Movielogr
Dirty Harry (1971)
Directed by Don Siegel
Twitter Facebook Google+Most recently watched by sensoria, jcdeleon1, vivalaserdisc, sleestakk
Overview
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.
Rated R | Length 102 minutes
Actors
Clint Eastwood | Harry Guardino | Reni Santoni | John Vernon | Andrew Robinson | John Larch | John Mitchum | Mae Mercer | Lyn Edgington | Ruth Kobart | Woodrow Parfrey | Josef Sommer | William Paterson | James Nolan | Maurice Argent | Jo De Winter | Craig Kelly | Albert Popwell | Joy Carlin | Bill Couch | Diana Davidson | Vince Deadrick Sr. | Chuck Dorsett | Al Dunlap | Larry Duran | George Fargo | Lois Foraker | Max Gail | John Garber | Christopher Pray | Eddie Garrett | James W. Gavin | David Gilliam | Don Haggerty | Scott Hale | Kate Harper | Bob Harris | Chuck Hicks | Raymond Johnson | Richard Lawson | Laurie Mock | Ann Noland | Kathleen O'Malley | Angela Paton | Victor Paul | Debralee Scott | Don Siegel | Kristoffer Tabori | Tony Dario | Marc Hertsens | Gordon Chapli | Janet Wisely | Pamela Tanimura | Richard Samuelson | Derek Jue | Sean Maley | Diane Darnell | Diana Davidson | Lolita Rios | Stephen Zacks | Jauna D'Amico | Charles Washburn | John Allen Vick | Boyd 'Red' Morgan | Dean Webber
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01/01/2012 | TV | Streaming | Video on Demand | 4 stars |
| (Average) 4 stars |
Viewing Notes
In historical filmdom, Dirty Harry is attributed as the first hard-boiled cop, the one that ushered in new era of grim stereotypes who aren’t afraid to cross the line to do good. The character paved a road that stretches all the way out to McNulty in THE WIRE and even Vic Mackey in THE SHIELD, a cop who will cross the line to do good and bad both. But Clint Eastwood’s Harry does it best, if only because he didn’t have the benefit of a refined legacy to play off of.
In the first half hour I thought DIRTY HARRY was going to be a typical 1970s cop drama with the coppin and politickin’ and the villainin’ and the flavin. But it took a couple smart turns with the killer Scorpio, down roads I didn’t expect, that made him as smart as the cops. It was a welcome change from what I know of film cops of the era who were always one step ahead of the villain.
However, the film plays a bit too long and I groaned to discover the “Do ya, punk?” speech is issued twice; it lost all effectiveness at second delivery and immediately sets itself up for one-liners of future action films. As a side note, I was really surprised that they showed full frontal nudity of a supposed 14-year old character. I realize the actress was probably legal, but it was still shocking.
From what I understand of the sequels, Harry becomes a caricature of the man we saw in DIRTY HARRY and it loses most of its effectiveness as a serious and respectable crime thriller. But, as a standalone film, HARRY is dirty, but also so damned good.
No comments yet. Log in and be the first!