Dirty Harry Series Discussion

The Dirty Harry Series Discussion--

This is an immensely popular movie series, consisting of Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and finally, The Dead Pool.

DIRTY HARRY (1971)
A very well made genre film that holds up over the years and remains a pretty violent and gritty film. Directed by Don Siegel and featuring one of Eastwood?s finest and most charismatic performances, this is the one that set into stone one of the most enduring formulas for action films. A formula still current films use today.

However, the influential film received no Academy Award nominations.

In the same year, Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange and Gordon Parks' blaxploitation film Shaft presented alternative views of crime and the place of law in society.
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Magnum Force (1973)
The first Harry sequel is a film for action movie and/or all Eastwood junkies to appreciate. It softens Dirty Harry's character however and actually makes more political type statements than Dirty Harry does. It's not a great genre film but it mostly holds up pretty well and is entertaining.
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THE ENFORCER (1976)
The Enforcer really changed Harry Callahan's character. On one hand he's a bad-quick with the quips kind of a guy, but he's really quite a softie. The film turns Harry into a kind of fish out of water dinosaur. When it was made, that variation on the Action film hero wasn't as cliché'd as it is now, but it still feels forced and insincere. It's watch-able but don't have high expectations for this one. Lalo Schiffrin didn't do the score for this one unfortunately and he's missed. This is also John Mitchum's last Harry film (he played Detective 'Fatso' DiGeorgio in the first three Harry's).
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SUDDEN IMPACT (1983)
This is probably the best Harry sequel, and though it doesn't quite offer as much visceral fun as the other Harry's it's one to catch if you're an Eastwood/Harry fan. This is the only Dirty Harry that Eastwood directed.
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DEAD POOL (1988)
Dead Pool undoubtedly looked great on paper for several reasons. Unfortunately it plays out like a very desperate, tired film with ideas that are more silly than clever.

So, what?s your favorite movie? What?s your favorite scene? What?s your favorite Callahan line?

My favorite, of course, would be the original movie. And I just love Harry's line, 'Get the hell outta the way, Hammerhead!'. Classic!

Discuss--

THE.

 

First off, I'm very relieved that you're not talking about some television series that's in the works with someone else as Harry. That's what I thought when I read the thread title, and that would suck.

Just a few weeks back, Circuit City had The Enforcer for $6.99. So, I picked that up to start the collection.

Sudden Impact is the first Dirty Harry film I saw in the theater. And that's a trip to see as a kid because it's, by far, the darkest of the films. A huge change in tone from the previous Harry films. Quite disturbing in many aspects with Sondra Locke's character and stuff. It's great when Harry shows up at that little amusement park at the end with that hand cannon. Main bad guy's death: unicorn horn.

I think Dead Pool is pretty enjoyable, actually. Come on, Liam Neeson and Jim Carrey. Interesting variation on the Hollywood car chase with the radio-controlled car. Main bad guy's death: giant harpoon gun.

 

Siegel's "Dirty Harry", like Michael Winner's "Death Wish", a film it preceeded by two years, helped to usher in a new, gritty, urban feel to 70s films, strictly adhering to a quasi-fascist dogmatic in which the respective "protagonists" of each film became physical manifestations of the repugnant "uebermensch". The Eastwood/"Dirty Harry" archetype "evolved" into a model of vicarious release for audiences of that era who felt that authority figures in society did not appropriately administer justice. Just like the Charles Bronson character in "Death Wish", Callahan was judge, jury, and executioner, as they say. Soon, as you have already mentioned, TheHighEmperor, due to the success of these sorts of films, audiences would be confronted with (what I term) "Urban Chic" and "Blaxploitation" films that specifically serviced the aformentioned collective wants. However, both "Harry" and "Wish" were preceeded by the "original" blaxploitation picture, Melvin Van Peebles' "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Assss Song" (1971).

The thing to consider here when evaluating a picture such as "Dirty Harry", or any of its many sequels for that matter, is that although it is a skillfully crafted popular entertainment, the exact nature of its thought is extremely disturbing. Earlier, I mentioned the term "fascist"; Siegel's movie, like Peckinpah's "Straw Dogs", seems to lack a sense of analytical remove which would help to bring distance and perspective to its material. Unfortunately, "Harry" feeds off of its nihilistic qualities - therefore, it ceases to be about fascist behavior, and instead borders on endorsing it. By turning the story of "vigilante justice" into a visceral form of cathartic release for audiences, it foregoes any point of view, which, as aforementioned, would help greatly to contextualize the subject matter. That I like the film is certainly a credit to both Eastwood and Don Siegel, who was a talented director, as this is surely a case of a film's technical mastery transcending whatever it is that the film thinks it's saying.

Oh yes, I do actually enjoy all of the "Dirty Harry" pictures to some degree. I would have to think for a time as to what I think is the most impressive entry in the series. I will post again later.

 

As with pretty much any series of films, I think the original is the best one, although I think Sudden Impact comes in a pretty close second.

However, I think the coolest line out of them all comes from The Dead Pool, when Harry says, "You forgot your fortune cookie. It says your **** out of luck."

Boy, that line is a whole lot better when you can atually say it, and not censor it because of some pansy idea of 'bad words.' Oh well, it's still a cool line.

 

'A man's got to know his limitations...'

THE.

 

'A man's got to know his limitations...'

That's from Magnum Force, and it's my fave line from my fave Dirty Harry film.

One of the better aspects of these films is that they've always shown the real horrors of guns.

 

"Well do ya..punk!!!!!!!!!!?"

 

The Dirty Harry series is Clint Eastwood at his best. And I know everyone seems to be raving on and on about 'Million Dollar Baby'. I for one, didn't think it was all that great...it reeks of Shawshank Redemption; Morgan Freeman does that same voice over technique of the underpriviledged black man in Shawshank as well. It only worked once for me. I suppose they figured it worked for Shawshank, so it'll work for Million Dollar Baby. And the girl (Hilary Swank) isn't even motivated to continue on with life no matter what the cost. Maybe life is a test? I wonder what Rocky would have done...Swank has been thrown into these tough girl roles ever since she won that academy award for 'Boys Don't Cry'. Oh well, seeing Eastwood as a washed up old man who helps someone kill themself, then disappears (exactly how Shawshank ended) ... with bad camera work combined, just didn't make an impression on me. Clint has DONE better. And Swank's joe-hick family is so cliche. Anyway, I'm off the subject here but you can't take the Eastwood out of Clint Eastwood. The Unforgiven, and or, the Dirty Harry Series, is Clint's true ingredient.

 

Sorry, WormieSaber, I can't agree with you about "Million Dollar Baby", which I consider to be the best film that Eastwood has ever made. The "parallels" that you mention, which are supposedly linked with "The Shawshank Redemption", are tenuous at best (NOTE: Careful with the spoilers; we have to think of people who haven't yet seen the film).

As far as the "Dirty Harry" series goes, I think that I will have to go with "Sudden Impact" as my favorite film of the series. It's the one "Harry" picture that I don't tire of watching. It's a tense, tough, well-made action picture that is held together by Eastwood's singular intensity. However, please consider this in connection with my previous post in this thread.

 

I thought Million Dollar Baby was a great movie! Clint and Hilary were really good in their roles. I don't think her test was whether she was willing to go on afterwards, I think it was that she what she endured to get to her boxing carreer. And it as not like Shawshank Redemption . Clint's inner struggle was completely different. His test was completely different.

 

What?s your favorite Callahan line?

This exchange:

Mayor: I don't want to have any more trouble like you had last year in the Filmore District, understand? That's my policy.

Harry: Yeah, well when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy.

Mayor: Intent? How did you establish that?

Harry: When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross.

The lampoon they did in Naked Gun was pretty cool too

E_S

 

"You turn him loose".

"I'm all broken up over that man's rights."

 

"What the hell do you people think this is,some kind of encounter group? I wanna know what officer Louis here is gonna do when somebody sticks a gun in her face and says 'Hit the deck you son of a *****!'".

 

Mayor: We'll agree to pay. We'll tell him we need time to get the money together.

Harry: Wait a minute, do I get this right? You're gonna play this creep's game?

Mayor: It will give up more breathing space.

Harry: So it might get somebody killed. Why don't you let me meet with the son-of-a-bitch?

 

Everyone is entitled to their opinion of "Million Dollar Baby". And ahhh!!! It's so annoying how everyone loves it.... I for one think it was horrible, but it will still win several academy awards because it followed the "academy award formula" perfectly, like a predetermined set piece.
Just my opinion.

Sudden Impact is the most memorable Dirty Harry picture, to me anyway....and the size of that gun he had . I always loved the cover of the VHS box back in the 80s, with Clint standing calm and cool with that gun (with the huge long barrel on it). But let's not forget his westerns, like "Fist Full of Dollars". Great stuff there too.