Dirty Harry -- ***1/2

Directed by	Don Siegel
Produced by	Don Siegel, Robert Daley (executive)
Screenplay by	Harry Julian Fink R.M. Fink Dean Riesner (Uncredited) John Milius Terrence Malick
Story by	Harry Julian Fink R.M. Fink
Starring	Clint Eastwood Andy Robinson Harry Guardino Reni Santoni John Vernon
Music by	Lalo Schifrin
Cinematography by	Bruce Surtees
Editing by	Carl Pingitore
Studio	Malpaso Productions
Distributed by	Warner Bros.
Release Date	December 23, 1971

            If you are thinking of re-watching the movie, let me save you some time. Just go to youtube and look up the Dirty Harry bank robbery scene; yeah that sums it up.

            For those of you who haven’t seen this movie yet (trust me, you have) it follows the character Clint Eastwood (I know, it’s really “Harry Callahan”, but come on) played by Clint Eastwood, who is a cop in San Francisco. This particular cop has a problem with authority and a rap sheet for taking things a bit too far. Sound familiar? Yeah, that’s because every third movie made from this point onward has this character in it! (I told you you had seen the movie). So where does the nic-name “Dirty” Harry come from? We are never really told though a few theories are tossed our way, general racist hatred, peeping tom, and Eastwood’s theory that it is because he gets all the “Dirty” jobs.

            The plot is driven by the homicidal antics of the psychotic “Scorpio” (brilliantly played by Andy Robinson) who has threatened to kill and rape, increasingly vulnerable and younger victims until he is paid a large sum from the San Francisco government (still not convinced you haven’t seen this movie?). Harry pursues Scorpio throughout the film, setting aside the advice of partners, police chiefs and mayors all in an obsessive, if not justifiable quest to bring the nut job to justice.

            At this point it seems that everything about this film has become an icon that will be emulated till the end of time, sometimes better. The film suffered from a minimalist and overly simplistic script that felt like it was conceived in a few days and just slapped together. Even the famous line “Do you feel lucky?” is not all that inspiring a piece of dialogue. So why has this character and this story stuck in the Hollywood psyche for so long? Because EVERYONE but the screenwriters knew what they were doing.

            Eastwood’s performance was spot on and perfectly convinces us of the veracity of his character. Don Siegel the director knew that he had to convince us that Eastwood was the type of tough-guy anti-hero that we could still get behind and route for without doing so in the bare-boned script. He executed this perfectly by showing rather than telling; the sunglasses, the strut that Eastwood had while walking, the glare and coldness to authority, and let’s not forget his double parking in front of the mayor’s office (no that is TOUGH!). Eastwood and Siegel can easily take credit for creating a story telling legacy.

            But the real heroes of THIS movie are Andy Robinson and Lalo Schifrin the music producer. The music could have easily been over the top like so often happened in the 70’s . But it wasn’t. It did exactly what music is supposed to do. It told the story when the visuals and action were not enough to do so and stayed out of the way otherwise. The opening credits provide the perfect example. This could have been an amazingly boring 3 to 4 minutes if had not been to the upbeat and nerve-racking music to let us know, this is gonna be nitty gritty. And Robinson, he is among those few performers who were able to show a true flame of insanity that is rare and unnerving in movies. Brilliantly executed.

            Unfortunately without an interesting story to tell, it is hard to recommend a film that does not go anywhere or do anything. Save yourself the time and just watch the one scene. It perfectly summarizes what made this film great without taking the time delve into why you don’t need to see it to understand (not to mention all the completely unnecessary nudity, I mean, what was with that!). The film was above average. So I guess we punks have just got to ask ourselves one question, but we already know which one.