I know its been said but how did Briggs come back to life? - Sudden Impact (1983) Discussion

[–] killbill224 18 years ago

Lieutant Briggs and Captain Briggs are obviously not the same person.

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[–] joekiddlouischama 18 years ago

In order to honor the late Lieutenant, Captain McKay changed his name to Captain Briggs ...

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] joekiddlouischama 18 years ago

changing your name in order to honor someone would seem like an extreme drastic, border line-obsessive thing to do. and he would've had that name in "the enforcer" then too most likely, since briggs died before that in "magnum force."

Yeah, I was just being satirical. Along the same lines, maybe Captain McKay married Lt. Briggs' widow and took her name ...

But I agree, Captain McKay and Captain Briggs are meant to be different characters, even though they're played by the same actor (Bradford Dillman). On the other hand, one has to wonder if there really was a Captain McKay in the San Francisco Police Department and if the SFPD then requested that that name not be used again. You never know ...

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] 18 years ago

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[–] commanderblue 18 years ago

I agree, I have classmates with the same last names, so it is possible.

"I'm your huckleberry."-Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone

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[–] jamesklein 17 years ago

Adam Suess played Fatman #1 in Dirty harry as the nude sailor boy and he also was in The Enforcer as Pizza Puff Smoothie Man

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[–] commanderblue 17 years ago

And then there was the one guy in the Enforcer who faked a heart attack at the food joint, and then he appeared in this movie as the detective eating a hot dog.

It is possible Briggs survived though, judging from his background. He heard the bomb ticking and threw it as far as he could and then activated his time warp. The time warp encased him so he would be trapped in this time thing during the explosion. Only, when the car exploded, he was trapped in the time warp like a coccoon, so Callahan assumed Brigg's was burning in the car. Then the coccoon cracked once the fire subsided and he became different looking.

briggs lives on!

One thing I do admit though, is that while Popwell plays various roles in the movies, as do others like the guy eating the hot dog, the whole transition from Captain McKay to Brigg's was weird. It was the same actor, not very creative- let alone the repetitive name- and he played ANOTHER guy yet on the police force once more.

"I'm your huckleberry."-Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday in Tombstone

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[–] vinidici 16 years ago

...Well, it isn't just the fact that you have the same actor (Dilman) playing "Captain McKay" in "The Enforcer," THEN "Captain Briggs" in "Sudden Impact"--but, dammit, he's the same ambitious, weasly, pompous, shallow, obtuse ASS, for cryin' out loud!

I've always "retconned" (i.e., utilized retroactive continuity) in my mind that McKay and Briggs of "Magnum Force" (played by Hal Holbrook) had the same father who had probably also been a cop. The senior Briggs divorces his wife when McCay is still a young child (maybe over wifey's extramarital affair with a fellow police officer by the name of McKay?), doubting his own paternity of the younger boy and taking the older son away with him; his ex-wife remarries (surprise! It's Officer McKay!), and the step-father adopts the boy. The brothers grow up apart, with infrequent reunions. The senior McKay dies in his late middle-age of natural causes or is killed in the line of duty; likewise and in due time, Mrs McKay passes away. Then, Lt Briggs dies under less-than-honorable circumstances in MF. The now-elderly Briggs contacts his younger son, McKay, and expresses his sorrow and shame over the deceased son's misconduct, then offers McKay an inheritance worth a couple hundred grand (the old man was either a shrewd investor or had done some corrupt dealings during his day in the force--I'm gonna go with the latter, 'cause it explains whence McKay-Briggs derives his natural hypocrisy!); but on ONE condition: McKay must change his surname back to "Briggs"...which request the opportunistic McKay only happily accomodates, during the timeframe between "The Enforcer" and "Sudden Impact."

With such a scenario, one could also conclude that the late Lt Briggs, so obsessive in his hatred of corruption in the force and of criminals who beat the rap, had long ago rebelled from the likes of his own father, who is much more like the younger son in almost every way (except McKay-Briggs, idiot cop that he is, ISN'T a crooked cop--merely an HONEST idiot cop!). This would set the stage for Lt Briggs' own downfall in MF.

Yeah, yeah, I KNOW! "Too much time on my hands;" "I need to get a life;" yada, yada, yada...

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[–] bozo_500 (12335) 5 years ago

talking of actors coming back in the series im pretty sure the black guy harry shoots in DH1 and does the 'do you feel lucky' speech appears in Sudden Impact when Harrys at the firing range with his new 44 AutoMag.. idk if the audience is supposed to think 'aw shit its that guy harry shot in the first movie going have his revenge!' or not??!

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[–] imdb-20090 16 years ago

This is probably the thing that MOST bothers me in the whole series (seriously). I don't get why they changed his name from McKay to Briggs (someone else hit on a plausible reason-- that there was a real Captain McKay they were trying to avoid), but to name him Briggs! I mean.. that's just confusing if you pay attention at all. Perhaps they liked the name, and in those days when you didn't have compulsive geeks and weasels with the DVDs watching the movies back-to-back-to-back nobody notices.

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[–] Mississippi20 16 years ago

I guess it can merely be looked upon as an in-franchise gag.......just like Albert Popwell playing 4 different characters in the first 4 movies. Obviously, it was not a mistake.

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[–] gmoore44 16 years ago

I just watched Sudden Impact, after watching Magnum Force last week, and Briggs jumped out immediately. Granted, it could just be passed off as a coincidence that they have the same name. But to me, it looks like very sloppy attention to detail. "Oh, we'll just slip that in, it's been 10 years between movies, no one will notice."

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[–] pninson 16 years ago

When SUDDEN IMPACT was released, the video market was still getting started. A lot of people still did not have VCRs, and they were fairly expensive.

I don't even know if the first three Dirty Harry movies had been released on tape.

I'm just saying that after ten years between movies, with a few TV showings in between, a lot of people wouldn't notice. I've seen all five on video several times, and I'd forgotten about the Briggs thing until I watched them all on Blu-Ray last week.

We report, you decide; but we decide what to report.

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[–] Mississippi20 16 years ago

I just watched Sudden Impact, after watching Magnum Force last week, and Briggs jumped out immediately. Granted, it could just be passed off as a coincidence that they have the same name. But to me, it looks like very sloppy attention to detail. "Oh, we'll just slip that in, it's been 10 years between movies, no one will notice."

lol, Come on........do you really think that's a mistake they would make? Even the actor himself forgot he played a character named McKay? And they just coincidentally named him Briggs - which just happened to be the name of Hal Brooks' character in 'Magnum Force'?

I couldn't tell you WHY they did it, but logically, there's no way it could be a mistake.

Like I said......my best guess would be that it was some sort of in-franchise gag, like Albert Popwell playing a different character in the first 4 films.

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[–] sage2112 8 years ago

It's a gag of sorts. It's not Briggs coming back to life.

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