DIRTY HARRY is a 1971 film directed by Don Siegel, the first of the "Dirty Harry" movie series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role as San Francisco Police Department Inspector Harry Callahan, a role he would reprise 4 more times between 1973 and 1988.The year is 1971 as the film opens with a memorial and list to the dedication to the San Francisco Police Officers who served and died in the line of duty over the years, before proceeding to a scene where a serial killer nicknamed "Scorpio" (played by Andy Robinson) murders a young girl in a San Francisco rooftop swimming pool using a high-powered rifle. The spent casing is found on a rooftop across the way by Inspector Harry Callahan (played by Clint Eastwood). The Scorpio Killer threatens the city of San Francisco, announcing that he will kill one person every day until he is paid a ransom. Inspector Harry Callahan is assigned to the case and, much to his annoyance, is assigned a rookie partner named Chico Gonzalez (played by Reni Santoni). Callahan claims that his partners always suffer injuries or worse while working with him and that he needs someone experienced.(Callahan’s nickname, "Dirty Harry," is a reference to his reputation for taking on the "dirtiest" cases and resolving them even if it involves the violation of criminals’ rights.)A police helicopter foils Scorpio’s second attempt at murder, but he escapes and manages to kill a young boy in another rooftop shooting the next day. The police believe Scorpio is likely to choose a similarly elevated position for his next murder, one near the St. Peter and Paul Church as Scorpio had earlier threatened to kill a priest. Callahan and Chico wait for Scorpio on the adjacent rooftop and manage to prevent him from killing the priest. However, Scorpio kills a police officer during his escape.Infuriated that his plans have been foiled, Scorpio kidnaps a teenage girl, rapes her and then incarcerates her in a hole. He contacts the city and demands a ransom twice that of the previous one. He claims that it must be paid quickly as his prisoner only has enough air to last until 3:00 a.m. the following morning. The mayor (John Vernon) decides to pay, and Callahan is asked to deliver the money to a location at the docks. When Harry reaches the drop point, Scorpio contacts him through a public pay phone. He sends Callahan on a journey between various pay phones in the city, "bouncing him around town" in order to separate the inspector from any back-up that he may have. However, Scorpio does not realize that Callahan is wearing a wire, allowing Chico to know where his partner is going. The chase ends when Callahan reaches an enormous cross at Mount Davidson, one of the city’s parks. Scorpio instructs Callahan to drop his gun and the money and then to face the cross and stand up against it. Scorpio then proceeds to beat Callahan. The killer reveals that he does not intend to free the girl after all and that he intends to kill Callahan, too. Chico, thanks to the wireless microphone, arrives at the scene and initiates a gunfight with Scorpio. While Scorpio is distracted, Callahan stabs him in the leg with a concealed knife. Scorpio screams hysterically and escapes without the money. Chico is wounded in the gunfight and is unable to continue as Callahan’s partner, thus confirming his earlier reservations. Scorpio, tortured by Dirty Harry, limps to an emergency clinic and is treated for his leg wound. Later, the doctor who treated Scorpio is questioned by Callahan and his new partner Frank DeGeorgio. The doctor tells them that Scorpio works and lives in the nearby Kezar Stadium. Callahan then breaks into the stadium and searches Scorpio’s room without a warrant. Callahan hears Scorpio fleeing and chases him onto the stadium’s field. Frank turns on the stadium lights, which gives Callahan a clear view of Scorpio, whom he proceeds to shoot in the leg from distance. Scorpio is unwilling to reveal the location of the girl to Callahan, claiming he has the right to legal representation. In response, Callahan tortures Scorpio by standing on his wounded leg. Scorpio finally tells Callahan where he has been keeping the girl. Unfortunately, by the time the police find her, she is already dead. To make matters worse, Scorpio is released without charge because Callahan broke into his home illegally and tortured him to obtain a confession.After his release, Callahan follows Scorpio on his own time in order to prevent him from killing again. Scorpio pays a thug to punch him in the face and then tells the press that the police are harassing him, personally naming Callahan as the one responsible for his facial injuries. The chief and mayor order Callahan to desist from following Scorpio, but Callahan protests that he’s not the one responsible for the beating. "Anyone can tell that I didn’t do that." "How?" "Because he looks too damn good, that’s why!" With Callahan temporarily off his tail, Scorpio is able to kidnap a busload of children. He demands another ransom and a private jet to take him out of the country and presumably beyond Callahan’s reach. The mayor insists on paying, but Callahan pursues Scorpio without authorization and eventually rescues the children. He chases Scorpio into a nearby cement factory, where a gunfight ensues. Scorpio flees the factory and captures a boy who happens to be fishing at a nearby river. Callahan shoots Scorpio in the arm, whereupon the killer releases the boy and drops his gun. Scorpio freezes, looking at his gun, and Callahan shoots him again, this time fatally. The film ends with Callahan flinging his detective’s badge into the river in disgust at how he has lost faith in the law.Clint Eastwood’s iconic portrayal of the blunt, cynical, unorthodox detective who is seemingly in perpetual trouble with his incompetent bosses, set the style for a number of his later roles and, indeed, a whole genre of cop films. The film resonated with an American public that had become weary and frustrated with the increasing violent urban crime that was characteristic of the time. The box-office success of Dirty Harry led to the production of four sequels."Dirty" Harry Callahan also helped popularize Smith and Wesson’s Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver. The film initiated a modest increase in sales of the powerful handgun, which continues to be popular some thirty-five years after the film’s release. Throughout the film Eastwood’s Model 29 is lionized as an all-powerful instrument capable of sending assailants flying wildly through the air, while in reality the round is far less-dramatic than depicted. The .44 Magnum round is not considered to be a practical caliber for urban police use due to difficulties in recoil (target re-acquisition) and its ability to penetrate multiple surfaces, greatly increasing the likelihood of injuring bystanders.The cop who cares more for justice than rules motif was one subsequently imitated by a number of other films; the movie can also be counted as the seminal influence on the Italian tough-cop movies Poliziotteschi which dominated the 70s and that conquered critics in Europe and then back in the U.S. as well.Although Callahan is arguably Clint Eastwood’s signature role, he was not a top contender for the part. Indeed, the role was originally written for Frank Sinatra, but the singer had broken his wrist ten years earlier (possibly during the filming of The Manchurian Candidate) and found the large handgun too unwieldy and declined the role. John Wayne was considered for the role at one point but was not offered the part due to his age. Eastwood was only offered the role after Steve McQueen and Paul Newman likewise declined the role for varying reasons. An earlier version of the story was set in Seattle, Washington. (Wayne later portrayed a Dirty Harry-like detective in McQ, a 1974 film directed by John Sturges and set in Seattle.) One of Eastwood’s stipulations for accepting the role was the change of locale to San Francisco, which is his hometown.Scorpio, the film’s antagonist, was based on the real-life ’Zodiac Killer’ who was on the loose in San Francisco at the time. The Zodiac Killer has never been caught. In a later novelisation of the film, Scorpio was referred to as "Charles Davis," an escaped Canadian mental patient. Audie Murphy was first approached to play the Scorpio Killer, but he died in a plane crash before his decision on the offer could be made. The part eventually went to a relative unknown, Andy Robinson. Robinson’s portrayal was so chilling that after the film was released he reportedly received several death threats and was forced to get an unlisted telephone number. In real life, Robinson is a pacifist who despises guns. In the early days of principal photography, Robinson would flinch violently every time he fired. Director Don Siegel was forced to shut down production for a time and sent Robinson to a school to learn to fire a gun convincingly. Nonetheless, he still blinks when he shoots.At the time of the film’s release, the film caused controversy, sparking debate over issues ranging from police brutality to victims’ rights and the nature of law enforcement. "...I shoot the bastard, that’s MY policy."
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