The Dead Pool (1988)

• Year: 1988
• Released: 13 Jul 1988
• Country: United States
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094963/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Dirty_Harry_The_Dead_Pool
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-dead-pool
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: R
• Genre: Action, Crime, Mystery
• Runtime: 91 min
• Writer: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Steve Sharon
• Director: Buddy Van Horn
• Cast: Clint Eastwood, Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson
• Keywords: murder, sequel, police, prison, detective,

	6.2/10
	46/100

The Dead Pool Storyline

After Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan’s (Clint Eastwood’s) arrest of a gambling kingpin results in a conviction for murder, a group of thugs shoot up Harry’s car and try to kill him. Harry overpowers them and is paired with a new partner, Inspector Al Quan (Evan C. Kim). Within a few days of this assignment, Harry and Al find themselves working on the mysterious death of rock star Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey), who was on-location filming a movie directed by Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). After one of Swan’s crew is killed in a Chinatown robbery that is foiled by Al and Harry, Al discovers a list of celebrities on the dead man that includes the dead rock star and one Inspector Harry Callahan. They soon discover that this is part of a strange game called “The Dead Pool”, and it isn’t long before other people on the list turn up dead, and someone starts making attempts on Harry’s life.

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Eastwood’s last “Dirty Harry”

In the final Dirty Harry movie, Inspector Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is annoyed by his new-found fame, caused by his court testimony against an important mob figure. His next case is a real winner: an obnoxious British director (Liam Neeson) has a “dead pool” on the set of his new horror flick. Each crew member picks ten celebrities they believe will die, and the one with the most dead celebs on their list at the end of the game is the big winner.

Just one problem with this – the people on the director’s list start dying at an alarming rate and mysteriously, including his leading man. And guess whose name is on the list as well – yeah, Harry’s.

If this isn’t enough, a TV reporter (Patricia Clarkson) wants to do a big story on him.

Directed by Buddy van Horn, “The Dead Pool” is a spoof of a sort, killing a movie critic as part of the story (ouch), and the story actually concerns movie-making. It also has a car chase that’s a take-off on “Bullitt.” The stereotypical characters found in this type of film are played by some excellent actors, and there’s plenty of sexual innuendo to go around.

Someone mentioned that Eastwood seems a little old here for Dirty Harry. He seems old for just about every role he plays, frankly, but he keeps playing them. It’s always amazing how men are able to do this with no problem, but give the man his due. He’s a great presence, and in 1988, his best work as both a director and an actor was yet to come! Very entertaining and well-acted. If you can get the joke, you’ll enjoy it all the more.

He’s grouchy…but not quite so dirty.

“The Dead Pool” is the fifth and final Dirty Harry movie. While the film has more than a few silly moments, it manages to entertain and also not be so terribly sleazy and dark as the previous outing, “Sudden Impact”. This previous film, in my opinion, marks the absolute lowest point for the franchise…and at least “The Dead Pool” is an improvement.

The plot is a bit overly complicated for such a short film. There’s a celebrity dead pool list, a crazed psychopath as well as an angry mob boss to contend with…and it somehow manages to pack it all into the movie. The film has some interesting and likable characters, such as Harry’s new partner as well as a reporter Harry initially hates…of course, Harry pretty much hates everybody so this shouldn’t come as any surprise.

The bottom line is that the movie is enjoyable to watch and although violent (what Dirty Harry movie isn’t???), it is less gross and slimy that I expected based on the previous film. Sadly, despite this, the movie did not do all that well at the box office.

A Lottery No One Wants To Win

I remember seeing Clint Eastwood saying that he doesn’t anticipate any more movie appearances by Dirty Harry Callahan of the SFPD. At his age who would want to see Harry Callahan collecting his Social Security and maybe using Dependz.

So Inspector Callahan has probably made his final screen appearance in The Dead Pool which focuses around a series of murders in San Francisco. A number of celebrities have given there own list of celebrities they feel likely to shuffle off the mortal coil for one reason or another. Now someone seems to be hurrying a few of them along. And for one reason or another suspicion seems to fall on cult horror film director Liam Neeson, mostly because of his lovable personality.

Another celebrity on The Dead Pool list is news reporter Patricia Clarkson. Dirty Harry has never been a big fan of the media, but Clint certainly makes an exception in her case.

The Dead Pool also has a short, but memorable performance by Jim Carrey early in his career as a punk rocker whose overdose death also coincides with his appearance on The Dead Pool. It was obvious Carrey was going to have one substantial career even from this small bit.

I don’t think The Dead Pool is quite up to the standards of the earlier Dirty Harry films from the Seventies. Still it will please the fans of the legendary Mr. Eastwood who are found all over the world.