Dirty Harry (film series)
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Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films starring fictional SFPD detective 'Dirty' Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood's character also helped popularize (and to a degree, sensationalize) the .44 magnum, as Harry Callahan is famously shown wielding his S&W Model 29 revolver.
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[edit] Dirty Harry (1971)
Dirty Harry (1971), directed by Don Siegel. In this film Harry is tracking Scorpio, a serial killer. Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt-speaking, unorthodox detective set the style for a number of his subsequent roles, and the box-office success of the film led to the production of four, just as successful sequels. The "alienated cop" motif was one subsequently imitated by a number of other films. This film features Eastwood intoning "You've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?" (The line is often misquoted as "Do you feel lucky punk?")
[edit] Magnum Force (1973)
Magnum Force (1973), directed by Ted Post. The main theme of this film is vigilante justice, and the plot revolves around renegade cops who execute criminals who have avoided conviction in court. By contrast, for all of Harry's strongarm methods, he does not tolerate coldblooded murder of the accused and resolves to stop the killers.
[edit] The Enforcer (1976)
The Enforcer (1976), directed by James Fargo. In this film, Harry is teamed up with a female partner (Tyne Daly), and takes on a terrorist ring. The film contains feminist themes and is generally considered more "politically correct" than its predecessors. While Harry initially mocks these themes, at first resisting the female partner, by the conclusion he is shown to have a greater understanding of these issues.
[edit] Sudden Impact (1983)
Sudden Impact (1983), directed by Clint Eastwood. This film's plot revolves around Harry being sent to a small town to follow up a lead in a murder case. It is best known for the phrase "Go ahead, make my day" (which is often incorrectly attributed to the first film).
[edit] The Dead Pool (1988)
The Dead Pool (1988), directed by Buddy Van Horn. In the final film in the series, Harry finds out about a game called The Dead Pool, in which people bet on which celebrity will die first. Eventually, someone tries to rig the game by killing certain celebrities. It was a severe financial and critical flop.
[edit] Dirty Harry Inspired Films
[edit] The Rookie (1990)
The Rookie is about Nick Pulovski, portrayed by Clint Eastwood, who has a reputation for getting rookie training partners killed. It is similar to the reputation Dirty Harry has about getting partners killed. This film spoofs Dirty Harry.
[edit] Frank Miller's Sin City: That Yellow Bastard
Frank Miller, creator of the Sin City graphic novels, revealed in an interview that he created the Sin City story That Yellow Bastard out of his dislike of The Dead Pool. Miller said: When I went to see the last Dirty Harry movie, The Dead Pool, I was disgusted. I went out and said, "this is not a Dirty Harry movie, this is nothing, this is a pale sequel." But I walked out and said, "that's not the last Dirty Harry story, I will show you the last Dirty Harry story." [1] Bruce Willis played Hartigan, the "Dirty Harry" of the story, when That Yellow Bastard was included in the film version of Sin City released in 2005. Another character in That Yellow Bastard is Nancy, who had no surname in the previous four books, but in That Yellow Bastard she is given the surname "Callahan".
| The Dirty Harry films |
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| Official films Dirty Harry | Magnum Force | The Enforcer | Sudden Impact | The Dead Pool |
| Unofficial films The Rookie | Sin City |
