Dirty Harry is a
1971 crime thriller film produced and directed by
Don Siegel, the first in the
Dirty Harry series.
Clint Eastwood plays the title role,
in his first outing as
San Francisco Police
Department Inspector
"Dirty" Harry Callahan.
Dirty Harry was followed by four sequels:
Magnum Force in 1973,
The Enforcer in 1976,
Sudden Impact in 1983
directed by Eastwood himself, and
The
Dead Pool in 1988.
Plot
A sadistic
serial killer who calls himself
"Scorpio" (Andy Robinson)
murders a young woman in a San Francisco
high-rise rooftop swimming pool using a
high-powered rifle from the top of the 555 California
Street
skyscraper. When
SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan
(
Clint Eastwood) investigates, he
finds a spent shell
casing and a
ransom message from the killer, promising more deaths if the city
does not pay him $100,000. The chief of police, with the agreement
of the
Mayor (
John Vernon), assigns Harry to the case and
arranges for extra support.
Later, Harry waits for his lunch in a local café, but notices a
robbery taking place at a nearby bank and tells the café owner to
call the police and report an
armed
robbery in progress. While he waits for reinforcements, the
robbers emerge from the bank, forcing Harry to confront them alone.
During the confrontation, Harry utters to one of the robbers:
The robber surrenders, and it is revealed that Harry's gun was, in
fact, empty. The next day, Harry is assigned a rookie partner,
Chico Gonzalez (
Reni Santoni). Harry
notes that his partners always get injured (or worse), and that he
needs someone experienced, but the Chief gives him no choice.
A police helicopter foils Scorpio's second attempt at murder while
he is targeting a black man in a park, but Scorpio escapes. The
next night, he manages to kill a young boy from another rooftop.
Since Scorpio's last victim was a black man, the police believe
Scorpio will pursue a Catholic priest as his next victim, feeling
"owed" one for the disruption of his earlier attempt.
The police set up a
sting, with teams on rooftops throughout the city, but leaving the
rooftop Scorpio used in his disrupted murder attempt clear, and
providing a target of opportunity, a priest
at the Sts.
Peter and
Paul Church
. Harry and Chico wait for Scorpio on an
adjacent rooftop, Harry with a high-powered rifle and Chico with a
spotlight. When Scorpio appears, a shootout ensues but he
eventually escapes, killing a
police
officer.
Infuriated that his plans have twice been foiled, Scorpio kidnaps a
teenage girl, rapes her and buries her alive. He contacts the city
and demands twice his previous ransom, giving the city until 3 a.m.
the following morning, when the girl's air will run out. The mayor
decides to pay, and tells Harry to deliver the money to a location
at the docks with no back-up. Without permission, Harry wears a
wire, has Chico follow him
and tapes a
knife to his shin. When
Harry reaches the drop point, Scorpio contacts him through a public
payphone, sending Callahan on a journey
between various pay phones in the city, in order to separate the
inspector from any back-up that he may have. However, Harry's wire
allows Chico to follow him.
The chase
ends when Harry reaches an enormous cross at Mount
Davidson
, one of the city's parks. Scorpio instructs
Harry to drop his gun and the money, then to face the cross and
stand up against it. Scorpio then proceeds to beat Harry before
revealing that he has "changed his mind" and is going to let the
girl die anyway, and kill Harry as well. Chico arrives at the scene
and shoots at Scorpio, saving Harry. Chico is shot in the ensuing
shootout. While Scorpio is distracted, Harry stabs him in the leg
with his concealed knife. Scorpio screams hysterically and escapes
without the money. Chico survives his wound, but tells Harry he
will be resigning from the force.

Scorpio being tortured by Callahan on
the field of Kezar Stadium
Harry and his new partner, Frank DiGiorgio, question several
doctors in the area. They find the doctor who treated Scorpio.
The doctor
tells them that he has seen Scorpio living and working in nearby
Kezar
Stadium
. Running out of time, Harry and Frank break
into the stadium and search Scorpio's room without a
warrant. Harry hears Scorpio fleeing and
chases him, shooting Scorpio in his previously stabbed leg. When
Scorpio is unwilling to reveal the location of the girl, instead
asking for a
lawyer, Harry
tortures Scorpio by standing on his wounded leg.
Scorpio finally tells where he has been keeping the girl. A brief
scene shows police exhuming the dead girl's naked body (
Debralee Scott) the following morning from a
pit on a hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge.
Because Harry broke into his home illegally and tortured him to
obtain a confession, Scorpio is released without charge. As
Scorpio's rifle was seized improperly, it cannot be used as
evidence and the
District Attorney
decides that he cannot be charged with any of the other murders.
After Scorpio's release, Harry follows Scorpio on his own time.
Scorpio sees Harry following him, and pays a thug to give him
(Scorpio) a severe but controlled beating. He then tells the press
that the police are harassing him, personally naming Harry as the
one responsible for his injuries to the press. The police chief
orders Harry to stop following Scorpio, despite Harry's protest
that he didn't beat the man. However, he follows his orders,
knowing he cannot stop Scorpio if he is suspended or fired. On the
next evening, Scorpio attacks a liquor store owner, takes the store
owner's pistol and leaves.
Using the pistol, Scorpio kidnaps a school bus load of children. He
demands another ransom and a
jet to
take him out of the country. The mayor again insists on paying, but
Harry refuses to deliver the money this time, instead pursuing
Scorpio without authorization. Scorpio spots Callahan standing on
the top of a railroad trestle over the road to the airport. When
the bus passes underneath him, Callahan jumps onto the top of the
vehicle. A panicked Scorpio starts shooting through the roof and
drives the bus erratically, trying to shake Harry off. Scorpio
stops the bus after crashing through some gates while swerving to
avoid a truck. Scorpio runs into a nearby rock quarry and Harry
pursues him, resulting in a gun battle. Scorpio retreats until he
takes as hostage a boy who happens to be
fishing at a nearby slough. Harry pretends to be
willing to surrender, then shoots Scorpio in the shoulder, knocking
him to the ground. The boy escapes, and Scorpio looks up to see
Harry standing over him, gun drawn. Scorpio's pistol is inches from
his hand. Harry then reprises his "Do you feel lucky, punk?"
speech. Unlike the bank robber in the earlier scene, Scorpio tries
his luck and, laughing maniacally, grabs for his gun. Before he can
fire, Harry shoots him in the chest, and Scorpio falls into the
water. Harry watches as Scorpio's body floats on the surface. He
takes out his inspector's badge, and hurls it into the water,
walking away.
Cast
Production
Development
According to Mark Whitman's book,
The Films of Clint
Eastwood, the original draft for the script was titled "Dead
Right" by Julian and Rita Fink.
It was set in New York City
, not San Francisco, California, and ended with a
police sniper instead of Callahan taking out Scorpio.
Another
earlier version of the story was set in Seattle,
Washington
.
The character Dirty Harry is allegedly based on real life San
Francisco police inspector
Dave Toschi,
one of the investigators of the
Zodiac
murders. Writer John Milius has also mentioned being influenced
by a friend of his, a Long Beach police officer who dealt with
criminals in a rather summary fashion. According to Milius, his
friend "rarely brought people back" but was, contrastingly,
extremely gentle with animals.
Scorpio,
the film's antagonist, was based on the
real-life Zodiac Killer, who was on
the loose in the San Francisco Bay Area
at the time. In a later novelization of the
film, Scorpio was referred to as "Charles Davis," an escaped
Canadian mental patient who murdered his grandparents while still a
teenager.
When Clint Eastwood approached Don Siegel to offer him the
directing job, Eastwood gave Siegel four drafts of the script, one
of which was written by
Terrence
Malick. In Malick's script, he had altered Scorpio from being a
mindless psychopath killing only because he likes it, to being a
vigilante who killed wealthy criminals who had escaped justice.
Siegel didn't like Malick's script, but Eastwood did, and Malick's
ideas formed the basis for the sequel,
Magnum Force.
Casting
Although Dirty Harry is arguably Clint Eastwood's signature role,
he was not a top contender for the part. Indeed, the role was
originally written for
Frank Sinatra,
but the singer had broken his wrist ten years earlier (possibly
during the filming of
The Manchurian
Candidate), found the large handgun too unwieldy, and
declined the role. It has also been suggested that the death of
Sinatra's father prompted him to seek lighter material. Still, the
November 9, 1970 issue of Box Office magazine was one trade-paper
that touted the pre-production
Dirty Harry starring Frank
Sinatra.
John Wayne was considered for the role at
one point, but was not offered the part due to his age. Wayne later
portrayed a Dirty Harry-like detective in
McQ, a 1974 film directed by
John Sturges and set in Seattle.
Marlon Brando was also rumored to have been
attached to the project. Director Don Siegel also tried to cast
Audie Murphy for the role: "We started
to talk and I suddenly realized, my God, I'm looking for a killer
and here's the killer of all time." Eastwood was only offered the
role of Harry Callahan after
Steve
McQueen and
Paul Newman also
declined the role for varying reasons. One of Eastwood's
stipulations for accepting the role was the change of locale to San
Francisco. Eastwood has claimed that he took the role of Harry
Callahan because of the character's obsessive concern with the
victims of violent crime. Eastwood felt that the issue of victims'
rights was being neglected in the political atmosphere of the
time.
Audie Murphy was first approached to
play the Scorpio Killer, but he died in a plane crash before his
decision on the offer could be made. The part eventually went to a
relatively unknown actor,
Andy
Robinson. Siegel told Robinson that he cast him in the role of
the Scorpio killer because he wanted someone "with a face like a
choirboy." Robinson's portrayal was so memorable that after the
film was released he reportedly received several death threats and
was forced to get an unlisted telephone number. In real life,
Robinson is a pacifist who despises guns. In the early days of
principal photography, Robinson would flinch violently every time
he fired. Director Don Siegel was forced to shut down production
for a time and sent Robinson to a school to learn to fire a gun
convincingly. Nonetheless, he still blinks when he shoots. Robinson
also reportedly was squeamish about filming the scene where he
verbally and physically abuses several schoolchildren.
Principal photography
Eastwood performed the stunt in which he jumps on to the roof of
the hijacked school bus from a bridge, without a stunt double. His
face is clearly visible throughout the shot. Eastwood also directed
the suicide-jumper scene.
The line, "My, that's a big one," spoken by Scorpio when Callahan
removes his gun, was an
ad-lib by
Andrew Robinson. The crew
broke down in laughter as a result of the
double entendre and the scene had to be
re-shot, but the line stayed.
The final scene, in which Callahan throws his badge into the water,
is an homage to a similar scene from
1952's High Noon.
Filming locations
In
San Francisco,
California
:
- 555 California Street

- California Hall, 625 Polk Street
(until recently, the California Culinary
Academy)
- San Francisco City Hall

- Hall of Justice - 850 Bryant
Street
- Forest Hill
Station
- Hilton San
Francisco Financial District, 750 Kearny Street
- Kezar Stadium
- Frederick Street, Golden Gate Park
- Dolores Park
, Mission
District
- Mount
Davidson

- Sts.
Peter and
Paul Church
, Washington Square, 666 Filbert Street
- Washington Square, North
Beach

- Big Al's, 556 Broadway St.
- Roaring 20's strip club, 552 Broadway
Other locations:
Music
The soundtrack for
Dirty Harry was created by composer
Lalo Schifrin, who had previously
collaborated with director Don Siegel in the production of
Coogan's Bluff and
The Beguiled, both also
starring Clint Eastwood. Schifrin fused a wide variety of
influences, including
classical
music,
jazz,
psychedelic rock, along with
Edda Dell'Orso-style vocals, into a score
that "could best be described as
acid jazz
some 25 years before that genre began." According to one reviewer,
the
Dirty Harry soundtrack's influence "is paramount,
heard daily in movies, on television, and in modern jazz and rock
music."
Box office performance
The film made a total of $35,976,000 in the U.S. theatrical
release, making it a major financial success in comparison with its
modest $4 million budget.
Influence
Clint Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt, cynical, unorthodox
detective who is seemingly in perpetual trouble with his
incompetent bosses, set the style for a number of his later roles
and, indeed, a whole genre of cop films. The film resonated with an
American public that had become weary and frustrated with the
increasing violent urban crime that was characteristic of the time.
The box-office success of
Dirty Harry led to the
production of four
sequels.
The film caused controversy when it was released, sparking debate
over issues ranging from police brutality to victims' rights and
the nature of law enforcement. Film critic
Roger Ebert, while praising the film's technical
merits, denounced the film for its "
fascist
moral position." A section of the Philippine police force ordered a
print of the film for use as a training film.
[38471][38472] The motif of a cop who cares more for justice
than rules was one subsequently imitated by a number of other
films. The film can also be counted as the seminal influence on the
Italian tough-cop films,
Poliziotteschi, which dominated the 1970s and
that were critically praised in Europe and the U.S. as well.
Dirty Harry helped popularize the
Smith & Wesson Model 29
revolver, chambered for the powerful
.44
Magnum cartridge. The film initiated a modest increase in sales
of the powerful handgun, which continues to be popular some
thirty-five years after the film's release. The .44 Magnum ranked
second in a 2008
20th Century Fox
poll of the most popular film weapons, after only the
lightsaber of
Star Wars fame. The poll surveyed
approximately two thousand film fans.
In popular culture
DVDs
Warner Home Video owns rights to the Dirty Harry series.
Dirty
Harry (1971) has been remastered for DVD three times — in
1998, 2001 and 2008. It has been repurposed for several DVD box
sets.
Dirty Harry made its high-definition debut with the
2008
Blu-ray disc. The commentator on the
2008 DVD is Clint Eastwood biographer
Richard Schickel.
[38473]
References
- Sinatra as Dirty Harry, The-Dirtiest.Com
- Anecdotage.Com
- Review by J.T. Lindroos (allmusic.com)
- Review by Andrew Keech
(musicfromthemovies.com)
External links