules, several of the promotions must go to women, including Kate Moore, a desk officer with no field experience.
Irritated, Callahan tells Moore he is doubtful of her ability to perform in dangerous situations, and warns her that a failure in such an incident could endanger both their lives.
The PRSF ambushes the mayor's motorcade as he leaves a Giants game at Candlestick Park, killing his bodyguard and aide and taking him hostage with a ransom of $5 million.
Ignoring the mayor's profuse gratitude, Callahan abandons him and walks over to his partner's corpse as McKay arrives in a helicopter and announces to the deceased Maxwell that the SFPD will give in to all of his demands.
Inspired by the Patty Hearst kidnapping in 1974, the storyline had Inspector Harry Callahan going up against a violent militant group reminiscent of the Symbionese Liberation Army.
She objected to the way her character was treated in parts of the film and showed concern that two members of the police force falling in love on the job was problematic, given that they would be putting their lives in jeopardy by not reaching peak efficiency.
Eastwood's replacement of Philip Kaufman on The Outlaw Josey Wales (and the consequent need to handle post-production on that film) left him without enough time to prepare himself to direct The Enforcer.
Richard Eder of The New York Times was negative, stating: "Money, the big name of Clint Eastwood, a lot of gore and howling sirens and the urge to rail at various liberal notions are not enough to make even a passable movie out of The Enforcer".
"[10] Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film two stars out of four and wrote, "the major disappointment in The Enforcer is its disjointed script with its relative absence of thrills."
"[12] Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times called it "Clint Eastwood's third and arguably best Dirty Harry movie," with "a good cast" and "unprecedented humor" that "results from the film's tonic, highly developed sense of the absurd that runs through its fast-paced mayhem.
[5][16] Eastwood's performance in the third installment was overshadowed by positive reviews given to Daly as the strong-minded female cop, with which she would follow up a similar role as Det.
[8] Daly received rave reviews, with Marjorie Rosen remarking that Malpaso "had invented a heroine of steel" and Jean Hoelscher of The Hollywood Reporter praising Eastwood for abandoning his ego in casting such a strong female actress in his film.
Its critics consensus reads: "Though the slightest hints of series fatigue begin to emerge, The Enforcer delivers riveting action and better humor than its predecessors.
Upon release in December 1976, The Enforcer was a major commercial success, grossing $8,851,288 in its first week, a record for a Clint Eastwood film at the time.