L'Inspecteur Harry

DIRTY HARRY (1971) **** Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Andy Robinson, John Vernon. Eastwood made cinematic lore out of laconic San Francisco renegade cop Harry Callahan known more for his intolerence of the bureaucratic legal system and his firm belief in justice through violent means necessitated by righting wrongs. In the first of the series he's faced with a psycho serial killer named Scorpio (grinning looney toon Robinson) just begging to be noticed. Directed by Eastwood's long-time mentor Don Siegal the film acts as a parable of the system strangle-holding society and still remains an indictment of how bad things still are. Classic Clint.

How radically different cinema history, and our collective consciousness, would have been if Frank Sinatra hadn't injured his hand before shooting started on "Dirty Harry". Sinatra was due to play Harry, but had to withdraw, clearing the way for Clint. Given Sinatra's unique brand of self-loathing, Harry would have been an uglier personality than Clint made him. As it is, Lieutenant Callaghan is an ornery anti-liberal cuss of a guy, but he is straight and likeable. Arguably, it was this characterisation which made Eastwood a megastar.

San Francisco in 1971 was ready for stardom itself. The West Coast love-in scene and the gay 'boom', together with McQueen's "Bullitt", raised awareness of San Francisco as an exciting liberal city with a photogenic skyline. The film's funky score by Lalo Schifrin is perfectly-judged, and spawned numerous imitators.

The central narrative concerns a lone nut who is trying to hold the city to ransom. He starts by murdering citizens to extort money from the mayor, then progresses to kidnapping children. This plays cleverly on the inchoate anxieties of Middle America, where law-abiding people were puzzled and alarmed at the 'crime wave' and the threat it posed to them and their families. Crime in the decades before the Kennedy assassination had been compartmentalised by Hollywood. Gangsters were bad, but they killed other gangsters. Now the danger was unpredictable, irrational - and solitary. The lone madman was as likely to strike against me or you as against an institution. Only a single-minded strong man, operating on the fringes of the rules, could combat this new terror.

Harry is a paradox. In one sense, he is an 'outlaw'. He has little respect for formal authority (in the opening minutes, we see him being rude to the mayor) and he carries a strictly non-regulation monster of a gun. Harry is openly racist and mutinous. And yet he is also deeply moral. He conforms to an unarticulated ethical code that is anglosaxon American. He protects the weak and confronts the wrongdoers, no matter how the odds are stacked against him. Indeed, the cowardly bureaucrats who will never reward him or promote him are able to exploit his profound decency. They send him on all the difficult, dirty jobs because they know that his sense of right and wrong won't allow him to walk away.

Early in the film, the famous bank robbery scene occurs. This has become so familiar that it hardly needs elaborating here, but to summarise, Harry foils an armed robbery using icy courage and grim humour - and his magnum handgun. The special brand of Eastwood humour recurs throughout the story (eg, the suicide jumper and the gay called 'Alice'). White anglosaxon America is encouraged to laugh at the undergroups which supposedly threaten it.

When the bad guy 'Scorpio' is cornered, he immediately starts bleating about his civil rights. This is meant to arouse our fury, because we have seen him callously destroying the lives of others, and here he is exploiting the protection of the state. To make matters worse, the state agrees with him. We see the DA and a judge explaining to Harry why the cogent evidence against Scorpio is inadmissible. Just exactly why the DA would call a meeting with a lowly policeman in order to explain department policy is far from clear, but the scene is thematically necessary. Scorpio is using the System against the decent, godfearing people who own it. The liberal apparatus is skewed if it lets a killer walk away scot-free.

There are some illogicalities about the plot. Such an important event as the cash drop is left to two cops working alone, when in reality there would be a massive covert operation. When Scorpio beats the rap, there is no public outcry or media storm, and he is allowed to get on with his anonymous existence virtually untroubled.

However, this hardly matters since the main thrust of the story is the coming showdown between Harry and the bad guy. As the climax approaches, Harry drops out of the police operation. Scorpio is at his manic worst on the hi-jacked school bus, alienating us nicely and suppressing any liberal twitches we may still be feeling. Then we see Harry, standing as upright and sturdy as the Statue Of Liberty ....

Effective first installment in ¨Dirty Harry¨ series and followed by various sequels still gripping and stirring . The film starts with a prologue : ¨In tribute to San Francisco Police officers who gave their lives in the line of duty¨ . Iconoclast Harry Callahan(Eastwood) attempts to detain vicious killers who are robbing a bank , he takes on criminals determined to bring them to justice, even if he has to break some rules . This time has a young partner who is assigned when his ordinary pal is wounded . The rock-hard inspector is accompanied by a Mexican cop (Reni Santoni) and they track down a nasty series killer (Andrew Robinson) .The psychotic murderer is detained but is freed on legal technicalities and Harry takes the law into his own hands. Harry wielding a revolver Magnum 44 ( in fact, as is titled the second entry, Magnum force) returns his unorthodox means ; facing off ominous murderous that is threatening the city of San Francisco. Harry in troubles as habitual with his chiefs (Harry Guardino , John Larch) and the District Prosecutor (Josef Sommer) because his methods lead abuse the criminal's civil rights and a pile of death in clod blood along his wake. Harry pursues the revenge-obsessed murderer and encounters he has more problems with him than he expected. Rule-breaking Callahan strides grimly throughout San Francisco in pursuit the murderous , including an exciting final on a school bus . Whatever your reservations about Harry's expeditious methods we know he'll always vanquish , shooting in cold blood with his pistol .

Formula thriller plenty of action , crisply edition , tension, suspenseful and lots of violence . Clint Eastwood's good performance as two-fisted Harry Callahan , the tall and taciturn inspector who utilizing his Magnum 44 pistol kills baddies and , as always , he says some original phrases . Well written by Harry and Rita Fink ; it packs intrigue , violence, action-filled and is a really effective film . It turns out to be interesting and plenty of vivid action , suspense and thrills. Good secondary cast gives effective performance as John Larch , Harry Guardino , Josef Sommer as the prosecutor and John Vernon as the Mayor. Good use of locations filmed in Panavision and Technicolor , by cameraman Bruce Surtees , son of prestigious photographer Robert Surtees , reflecting splendidly the streets of San Francisco , ordinary scenario of the series . Adequate and atmospheric musical score by usual Lalo Schifrin , including a classic jazzy leitmotif . Taut and expert direction by Don Siegel who formerly directed him in ¨Coogan's bluff¨ and subsequently in ¨Escape from Alcatraz¨ and well financed by the usual, Robert Daley as executive producer from Malpaso Company . Followed by ¨Magnum Force¨ by Ted Post with Robert Urich and David Soul , ¨The enforcer¨ 1976, by James Fargo with Tyne Daly, Harry Guardino, ¨Sudden impact¨1983, Eastwood with Sandra Locke , Pat Ingle and ¨Dead pool¨ 1988, by Buddy Van Horn with Liam Neeson and Jim Carrey . This formula thriller will appeal to Harry Callahan series enthusiasts , because of the tension, unstopped action , exciting edition , chills abound in this original entry . Well worth seeing for Clint Eastwood fans and it's a cool companion for the action genre followers . An entertaining and amusing film , mounted for its maximum impact and with several scenes that'll have you on the edge of your seat

Another film inextricably linked to a star cast as a last-minute replacement; it's impossible now to imagine how it would have turned out had Sinatra not dropped out and Harry Callaghan will forever more be Clint Eastwood.

As it stands San Francisco looks an urban hell with suitably nightmarish music by Lalo Schifrin and grimacing gargoyle Scorpio seems completely at home (evidently he killed for feral pleasure rather than merely attention like his inspiration Zodiac).

As for Harry himself his cynicism was aptly demonstrated by the famous speech that bookended it: evidently he knew precisely how many shots he'd fired, the first he was purely feigning ignorance for fun, the second time he was in deadly earnest about to commit judicial murder.

In the opening scene of the film, a beautiful young woman swims in a rooftop pool. Poor gal. A shooter (Andrew Robinson) from a nearby building kills her with one shot. Soon, the SFPD will send detective Harry Callahan to investigate the happening. As "Dirty Harry" discovers the place where the shooter did his deed, Harry finds a note. Calling himself Scorpio, the assassin insists the city pay him big bucks or he will kill again; the victim will be a priest or a black American. Pulling his hair out, the mayor decides they should pay but Harry is adamant they should NOT. A compromise posting in the SF Chronicle says they will pay but need more time. Meanwhile, Harry goes to lunch but can't even digest his food without needing to stop a bank robbery nearby! Harry is one cool cop. The top police brass give Harry a new partner named Chico (Reni Santori) but he's rather green. Nevertheless, together these two hatch plans to "catch" Scorpio without paying big money. Unhappily, Scorpio matches them with tricky escapes. Now, a school bus full of children may be in danger! What can Harry do? This gritty, somewhat violent film is taken from the story of the real Zodiac killer. Its a sick, twisted tale but Harry is one admirable detective, played to understated perfection by Eastwood. Santori is quite likeable, Robinson is great as the loathsome killer and other cast members quite fine. Add on good cinematography and a tense, inventive plot and the movie is quite compelling. Its a classic folks! Don't delay in viewing it.