[7] During the shootout in the parking garage at the film's climax, stunt Coordinator Alan Gibbs' seat-belt snapped and his head struck the steering wheel, causing him to sustain serious injuries in one of the numerous car crashes that take place.

"[8] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three stars out of four and called it "a superior example of its type – tough cop against the mob – and probably the best violent big-city police movie since 'Dirty Harry.'

"[10] Arthur D. Murphy of Variety called the film "a confused, meandering crime potboiler", explaining, "The story and direction reach for so many bases that the end result is a lot of cinema razzle-dazzle without substance.

"[11] Fredric Milstein of the Los Angeles Times wrote, "Want a fast, slick, violent, entertaining minor spinoff of 'The French Connection,' complete with vicious, rebellious cop who doesn't care how much property he busts up during the really spectacular chase sequence?

"[13] Tony Rayns of The Monthly Film Bulletin wrote: "On paper, The Stone Killer must have seemed a masterful compendium of the chief elements from every major gangster/thriller movie of recent years ...

But in Michael Winner's less-than-masterful hands the generic is unfailingly reduced to the formularly; and the plot's near total lack of structure makes the movie seem like clips from a dozen others, strung arbitrarily together.