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“But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: ‘Do I feel lucky? ‘ Well, do ya punk?” He’s one of the coolest unethical cops around, sporting a mean hand-cannon, an attitude of proportional size, and witty dialogue that sizzles. Dirty Harry is an unforgettable anti-hero with unknown motivations and an unquestionable dedication to nabbing crooks – whether it takes skirting on the boundaries of vigilantism or not. Director Don Siegel’s nail-biting masterpiece went on to critical and commercial success and spawned four sequels with star Clint Eastwood returning for all of them. Gum-chewing, sunglasses-wearing, sarcasm-spewing, unflinching, borderline vigilante policeman Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is assigned to the case of the self-named “Scorpio” killer (Andrew Robinson), an assassin who chooses targets at random and taunts the San Francisco Police Department with notes and phone calls. Even as his investigation leads him to more victims and clues, “Dirty” Harry can’t avoid going into his usual spot for a hotdog and foiling a bank robbery mid-bite, or negotiating with a panicky suicide jumper. |
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Although Callahan’s partners always end up wounded or dead, rookie cop Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni) joins him on the hunt for the reclusive serial killer. Scorpio initially starts as a rooftop sniper, but the ambushes and traps set up by the law enforcement always seem to fail, merely irritating the murderer, who resorts to a higher ransom and the kidnapping of a young woman. Harry winds up with the dirty job of being the bagman for the ransom of Ann Mary Deacon (Debralee Scott), the girl buried alive with only enough oxygen to live through the night. The killer bounces Harry around town to make sure he isn’t followed, a device that serves to keep the hero playing solo, and one that would later be reused by Die Hard 3. But playing by the city’s rules, regulations, procedures, and the rights of suspects and especially Scorpio’s devious games are not part of Dirty Harry’s agenda. Smooth jazz, pounding bass, haunting female vocals and tricky percussion riffs by composer Lalo Schifrin perfectly guide Callahan through the darkly lit streets, parks and subways of San Francisco, hunting for a criminal loosely based on the real-life Zodiac killer - an unsolved mystery that would later receive many more film adaptations. And all the while the police inspector remains a cool, calm and collected cop, never raising his voice and only rarely changing his expression. He’s just dirty enough to torture information out of a suspect and barge into places without a warrant (“Well then the law’s crazy!”), and just clean enough not to walk off with the large chunk of ransom money gathered together by the mayor. He provides both the badass hero and the comic relief. It’s up to the very maniacal villain (who is just begging to meet a spectacularly horrible demise) and the innocent victims to provide the seriousness. It’s a splendid mixture of vivid characters, tense action and diabolical mayhem. Dirty Harry is a particularly interesting anti-hero, a loner with a sense of selfless purpose for enforcing the law, and one of the first to break all the rules with justice on his side, righteousness for motivation and vengeance as guidance. - Mike Massie |
A classic!