Dirty Harry

1971 "Detective Harry Callahan. He doesn't break murder cases. He smashes them."
7.7| 1h42m| R| en| More Info
Released: 23 December 1971 Released
Producted By: Malpaso Productions
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://www.warnerbros.com/dirty-harry/
Synopsis

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.

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Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Exoticalot People are voting emotionally.
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
Wyatt There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.
chaswe-28402 A couple of memorable lines. Iconic. But it doesn't make me feel lucky, and I've watched it more than once. It doesn't get better with repeated viewing. I'd have thought it was financed by the LA Police Department, if it wasn't for the ending, which seems to be based on High Noon, the conclusion of which reportedly angered John Wayne so much.The recent reviews of this film seem to have got it just about right. There is something dissatisfying about its plot and narrative account. Although there is a basic theme involving the pursuit of a maniac killer, it is also structured round a disconnected series of episodes designed to portray a cop who is stressed and driven beyond endurance by the rules and regulations of the society in which he operates. There appears to be no solution to this conflict. The viewer is left at a loss. Siegel's next film, Charley Varrick is more entertaining.
John Brooks So the film certainly starts off slow. It looks like it's going to be a completely self-explanatory, ostensibly obvious and pretty painful watch with as predictable a development as the ending would be. It turns out that: no, that's just that first half hour. Gradually the film takes a hold of the viewer and drags him into a more enticing development of the plot, one that engages the public right into the thick of the film's crux. It's like the film at its core has a heavy weight to bear and wishes to unload the burden onto the viewer, who finds himself morally and emotionally committed to the lead character's dilemma: going by the letter of the law and following standard procedure - or - choosing what 'feels right' regardless of the institutions.The film does a well enough job to not be as clichéd as you'd expect, to not be too linear with the plot which is praiseworthy since the film's entirety is really just one big premise (and 'Dirty Harry' so easily could've been a constant reiteration of the same scene over and over), and the protagonist despite being basically a comic book character still remains very relatable for his humanity which is also very much commendable. Strong ending with a very symbolic gesture which gives the whole all the more meaning and appeal, and you know a movie that ends well is infinitely more important than a movie that merely starts well (!).7.5/10.
M. M Popularity of works like Dirty Harry is more about the wave it created in a genre of it's own type (here thriller Genre), for this reason when someone writes about films like dirty harry must face the wave that film has unleashed and this is not fair. A work should be first analyzed independently to indicate its inherent values. Dirty harry is initially quiet entertaining work. The only aim the director had was entertain the viewers while producing the film, a job Don Siegel has fairly successfully done. Film wholly revolves around Clint Eastwood and it is his charisma that has kept dirty harry standing; Perhaps imagining someone other than Eastwood in the role of harry and gaining this amount of popularity for the film is completely vain. The biggest drawback to this movie is the villain pole of story(Scorpio). A character which hasn't been developed properly. It is very weak character. Opposing someone with this level of intelligence and ability (just compare Scorpio's intelligence and ability with zodiac's, it is said Scorpio's character inspired by his character and actions) for ransom (100000$ or 200000$) with the heads of a big city is eccentric and idiotic. The script does not provide any information about the biography and features of this character. The amount of information Which is scheduled to be presented about this serial killer,played by a weak actor for this role (Andrew Robinson) in this job is powerless and unsuccessful. To me it is strange why a professional director like don Siegel has used such an inept actor for villain role of his film. Perhaps if both the character and acting the villain role had been effective a better balance between positive and negative poles of the story would have been created and we would have a better movie. Since the first mission of the cinema and a movie is entertainment Dirty Harry must be respected; of course adequate respect, not exaggerated one. 7/10
jimbo-53-186511 Inspector 'Dirty Harry' Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is assigned to one of his toughest cases when he finds himself having to track down a notorious serial killer simply known as Scorpio. Scorpio leaves a letter at the scene of his first crime threatening to kill again unless he receives $100,000. What follows is a cat and mouse game between Scorpio and Harry but in this game Harry is determined to win and will do whatever it takes to bring Scorpio to justice.Between 1971 and 2016 there have been many cop type films and over the years we have seen many similar 'Harry Callahan' type police officers being portrayed on film. However, Dirty Harry was a very early example of a bad-ass cop who's prepared to bend or break the rules in order to get his man but, to my knowledge, no film has ever given us a cop who's quite so iconic and cool as Dirty Harry Callahan. Part of the reason this film succeeds lies with Eastwood himself and what he brought to the role; there's nobody else quite like him when it comes to tough-talking through gritted teeth and he's also capable of giving icy stares that at times can be quite unnerving. I think the important distinction to make with Harry is that he's a 'bad-ass' cop rather than a 'bad' cop; he isn't afraid to break the rules in order to do what he feels is right, but he also knows when to hold back and never allows his judgement to be clouded even in the most extreme of circumstances. For these reasons it's easy to have a vested interest in Callahan's dogged pursuit of Scorpio as more often than not we find a police officer doing a lot of things wrong but for all the right reasons. Of course every 'bad-ass' cop needs a bad-ass villain to contend with and this is where Andrew Robinson comes into play; Robinson was not a big actor (and sadly never seemed to become one either) and therefore going up against Eastwood (who was quite well-established at this point in his career) must have been quite a daunting task, but Robinson acquits himself to the role very well and manages to be chilling, menacing and ever so slightly sociopathic. According to the trivia section Robinson received death threats after his performance in Dirty Harry which just goes to show that a lot of people were so convinced by his performance that they must have forgot that he was acting!!!Director Don Siegel gives the film plenty of energy and keeps the film moving at a fair old lick; the screenplay also includes some humorous moments (I loved the unorthodox approach that Harry used to try to prevent someone from jumping off a high-rise building). Harry's general contempt for authority made many of his scenes with The Mayor and The Chief very enjoyable. To top it all off Dirty Harry also has a very exciting finale with one of the best closing lines to a film that I've ever seen.Anyone who is a fan of Eastwood really should watch this as not only is this one of his best films but he's also playing one of the best characters to grace the cinema screen (I genuinely can't think of a cooler character than Harry Callahan). Many cop films with similar bad-ass cops have followed, but few (if any) have been as good as Dirty Harry.