Dirty Harry (1971)

 

Clint Eastwood has had a massive career thus far. Not only has he created some iconic characters, most notably the Man With No Name is Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns, but also Dirty Harry, which turned into a franchise of which this one - the first - is probably also the best. It certainly feels like a story with an ending, but thanks to the popularity of the character Eastwood got to play Harry Callahan some more times. And let us not forget Eastwood's further career both in front of and behind the camera. The man certainly has a serious work ethic, no question about that.

This is - in essence - one of those essential 70s police films. You know, the cynical kind, where the law doesn't work as it should and a rogue officer/vigilante has to put things right, because The Law doesn't work in some cases and crime and evildoers and scum get away with murder way too easily. 

Which is in fact what happens here.

Harry Callahan is a bit of a loose cannon in his department. Not that he is a bad cop or purposefully obnoxious, but he often gets handed the short end of the stick and with it shitty assignments. He almost always brings in the perpetrators, but he doesn't always get the credit for his work. He's also a little too fond of deadly force, carrying a Magnum .44 for some reason. 

San Francisco meanwhile is feeling the terror of a serial killer who calls himself Scorpio and who randomly shoots people just for shits and giggles. Callahan and the rest of the police force have no idea where to start, until Scorpio sort of gets found but escapes. He then kidnaps a young girl, claiming to have buried her somewhere and she can only be saved if the city gives him 200,000 dollars. Callahan figures the girl is already dead and hates that the mayor and officials are going along with this idea, but has no choice but to comply. Turns out, the girl actually is dead and Callahan gets beat up by Scorpio yet manages to stick a knife in his leg. 

This eventually leads him to the killer, but because they make an unlawful entry without warrant, Scorpio walks. The - clearly insane - killer then gets someone to beat him up and stick the blame onto Callahan. When Scorpio eventually kidnaps some school kids, Callahan has had enough and sets out to right the wrongs.

This film couldn't be more 70s if it tried. The cynical edge permeates everything and you get the feeling everything is dirty, grimy and corrupt, so that even the lawmen have to be even worse than the criminals at times to keep a semblance of normality and peace in the city. Lalo Schifrin's pumping, writhing soundtrack aids this overall image, of course. This leaves the door open for a character like Harry, who is in essence a jaded police officer who doesn't give a hoot anymore, to dispense deadly justice all across the board.

Clint Eastwood is pretty spot on for the role, because his face, demeanour and voice fit so well. The man himself might not be such a jaded c*nt in real life, but here, he displays nothing but disdain for most people. Crooks get the worse end of the stick. 

But what really makes this film work is that is is quite suspenseful, even if you know who the Scorpio Killer is early on. It's more tense in the sense of: "Will they get him or not?" Andrew Robinson who plays Scorpio is going all out in displaying every direction of insanity, yet is a surprisingly creepy and compelling villain for Eastwood to go up against. One might think that a character played so violently insane might be too much, but somehow it works. 

And then there's the immortal quote that nearly everyone gets wrong. 

The ending implies that this was a one-off, but there have been several films starring the Callahan-character, so they might have guessed wrong. But as far as gritty, nihilistic 70s police films go, this is one of the very best.