Dirty Harry

Pros: Clint, Direction, Photography, Script, Score, Clint's sunglasses :> .44 Magnum
Cons: Appears dated because its been copied so much.

Dirty Harry (1971) There's a psycho killer on the loose and Harry Callahan is determined to find him. The sixties were a troubled time in America, with race riots, hippies, drugs, and new words like civil rights. The country had swung way to the ...

Pros: Clint Eastwood
Cons: full of cons and he's putting them in jail

"I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking, did he fire six shots or only five? Well to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your ...

Pros: Great lines, Clint Eastwood, stylish direction, jazzy music score
Cons: Not many

Perhaps now, in the wake of the September 11, 2001 tragedies, is a fitting time to view a film dedicated to all the police officers killed in the line of duty, but then again the film is 1971’s crime action thriller DIRTY HARRY, so all bets are off. Say...

Pros: Eastwood charisma, Siegel's direction and Lalo's music
Cons: 35 years of being ripped off by lesser movies

Dirty Harry created one of the most enduring action film formulas still in use 30 years later.-- The over-the-top lone wolf vigilante who will do the right thing no matter what the cost in the most no-nonsense, take-no-prisoners, save the b.s. for ...

Pros: The prototype of the 'cop' genre; fine directing; simple plot should please
Cons: Nothing too serious or flawed

****

“I know what you’re thinking punk. You’re thinking: ‘Did he fire six shots, or only five?’ To tell you the truth, I forgot myself, in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world –and will...

Pros: Clint Eastwood, script, Don Siegal's direction.
Cons: Harry's disregard for certain laws while meting out justice will offend some.

It must be tough to be a cop, especially in a large city, with all sorts of criminal elements. Often, you have to deal with rotten people, gruesome crime scenes, and the risking of your own life, sometimes, just to deal with those nasty situations....

Pros: A cop thriller starring the quintessential anti-hero actor, now in a two-disc package.
Cons: The countercultural disdain is a little heavy-handed.

Of all the anti-hero vigilante flicks of the 1970s, none has continued to stir as much fervent passion and criticism as Don Siegel's DIRTY HARRY. There's no getting around the reputation this film has received from actual law enforcement officers ...

Pros: Super cop flick and performance from Eastwood, et al
Cons: Right wing propaganda

". . . and will blow your head clean off."

The early 1970’s saw some great cop movies, and I think I saw all of them, given that I was a teenager with time on my hands. With all due respect to “The French Connection”, I think the...

Pros: Action-packed, memorable dialogue, exciting locales.
Cons: Partial nudity, mild expletives, Harry bigoted at times.

Formerly known to movie audiences as the Man With No Name from spaghetti westerns of the 1960's, Clint Eastwood returns to the screen as a rebel hero for the new era. Eastwood debuts as the long-running title character, Detective Harry Callahan ...

Pros: Unflinching, iconic performance from Mr.Eastwood...
Cons: Post-Harry parodies dilute the effect of real scenes.

Dirty Harry, or Psycho vs. Psycho. This could easily be synopsized as 'Grimacing maniac cop rumbles across San Francisco chasing giggling maniac hippy.' Eastwood traded in his horse, cigars and poncho for a sharp suit, shades and magnum, creating...

Pros: Gritty, compulsive, an original master film
Cons: Dark, gloomy look on society

“…uh uh I know what you’re thinking did he fire 5 shots or six? To tell you the truth in all this excitement I kind’a lost track my self, and being this is a .44 Magnum the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you’ve just ...

Pros: Landmark film in the crime genre...
Cons: May be too intense for younger audiences...

Don Siegel's controversial 1971 crime thriller made its mark at the box office, yet none of us realized the impact it would have on American culture at the time. Harry Callahan's unorthodox tactics would be categorized in future police terminology as the...

Pros: iconic, passionate, fun
Cons: so far to the right it makes Bill O'Reilly look like Richard Simmons

"I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow ...

Pros: Direction, acting, intense action and a classic character
Cons: The moral

“No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury…nor shall any person…be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.”
-From Article VII of...

Pros: Eastwood, tight direction by Siegel, tension, action
Cons: Tries a bit too hard

Well known, and much loved, Pauline Kael was one of the most important film critics ever to wield a pen. She called Dirty Harry "cheerfully fascist". I couldn't disagree more strongly with Ms. Kael's opinion. But more on that later.

The...