Dirty Harry (1971) * * *

Directed by:  Don Siegel

Starring:  Clint Eastwood, Reni Santoni, Harry Guardino, Andy Robinson

Before Dirty Harry became a popular action star, he was Harry Callahan, who made his debut in this 1971 film as "Dirty Harry", but not for reasons you would expect.    He is a San Francisco detective (or Inspector as called in San Francisco) who is brought in to do the dirty jobs other cops won't touch.   Like talking a guy down who is threatening to jump from atop a tall building.    Or being the bagman holding $200,000 in ransom money to save a kidnapped girl from a psycho named Scorpio, whose letters taunting the city and police are an echo of the Zodiac killer who was terrorizing the city at that time.

Dirty Harry is not simply a well-made thriller, but one that poses questions difficult for anyone, let alone police, to answer.    There are at least two instances in which Harry's treatment of Scorpio violates his civil rights.    Harry shoots Scorpio in the leg and steps on it in order to find out where the missing girl is.    Callahan's reasoning is one we can all identify with, but according to his superiors, "you violated at least the 4th, 5th, 6th, and possibly the 14th amendment."    Most would agree with Callahan's version of justice when it comes to Scorpio, who is a vile, reprehensible man with no redeeming qualities.     But is it legal?   This isn't liberal speak, but a question posed by the creation of the amendments that Callahan violated despite his practical intentions.    

Because Scorpio is such a creep who deserves his fate in the famous "Do I Feel Lucky?" scene, it is easy to root for Harry.    In this film and subsequent Dirty Harry sequels, he states his case that the victims deserve to be spoken for and crimes deserve punishment.     That is what drives him to use extreme methods.     Despite this, some believed Dirty Harry painted Callahan as a facist vigilante.    Magnum Force (1973) was made, I believe, to debunk the notion that his mindset was facist.    I believe the former argument is correct.

Dirty Harry is not a mindless action thriller.    It introduces us to a cop who doesn't stepping on a few toes and civil rights to achieve justice.    Eastwood's persona in many films is that of a man of few words with plenty of simmering emotion underneath.     Like Eastwood the director, Eastwood the actor is economical in every respect.     He doesn't say or do more than is required, which adds to his mystique.    Words come out of his mouth as if there isn't much more where that came from.    He is defined more by action.     Just ask Scorpio, who after kidnapping a busload of kids, is on the receiving end of Dirty Harry's famous .44 Magnum.    Then again, there wouldn't be much left of him to ask.