• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

"Dirty Harry" Callahan...

Warped9

Warped9

Admiral
Admiral
I've been watching the Dirty Harry films recently and it's a trip in nostalgia. Eastwood's Harry Callahan definitely isn't a contemporary touchy-feely male. Yeah, the sexism is blatant, but it's also amusing in that Harry's cynicism is aimed more at incompetence and apathy rather than sexism and whatever else.

It's fun catching these again. Indeed I'm surprised never to have heard of the Dirty Harry films and/or character being rebooted for a contemporary audience. The character is so iconically Eastwood that I find it hard to imagine anyone else playing him.

Wasn't the character originally adapted from a book or books?
 
Warped9 said:
I've been watching the Dirty Harry films recently and it's a trip in nostalgia. Eastwood's Harry Callahan definitely isn't a contemporary touchy-feely male. Yeah, the sexism is blatant, but it's also amusing in that Harry's cynicism is aimed more at incompetence and apathy rather than sexism and whatever else.

It's fun catching these again. Indeed I'm surprised never to have heard of the Dirty Harry films and/or character being rebooted for a contemporary audience. The character is so iconically Eastwood that I find it hard to imagine anyone else playing him.

Wasn't the character originally adapted from a book or books?
Click to expand...

No, he was created for the cinema. There were Dirty Harry books but they were spin-offs from the cinematic character.

John Wayne and Frank Sinatra were offered the title role before Clint, but it's impossible to imagine anyone but Eastwood in the role. I do recall talk of a remake a few years back (The Rock was in the frame, IIRC) but while I'm not against recasting or remakes generally, I think this is one that ought not to be touched with a bargepole. Even if DH itself does owe a little to Bullitt, IMHO.

The Scorpio character is based on the Zodiac serial killer and I think that it's Andy Robinson's finest cinematic role (but personally, I'd give his top ever role to a certain Cardassian tailor).

Would have to agree that the series went rapidly downhill after Magnum Force (in which Harry delivers a surprisingly powerful attack on vigilantism), though the otherwise crap Dead Pool does contain an enjoyable car chase, with the Streets of San Francisco showing that they lend themselves even to a car chase with a toy car (which has a bomb, chasing Harry's car).
 
The first two are the best, though I also like the third film, The Enforcer. Once the series entered the 1980s Eastwood was a little old for the role and the films weren't as interesting.

I'm not surprised they haven't been remade. As long as Eastwood is alive, I doubt that will happen. They were also rather controversial films when they came out -- Pauline Kael famously called the first one a "fascist masterpiece" -- and I think that controversy still remains.
 
Locke's character was in Sudden Impact, not the Dead Pool.

The first two were great and the fourth (Sudden Impact) was also very good. The third was so-so and the fourth really bad.
 
Captaindemotion said:
John Wayne and Frank Sinatra were offered the title role before Clint
Click to expand...

I've heard rumors that Elvis was also considered. But if that had been the case the "feel lucky punk" scene would have been addressed to a television.

I think this is one that ought not to be touched with a bargepole. Even if DH itself does owe a little to Bullitt, IMHO.
Click to expand...

Steve McQueen based Bullitt in part on real life SF Detective Dave Toschi. Toschi was the detective in charge of the real life Zodiac killer case. As you note, the Zodiac case was one of the inspirations for the first "Harry" movie.

Would have to agree that the series went rapidly downhill after Magnum Force (in which Harry delivers a surprisingly powerful attack on vigilantism)
Click to expand...

The attack isn't that surprising when you consider that the first movie ended with Harry throwing away his badge, fully believing that his vigilantism had cost him his career (but was necessary under the circumstances). Also, the rogue cops in MF took it way beyond what Harry ever did. Harry was no boy scout but he didn't execute people in cold blood, Bronson-style (at least in the first two films).

, though the otherwise crap Dead Pool ...
Click to expand...

...where Harry did, in fact, execute the main villain in cold blood. That always left a bad taste him my mouth even if the rest of the film hadn't been crap.

I'm surprised there's so little love for "Sudden Impact" here. I thought that one actually tied into the first two reasonably well. And, of course, it gave us "Go Ahead Make My Day."
 
I got to see every single one of them on the big screen when they were released. The first two at a drive in even! I'm a big fan of these films and re-watched them recently as Wal-Mart has them for 5 freakin' bux each on dvd. They hold up very well today. Clint was awesome. The Dead Pool also features a very young Jim Carrey and Liam Neeson, btw. This thread makes me want to go watch them again...think I will! Thanks!
 
I watched the original "Harry" on DVD about a month ago. It's one of my favorite movies but, interestingly enough, I'd never seen the uncut version (I had an old VHS taped off the TV for years).

It still holds up. In fact, it's really a classic movie, one the best "noir" films of the 70s. Lalo Schifrin's jazzy score really set the mood.

The cast is great. Not just Eastwood and Robinson (man, what a "Killing Joke" style Joker he'd have made back in the day), but the supporting roles, including John "Dean Wormer" Vernon as the Mayor of San Fransisco.

Don Siegel's direction was top notch. This was the first time I really noticed how much religious imagery is in the film. Harry might be the first "Christ figure" to carry a magnum. ;)

Finally, the film is a lot more nuanced that people might think. As I mentioned above, this isn't a "Death Wish" or "Punisher" movie. Harry isn't some guy out for revenge. He's not someone trying to satisfy his own needs. He's basically a good, if politically incorrect, cop who finds himself in a situation that results in him doing things he fully expects will mean the end of his career but he believes are necessary to save lives.
 
I quite like the first three films: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force and The Enforcer. The fourth, Sudden Impact, isn't bad and it does seem to show Harry mellowing a wee bit as he's older. I don't remember The Dead Pool very well and I haven't yet seen it recently, but I did see it back in the day at the theatre. I do remember thinking that the toy car bomb chase seemed awfully silly.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top