MovieChat Forums > Magnum Force (1973) Discussion > Did Harry inadvertently kill Early?

Did Harry inadvertently kill Early?

posted a year ago by Dionysus481 (148)
2 replies | jump to latest

After Harry finds the bomb and goes to call Early, it seems like Early is headed straight to his apartment until he hears the phone from outside and pauses, then turns to go to his mailbox.
Had the phone not made him pause, do you think he would he have just gone straight to his apartment? Thus making Harry's call actually have the reverse effect. Just a thought.
Or was this just bad editing, and he didn't hear the phone and just turned around on his own.

[–] MikeCable (1860) 8 months ago

It's a weird sequence, I think. You'd think, given his role as a detective, and the serious problem him and Harry are caught up in at the time, that he'd rush to answer his phone, not stop and check his mailbox. The phone was their only means of communication at that time so it's very important to get the call!

[–] Dionysus481 (148) 8 months ago

Right. I mean, I know they had to kill Early off somehow, and I guess they wanted to make this scene as dramatic as they could, having the phone ring and Early passing his mailbox simultaneously to create tension (which I thought was brilliant). But the way it was presented, I just wondered what it was about the phone ringing that triggered him to suddenly turn around and go to his mailbox lol.

Could he have heard his phone from outside, or was that tension just created for us the viewer, and thus perhaps he didn't actually hear it but suddenly remembered he forgot to get his mail just at that moment.
In any case, I love this movie, it's kind of like almost a whodunnit with lots of tension.