The Dead Pool (1988)

Some games turn deadly when someone decides to stop betting on death and start causing it. Buddy Van Horn's "The Dead Pool," the fifth and final Dirty Harry film, surprised audiences who didn't expect much after "Sudden Impact." It's surprisingly inventive, even playful; watch for a chase in which Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan is pursued through the hilly streets of San Francisco by a remote-controlled toy car packed with explosives. It ended the long-running series on an unexpectedly upbeat note. As the film opens, Harry has become a reluctant celebrity after his testimony sends a notorious mob boss to prison, and the gangster promptly puts out a contract on his life. To Harry's disgust, his image-conscious bosses want him to play nice with the press and saddle him with a new partner (Evan C. Kim). Then Harry is assigned to investigate a string of murders tied to a morbid betting game called a "dead pool," in which the crew of a horror movie wager on which celebrities will die next, starting with the death of the film's drug-addled rock star, played in a small but memorable role by Jim Carrey, who lip-syncs to Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle." As more names on the list turn up dead, Harry discovers his own name is on it too. Liam Neeson plays the film's arrogant British director, a prime suspect, and Harry clashes with, then falls for, a determined TV reporter (Patricia Clarkson). As the killings mount, Harry realizes the murderer may be an obsessed fan with a grudge, leading to a tense showdown on a waterfront pier.