Dirty Harry (1971)

Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures

I feel that we are doing Clint Eastwood a disservice by putting a film such as Dirty Harry into the bargain bin. This is a landmark action movie, both for the genre and for the career of Clint Eastwood. He already established himself in the Western genre, on the television series Rawhide as well in the films of Sergio Leone, yet Dirty Harry was unlike anything he had portrayed before. Inspector Harry Callahan is blunt, probably a bit racist and immoral (he is even mistaken for a "peeping tom" in one scene), but he has a true sense of justice, and does any "dirty" job that comes along; which is how he earns his name. Eastwood's role as Callahan set the stage for many "loose cannon" cops that bend or break the rules to get the job done, from television to feature films as well. Heck, he even returned to this role four more times.

Not only is "Dirty" Harry an iconic character, this movie features an iconic movie line as well. I was familiar with this line long before I ever watched the movie, which might be the case for many others, so I was surprised within the first fifteen minutes of the movie! While Harry is out to lunch, he suspects a bank robbery is in progress, so he stops the three robbers as they attempt to speed away with his .44 Magnum, "the most powerful hand gun in the world." As one of the men is lying on the ground, Harry asks, "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" while pondering whether he shot 6 times or only 5. That isn't even the best part of the whole sequence, it's actually that Harry took a big bite of his sandwich, then finishes chewing while he fires his weapon at a speeding car. Truly bad ass! Harry also has a few awesome lines before and after that foiled robbery attempt, but none entertained me more than his nonchalant manner.

Clint Eastwood isn't the only one who has an outstanding performance, I felt the Scorpio killer played by Andrew Robinson was excellently creepy. As calm under pressure as Harry is, this killer is equally driven to killing. He goes as far as paying someone to beat him up to frame Harry. Actually, this isn't any old beating, it's a complete thrashing. Now that's being dedicated to villainy. You could almost admire his dedication to his craft, much like Goldfinger's "Operation Grand Slam" master plan in Goldfinger; although that's a review for another day. I also like how we don't know the motives for the Scorpio Killer, he's just a bad dude. Too many movies these days try to humanize the villain, which is fine if it suits the story, but this wouldn't be the place for it. We see Harry's humanity on display as he will do anything to stop more women from dying, even going above the law to do it.

I love how the ending not only returns to that famous line uttered humorously from earlier in the movie, it changes the dynamic when Harry confronts the killer. The ending also seems to reference a conversation from earlier in the film, when the wife of Harry's partner asks about his motivation for being a police officer. What Harry does seems to answer that question and closes the door on any sequels. However, I'm glad that Clint Eastwood returned to the role four times- Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool; which can also be found in your local bargain bin. Maybe that's actually a good thing, as every Clint Eastwood movie I own has been a bargain bin purchase, making it easily accessible for everyone to enjoy the "Man from Malpaso."