Search - Jerry Fielding :: The Enforcer

"The Enforcer" was the third film of the five film Dirty Harry series, and the only of the films composed by the late composer Jerry Fielding. The other four films all boasted scores by Lalo Schifrin. Aleph Records, has also released the scores for the first two films of the series, "Dirty Harry" and "Magnum Force." The entire original score for "The Enforcer" has never been released, only excerpts from the score appeared on the original soundtrack LP.

"The Enforcer," of course starred Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry Callahan. The film also starred Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore, his rookie partner. Callahan and Moore are on the hunt for a group of terrorists blackmailing the city of San Francisco. Though at first he is not pleased to be partnered with Moore, and in truth, Callahan s partners have not fared well in the past, Moore proves herself an able partner.

Composer Jerry Fielding had a long and storied career. He began in the 40s as a bandleader with his own television show and fell victim to McCarthysm, blacklisted from Hollywood in the 1950s. His return to Hollywood came in 1962, hired by Otto Preminger to compose the score for" Advise and Consent." He began working in episodic television, scoring episodes of both "Mission: Impossible" and "Star Trek." It was his work on "Noon Wine" that started Fielding s relationship with Sam Peckinpah, which would lead Fielding back to the big screen.

When Lalo Schifrin, composer of both "Dirty Harry" and "Magnum Force," was unavailable to compose the score for "The Enforcer," the job fell to composer Jerry Fielding. Fielding was perhaps best known for his collaborations with Sam Peckinpah, ("The Wild Bunch," "Straw Dogs," "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia") and Michael Winner ("Scorpio," "The Big Sleep," "Lawman"). For Fielding "The Enforcer" led to future collaborations with Clint Eastwood films like "The Outlaw Josey Wales" (his third and final Academy AwardTM nomination), "Escape From Alcatraz," and "The Gauntlet."