DIRTY HARRY: 50 Years Later

Introduction

December 23, 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of a seminal neo-noir Clint Eastwood classic. Directed by longtime collaborator Don Seigel, it seems to be an apropos time to reexamine this film, as well as the effect it had on society, then and now. Here’s a look back at the start of Clint Eastwood’s legendary franchise – 1971’s Dirty Harry.

The Early Days of TV

Since the mid-1950s Clint Eastwood was toiling away in TV and films – appearing in such vehicles as Francis In The Navy and The First Traveling Saleslady. He settled into a comfortable life as a television actor, appearing in 217 episodes of the CBS Friday night staple, Rawhide.

In the early 1960s, the show was peaking. It reached #6 in the Nielsen Ratings. Millions of people were watching every week. It seemed as if Eastwood’s ticket had been punched. In late 1963, Eastwood’s friend and co-star, Eric Fleming had turned down the offer to travel to Spain and appear in an Italian made Western for then unknown director Sergio Leone.

Eastwood was recommended to Leone as he was a rising TV star in the United States and could play a cowboy easily and convincingly. Eastwood was also intrigued by the script, which was a remake of Yojimbo the Akira Kurosawa 1961 classic.

Westerns and Stardom

Eastwood agreed and signed a contract for $15,000 to star in A Fistful Of Dollars (1964). As everyone knows, the rest was history. The names Clint Eastwood and Sergio Leone would become synonymous with each other. Subsequently, Eastwood would go on to have one of the great careers in the history of cinema. Both as an actor and as a director.

Eastwood’s meteoric rise would continue all throughout the late 1960s and into 1970. He  starred in such classics as Hang Em’ High, Coogan’s Bluff, and Where Eagles Dare, all released in 1968. Eastwood also starred in the so bad it’s good musical, Paint Your Wagon (1969), co-starring Lee Marvin and the iconic Jean Seberg.

In 1970, Eastwood and director Don Siegel would team up for the first time. Putting out the grossly underrated Two Mules For Sister Sara. The film co-starred a fantastic Shirley MacLaine. Eastwood, that same year, also put out the World War II crime caper comedy/drama Kelley’s Heroes, co-starring Don Rickles and Donald Sutherland.

At this point, the 40 year old Eastwood would begin to exert a meticulous control over his career. This control would last until present-day. Kelley’s Heroes would be the final film that Eastwood starred in, that wasn’t produced by his newly formed production company, Malpaso Productions.

Harry Callahan

The original script for Dirty Harry was about a tough New York City detective named “Harry Callahan” who was hunting a serial killer named “Travis.” This was loosely based on the active “Zodiac” investigation that was taking place in and around San Francisco.

Numerous drafts of the script were written, and the setting of the film would change multiple times, eventually settling on the San Francisco area. This part of the country would become a mainstay for Eastwood. Both professionally and personally for the next five decades.

Clint Eastwood was not the first choice to play the role of Harry Callahan. Originally cast was crooning legend and Oscar-winner, Frank Sinatra. However, he dropped out because of a hand injury he received filming The Manchurian Candidate almost a decade earlier.

Sinatra’s Leftovers

John Wayne was offered the role but turned it down for its excessive violence. He also didn’t want Sinatra’s leftovers. Duke would have been out of his element in this, as evidenced by his hard to watch movies, Brannigan and McQ, which Wayne would film a few years later. Robert Mitchum, Burt Lancaster, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman and George C. Scott were all offered the role, and turned it down.

It got to the point that because of the inability to find a star for this vehicle, the rights were sold to ABC television, who wanted to adapt it for the small screen. However, due to the excessive violence, they passed, and sold the rights over to Warner Brothers. Numerous writers such as John Milius and Terrence Malick were working on the script.

Eastwood, Siegel and Milius

Paul Newman recommended to the studio that Eastwood – a staunch conservative – might be a good fit for the right-wing leaning detective. Now, having sufficient juice in Hollywood, Eastwood accepted the role, on the condition that Siegel be brought on as director. They had worked together on three films by this point. Eastwood would later say in 2009:

“So I said, ‘I’ll do it,’ but since they had initially talked to me, there had been all these rewrites. I said, ‘I’m only interested in the original script’…The rewrites had changed everything. They had Marine snipers coming on in the end. And I said, ‘No. This is losing the point of the whole story, of the guy chasing the killer down. It’s becoming an extravaganza that’s losing its character.’ They said, ‘OK, do what you want.’ So, we went and made it.”

Below is writer Milius, reflecting on his time working on Dirty Harry and with Eastwood. Milius would again reunite with the actor. Together they co-wrote the script for the fantastic 1973 Dirty Harry sequel, Magnum Force.

With the production moving to San Francisco, the idea was now to have the villain be similar in comparison to the Zodiac killer. The recent string of murders had gripped the Bay Area, and to this day remains unsolved. The decision was made to rename the killer “Scorpio” (similar in idea to “Zodiac”), and his goading of the authorities was also added.

Casting

Siegel had originally wanted World War II hero and western movie star Audie Murphy to play Scorpio. However, Murphy tragically was killed in a plane crash right before production started. James Caan was also in the running for the role.

Andrew Robinson (Charlie Varrick, The Drowning Pool) was eventually cast as Scorpio because Siegel and Eastwood had seen him in a stage production of Dostoevsky’s The Idiot. Siegel especially liked him, because he had the face of “a choir boy.” 50 years later, his portrayal holds up, as his performance is sadistic and riveting.

Filming

Principal photography for Dirty Harry began in April, 1971, and it’s a beautiful movie to look at. The film is shot all over The Bay Area. The locations range from the massive, wide open Kezar Stadium, to Golden Gate Park. As well as seedy strip clubs in Chinatown. It’s considered one of the best San Francisco movies, along with Invasion Of The Body Snatchers, Bullitt and 48 Hrs.

According to a piece that appeared in Life, Eastwood directed the suicide jumper (played by legendary stuntman Bill Couch) scene when director Siegel was sick with the flu. It was a sign of what was to come with regards to Eastwood’s efficiency as a director. The scene, which was calendared for six nights of shooting, was completed by Eastwood in a single night.

The only scene in Dirty Harry that was not shot on location, was the bank robbery/diner sequence. This was actually filmed on the lot of Universal Studios in Los Angeles. The scene is a side plot to the film’s main story. It has Inspector Callahan asking the owner of the diner to call the police and report a bank robbery in progress.

Pop-Culture History

Callahan then proceeds to exchange gunfire with the perpetrators. Which, at its end, leads to Clint Eastwood uttering arguably one of the great line readings in pop-culture history:

“Ah, Ah, 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’ve kinda lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself one question: “Do I feel lucky?” Well, do ya, punk?”

Harry Callahan’s gun, used throughout the film, is a .44 Magnum. It’s an extremely large and phallic gun, often commented on at numerous points during the movie. This eventually becomes something of a running gag. Thereby injecting a bit of humor into an otherwise brutal and savage movie.

One of the more amusing lines in Dirty Harry, “My, that’s a big one” uttered by Scorpio when Callahan removes his .44 Magnum, was actually an ad-libbed line by Andrew Robinson. The cast and crew broke into hysterics because of the double-meaning and suggestive tone of the line. The scene was shot again and Milius and Eastwood loved it. The line remained in the finished film.

Much like Popeye Doyle in The French Connection, Harry Callahan is an anti-hero, which was a theme in cinema that was trending in the early 1970’s. Callahan is a detective that goes against the grain. He refuses to conform to the “norms” that all police officers and detectives are expected to follow.

Premise

In Dirty Harry, Callahan, wanting to know the location of a teenage girl that has been kidnapped, ignores Scorpio’s begging for a lawyer and doctor, and digs his shoe deep into Scorpio’s wounded leg; thereby eventually getting the information he needs. His unorthodox methods yield results.

However, later in the film, the District Attorney informs Callahan that he has committed numerous civil rights violations. As a result, most of the evidence against Scorpio is deemed inadmissible and tossed. This leads to Scorpio’s eventual release, without ever being formally charged.

Throughout Dirty Harry, and all four of its sequels, Callahan is routinely regarded as a “rogue element” within the SFPD, and is often at odds with his superiors. While he usually gets results, his superiors are none too pleased with the high death toll. Not to mention the constant destruction of property left in his wake.

Racism

During the film, there are several explanations offered as to how “Dirty Harry” received his nickname. When Harry’s new partner “Chico Gonzalez” inquires about this, “Frank DiGiorgio” a longtime police colleague and close friend of Callahan’s, quickly buts in. He says the following:

“…that’s one thing about our Harry, doesn’t play any favorites. Harry hates everybody: Limeys, Micks, Hebes, Fat Dagos, N*ggers, Honkies, Chinks, you name it…”

It was harsh and uncalled for racist language, but, much like Popeye Doyle’s utterances in The French Connection, it was how a significant segment of our culture and society was 50 years ago. Especially in law enforcement in the big cities. Directors of the early 1970s, such as William Friedkin and Don Siegel wanted the viewing public to see this depressing and harsh reality up close.

After talking down the suicide jumper, Callahan sets the record straight. He states in passing that he’s called “Dirty Harry” because he is assigned “every dirty job that comes along.” Gonzalez further opines on this. He states that he is called this because he “always gets the shit end of the stick.”

Self-Promotion

During the bank robbery shootout, you’ll notice that the movie theater marquee that can be seen in the background is showing Play Misty for Me, Eastwood’s fantastic 1971 film that marked his debut as a director. You can clearly see Eastwood’s marketing powers (via Malpaso Productions) beginning to crystallize.

Although Dirty Harry was a success at the box office, earning $36 million on a $4 million budget, there were many within the studio who objected to the film’s use of excessive violence. There were subsequently numerous edits that needed to be made before the film could be released without an X rating.

The Reviews

The film also had sharply divided reviews amongst critics, with legendary New York Times film critic Pauline Kael calling the film a “right-wing fantasy,” as well as deeming it “fascist medievalism.” The Dirty Harry review by Kael would go on to become one of her most famous and talked about pieces.

Eastwood had been grinding it out in television and Italian westerns for over 15 years. Now, all of his hard work had finally paid off. Dirty Harry, Play Misty for Me and The Beguiled were all released in 1971. This was the key turning point in Eastwood’s career. He was now a bankable A-list movie star. He was also an established director who could get a movie in on time, under budget, and turn a profit.

Play Misty for Me earned almost $11 million at the box office on a $950,000 budget and was finished 5 days ahead of schedule. Four more “Dirty Harry” films would be released, all of which would star Eastwood: Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983 and directed by Eastwood) and The Dead Pool (1988).

Analysis

Was Harry Callahan a right-wing fascist cop? This is something that’s been debated for 50 years. It will continue to be debated for years to come. There’s no right or wrong answer. The case can certainly be made that characters like Popeye Doyle and Harry Callahan were the first modern American “anti-heroes.” Roger Ebert famously wrote:

“…if anybody is writing a book on the rise of fascism in America…they ought to take a look at Dirty Harry…”

The war in Vietnam was exploding into living rooms every night on TV. The landscape of movies and television was dramatically transitioning. Morphing from westerns and war movies, to cops and detectives fighting in the streets of the inner-cities. Archie Bunker was yelling slurs from his comfy chair in lower-middle-class Astoria, NY.

America was a rapidly changing country and needed new heroes besides John Wayne and Gary Copper to reflect this change. Films such as The French Connection and Dirty Harry clearly were the result of this, and these films would redefine how screen heroes would look and act for many years to come.

Special Thanks

Cinema Scholars would like to give a special thanks and a shout-out to the fantastic artist Graham Kennedy who created the artwork for the featured image of this article. Kennedy graciously allowed us to use this illustration. Please check it out below, as well as his other works of art:

https://www.facebook.com/GrahamKennedyIllustration https://www.facebook.com/groups/147254135385648 https://theclinteastwoodarchive.blogspot.com/2021/06/dirty-harry-exclusive-50th-anniversary.html

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