Dirty Harry (1971)
Directed by Don Siegel
***
Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? This is just the first of many films to feature the cop known as 'Dirty Harry' Callahan. There are many theories to why dirty, but the movie will help you out. He's given the dirty work, and he goes about it in a dirty way, too. In fact, it occurred to me halfway through the film that Harry just blows away all suspected criminals instead of bothering to ask questions. It's the sort of American (in)justice that made the Wild West such a mythical place. In this San Francisco setting, Harry tracks down a serial killer sniper, who ends up to be one of the most strangely maniacal characters in cinematic history. It's not a great film, by any stretch of the imagination, and 'Dirty Harry' is actually quite tame for most of the film. But was it influential? Sure it was, punk.
Comments