I've been on a commentary kick lately. Listened to the famous Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back track in which Mewes was (later admittedly) on smack the whole time. He speaks only a few times during the whole thing -- in incoherent, trailing-off sentences -- and excuses himself at one point to go to the bathroom. Also Netflixed some of those new Dirty Harry DVDs with tracks. The one for The Enforcer is a B-, with director James Fargo sounding upbeat and giving a lot of background on exactly how he and future DH series directors were chosen and promoted from within Eastwood's company, etc.
I can't say the same for The Dead Pool, which has one of the lamest tracks I've ever encounted. Producer David Valdes seems almost embarassed to be actually recording a track for that piece of shit movie -- okay, except for the toy car chase -- and he doesn't say a single interesting thing for the entire running time. He's also a repeater -- we have to hear twenty times about how fortuitous it was that they selected "Welcome to the Jungle" for the soundtrack. He has nothing to add about what it was like working with Neeson, Clarkson, Carrey pre-fame or any insights on why they, the producers, never returned to the well again after this one. It's a waste of time.
I haven't listened to Magnum Force yet only because I've seen that movie so many times I can't bring myself to actually Netflix it, but I'm sure I'll get around to it sometime in the next couple of weeks. I feel like there's actually a lot to say about the Dirty Harry films, but more about how tonally and structurally weird they are -- the Bruce Lee sidekick in Dead Pool is a subject deserving his own commentary track -- than the whole 'fascism' debate which now feels dated. I was actually surprised by how well The Enforcer holds up on my latest viewing -- I think it's certainly the third best film in the series. After that one, it was all downhill. Still, I'd obviously pay to see Gran Torino if Clint is lying to us about that.
Speaking of Gran Torino, why doesn't Clint think one last Dirty Harry would work? Here's how it would work. Put Angelina Jolie in the lead. Have her play a San Francisco homicide cop who notices that a series of murders happening around town are Scorpio copycats. She decides to find out if any of the original investigating officers are still alive, and she finds old Callahan on his ranch, enjoying retirement by blowing bottles off fence posts with his now quaint collection of Magnums. This movie writes itself.
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