Exoticalot
People are voting emotionally.
Moustroll
Good movie but grossly overrated
BoardChiri
Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay
Anssi Vartiainen
Admit it, you've all heard about the most powerful handgun in the world and about punks being lucky. The original Dirty Harry, starring Clint Eastwood at his prime, spawned multiple sequels and is still regarded as something of a crime classic.And yet I'd claim that the story itself is not all that memorable. Sure, it has a solid foundation and I do like the midpoint twist concerning the fate of the killer, but it is also a bit on the slow side and the runtime could be cut down quite significantly.Rather it's the character that makes this such a memorable film. We don't necessarily remember just how the crime got solved or what exactly the killer was doing. But we do remember how impossibly cool Eastwood as Harry Callahan was, walking down the street with a .44 Magnum in hand. There's even a scene in the film where Callahan has to talk to a jumper. And even that is cool.Not a perfect film by any means, but Dirty Harry is one of those archetype characters. A renegade, a loose cannon, a man who gets things done no matter what. And for that alone this is one fine film.
christopher-underwood
I'm not really sure how, at my great age, this could be the very first time of seeing this film but I'm pretty certain it is. Looks very impressive in Blu-ray with magnificent opening scenes, shot from high up and far away and closing in on violent action in vivid, colourful close-up. Considering all the Italian police action films I have seen, odd that I should not have visited one of their major influences. Thinking about it Clint Eastwood is a pivotal and iconic figure, being influenced by but even more, himself influencing Italian crime and western films. This one is very tough and uncompromising and Eastwood strides through it, a man against the world, including the police officials he has to work around. Being of the early 70s the film is not as slick as one might expect today in so far as scenes crash and collide with night turning to day without a murmur. No time for niceties, its the story stupid! My only reservation, the film runs for 100 minutes, 90 would have made it more tight and we could probably have lost one of those meet ups with the major or governor. Splendid action though and again being early 70s goes out of its way to show a bit of sleaze every now and again.
jimbo-53-186511
Inspector 'Dirty Harry' Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is assigned to one of his toughest cases when he finds himself having to track down a notorious serial killer simply known as Scorpio. Scorpio leaves a letter at the scene of his first crime threatening to kill again unless he receives $100,000. What follows is a cat and mouse game between Scorpio and Harry but in this game Harry is determined to win and will do whatever it takes to bring Scorpio to justice.Between 1971 and 2016 there have been many cop type films and over the years we have seen many similar 'Harry Callahan' type police officers being portrayed on film. However, Dirty Harry was a very early example of a bad-ass cop who's prepared to bend or break the rules in order to get his man but, to my knowledge, no film has ever given us a cop who's quite so iconic and cool as Dirty Harry Callahan. Part of the reason this film succeeds lies with Eastwood himself and what he brought to the role; there's nobody else quite like him when it comes to tough-talking through gritted teeth and he's also capable of giving icy stares that at times can be quite unnerving. I think the important distinction to make with Harry is that he's a 'bad-ass' cop rather than a 'bad' cop; he isn't afraid to break the rules in order to do what he feels is right, but he also knows when to hold back and never allows his judgement to be clouded even in the most extreme of circumstances. For these reasons it's easy to have a vested interest in Callahan's dogged pursuit of Scorpio as more often than not we find a police officer doing a lot of things wrong but for all the right reasons. Of course every 'bad-ass' cop needs a bad-ass villain to contend with and this is where Andrew Robinson comes into play; Robinson was not a big actor (and sadly never seemed to become one either) and therefore going up against Eastwood (who was quite well-established at this point in his career) must have been quite a daunting task, but Robinson acquits himself to the role very well and manages to be chilling, menacing and ever so slightly sociopathic. According to the trivia section Robinson received death threats after his performance in Dirty Harry which just goes to show that a lot of people were so convinced by his performance that they must have forgot that he was acting!!!Director Don Siegel gives the film plenty of energy and keeps the film moving at a fair old lick; the screenplay also includes some humorous moments (I loved the unorthodox approach that Harry used to try to prevent someone from jumping off a high-rise building). Harry's general contempt for authority made many of his scenes with The Mayor and The Chief very enjoyable. To top it all off Dirty Harry also has a very exciting finale with one of the best closing lines to a film that I've ever seen.Anyone who is a fan of Eastwood really should watch this as not only is this one of his best films but he's also playing one of the best characters to grace the cinema screen (I genuinely can't think of a cooler character than Harry Callahan). Many cop films with similar bad-ass cops have followed, but few (if any) have been as good as Dirty Harry.
Leofwine_draca
And so here it is: one of the most influential police films of all time, and a film that, along with THE FRENCH CONNECTION, helped to revolutionise the cop movie ever afterwards. This distinctive, gritty thriller was made at the cusp of the '70s, when everything was getting darker and more violent, and this is no exception. In essence, it sees Clint Eastwood tackling a sadistic psychopath who spends half his time as a sniper and the other half abducting and raping children. Yes, it's unpleasant subject matter all right, but with sure hand director Don Siegel at the helm and Eastwood in one of his most iconic roles in front of the camera, it's never less than entertaining.Really, this film belongs to Eastwood. It's his most famous role and he plays it laconic like nobody else can. He's an outsider, an old-fashioned guy in a modern world, and he seems just to have stepped out of the wild west into a time and place he doesn't belong. Full of witty put-downs and smart dialogue, Eastwood owns this movie and it feels lacking whenever he isn't around, which is fine because he's on screen for 95% of the time.Opposing Eastwood is Andrew Robinson in a breakthrough performance as one of cinema's most chilling psychopaths – he certainly gives Anthony Perkins a run for his money! Robinson is scarily brilliant as the anything-goes killer who keeps evading justice until the thrilling climax in which he and Eastwood finally face off. Along the way, they have plenty of run-ins, utilising great choreography. There's a show-off in an deserted football stadium which screams 'epic' and a wonderful action sequence with Eastwood atop a hijacked bus at the climax which works precisely because the star isn't afraid to do all his own stunts. Add in the famous bank robbery sequence – ending with Eastwood's "lucky" speech – and a supporting cast of tough guy actors fitting their roles like a glove and you have one very famous, enjoyable classic.
