Dirty Harry (1971) Review/Retrospective | Hero or Villain?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 เม.ย. 2022
- Video Essay reviewing the #DonSiegel directed, #ClintEastwood classic #DirtyHarry. Is Harry a hero, or is he more of a villain? Do I feel lucky? Well.... do ya punk?
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The “fascist” angle is bull, always has been. The only time he ever went too far (in this movie) was when he shot Scorpio in the leg after he surrendered. Literally everything else he does (aside from the peeping, but that’s a different matter) is entirely justified.
- The robbers at the beginning, he yelled “Halt!” and let them shoot first before he reacted, hardly the actions of fascistic executioner. The “Do I feel lucky speech”, he knew he was empty and that guy had a loaded shotgun in arm’s reach, he simply outwitted him, and ensured his own survival.
- As for the torture, time was of the essence. It was beyond a reasonable doubt he was the same guy who not only just tried to kill him and Chico, but reneged on the deal to spare the girl. As far as he knew,she was still alive and he was refusing to talk.
Milius is one of my heroes, he’s the most underloved Screenwriter in Hollywood history. And it’s obvious that _Magnum Force_ was a response to the criticisms of this movie, he was basically saying…
“Wait, you think Harry’s a Fascist? No. I’ll show you Fascism…”
The bad guys? A literal right-wing death squad.
I love all of the movies in the series to differing degrees (The first, second, and fourth are three of my all-time favourite films, and the other two are still good watches), but I really wish John stayed and wrote all five of them, and not just the first two.
The first two were awesome...the rest were just a cash grab....
@@thegreenbird795 And worth every penny
@@thegreenbird795 “Here’s a seven-point suppository.”
“What did you say?”
“I said ‘stick it in your ass’!”
Even Sudden Impact? At least The Dead Pool features a very brief cameo of Super Mario voice Charles Martinet.... Woo hoo!
I met Andrew Robinson at a Trek Convention and THAT was worth every penny. I shoulda said that to him.....
Awesome movies... I pretty much like everything Clint has done. My personal favorite is The Outlaw Josie Wales...
Other than the scene where he tortured Scorpio because the clock was supposedly ticking on a victims pending death, the main character didn't use any excessive force in this film. The "do you feel lucky" scene was to bluff a wounded suspect into not reaching for a gun. Eastwood's character shot three people...two in the middle of an armed robbery, and the suspect at the end who clearly was trying to shoot the protagonist. The film also showed all the evidence being suppressed because of the torture sequence, which is realistic, as would be the detective's ignorance of those legal points in 1971. Compare this to 10 to Midnight (1983) and Cop (1988) in which the Detectives portrayed by Charles Bronson and James Woods respectively, summarily execute the suspect in cold blood as the finale.
I need to watch those. Yeah, total agreement here. Thanks for sharing that!
I had 'Cop' all lined up to watch tomorrow evening. Way to spoil the ending.
@@Mrpublicimagelimited Watch 10 to Midnight...maybe Bronson won't shoot the guy this time.
@@mrcrhartmanbronson always shoots the guy
If they'd only one ever made one Dirty Harry film, that may have been enough, judging from the way the first one ended, with him throwing his badge into the river. What never made sense to me was they did make a sequel, where much like another Warner Brothers character, Wile E Coyote, falls off a cliff and gets flattened by a rock and in the next scene is back to normal like nothing happened, "Magnum Force" begins with Harry still on patrol like he never threw his badge away and quit his job. Having said all that, "Magnum Force" is my favourite movie in the series, as I think the plot was much more unique and original, and if it were just a stand alone concept without the Dirty Harry named, attached, would have made a fine police detective film in its own right
I had no idea that the Scorpio killer would go on to play Garak in DS9, definitely an underrated actor imo
Yes, i was surprised when i learned that and yes he is underrated but a pleasure to talk to at conventions
He also plays Kirsty’s father (and Frank for a little bit) in Hellraiser. Andrew Robinson really deserves his flowers.
Awesome review. Those were some really great questions posed about the film and I liked the nuanced take that you have on the "justice at the end of a barrel" theme that the movie purposes. I believe that when the rights of the victim supersedes any of the rights of the accused we end up with a soft form of tyranny that sees to many innocent men suffer. We cannot expect the type of resolve and unbending morals that lack any form of ethics from a normal police officer like we get from Dirty Harry. At the same time, regulations that make it impossible for the police to perform their duty creates a criminal environment that becomes an even worse form of tyranny for the community. Carte blanche criminality breeds a miasma of fear that can set an entire city on edge where you believe that you can be robbed, r*ped, or murdered at any time. Justice is a difficult balancing act that too quickly becomes politicized by elected officials who want to stay in office more than they care about the well being of their constituency.
For a bit of criticism, I felt like the summary was a bit long in comparison to the preamble and review. Perhaps you could add some opinions to the summary to break it up a bit or just cut out parts that don't specifically move the plot forward. For instance, I would be interested to hear your thoughts about the conversation between Harry and Chico's wife. Did Harry's wife dying to a drunk driver sour him even more to the failures of the justice system? Why does he stay on the police force? Otherwise, that segment could probably be cut to tighten the video up a bit as it doesn't move the plot forward.
I asked myself that very question watching the movie. Ill keep what you said in mind for the future. Thank you for that.
Great Movie !!!
San Fran (2024) needs Harry now more than ever !!!!
San Francisco is paying the price right now for being stylish...
I like when Harry says,... He was using .44 special.. That .44 Mag is a bit painful.. Last movie, I believe.😁
Good pickup on the missed charges on “Scorpio” of assault on Harry and attempted murder on Chico. Also, a search warrant was NOT needed because exigent circumstances existed, and that is an exception to the warrant rule, so the evidence was admissible. The attorney and judge were dead wrong.
I think the writers and producers tried to make Harry look worse than he actually was and it backfired. I take it ignorance of the law kinda left out the exigent circumstances. Harry was justified in what he did and the time countdown he needed to save the girl. His defense is justified imo
This is literally the perfect movie. I bought the bluray boxset a few years ago. I like all of the sequels to one degree or another but this one is perfect to me. 5/5. Great top tier hero/anti hero, villain, score, cinematography, pacing, dialogue. This is very different to The French Connection which came out the same year. The French Connection is completely different in style but I love them both equally.
Dirty Harry is the ultimate red pill movie. The context and the things we know about what Scorpio is doing makes us agree with Harry’s actions and you agree with his declaration that ‘the law is crazy’. It’s in no way a ‘fascist’ film. Fascists targeted anyone who dared to disagree, Harry targeted only the hoods and killers thereby protecting the innocent from them. The fact that the movie was so controversial was addressed in the Sequel Magnum Force, where Harry takes down a bunch of vigilante cops going on a murder spree of known big name criminals.
I enjoyed your retrospective.
I appreciate that. Magnum Force is an upcoming retrospective that i cannot wait to tackle
Tarantino says that Andy Robinson was too good in his role and thus why his career was nipped in the bud. He frightened people so well that no one could imagine him as anyone else but Scorpio. (according to Tarantino, but worded in my own way)
A shame......great actor who i got to meet at a Star Trek convention. His Garak role is prolly top ten in all of Star Trek.
A very good review of an iconic movie! And it was great to see at the end that you'll do a review of another of my favourite movies of all time, Planet of the Apes.
Thanks for watching sir. Planet of the Apes is already up. It should be one of the first videos you see when you go to my channel.
Saw this movie again after years and man what an amazing film Clint Eastwood is a straight G. I love the morality of right and wrong that plays into the film. such as Dirty Harry in the film he used tactics that’s against the law to get the killer and the law deemed him as not playing by the rules. but when someone’s life is on the line and is a murderer through and through there’s no choice at hand. and you see that here with the villain Scorpio this was a great showcase to show how sometimes people have to make the hard decision. even if it might not be right but I loved this film definitely a true classic this movie is 9/10.
One of the best. Thank you for sharing this!
Dirty Harry…my hero
Let me meet with the son of a bitch....... Oh no that'd be a real bloodbath....
He'll yeah!!
I always found it weird that people say that Dirty Harry was a fascist dirty cop, aside from the Scorpio torture which was a tactic born out of pure desperation rather than sadism (and it backfired badly on him), in none of the movies does Harry ever use excessive force and is remarkably true to protocol most of the time too, despite the dickish attitude (Which is not a crime but apparently people on twitter seem to believe so) the guy was also remarkably progressive for his time, really Callaghan wasn't a bad cop at all, especially compared to other characters in movies at the time.
Great review I saw this when I was a young kid too and loved it ever since
Yeah, I truly felt lucky to encounter this film. Everytime I was sick and stayed home from school I would watch this or Magnum Force. Vid on that in the future...
Dirty Harry is my favourite movie of all time
Did the video do the movie justice?
One of the best.
Oh yeah
Great analysis!
Myself, Smith, and Wesson thanks you greatly........
Hey, I gots ta know
We ain't just gonna let you walk out of here. Myself.....Smith.......and Wesson.......!
@@Nerdporeal alas I have not seen Sudden Impact 😭
@@jaked5388 Well, You're S#&t our of luck.....
SOME PEOPLE JUST GOTSTA KNOW....
By the way a very passionate and good review.
Thank you. Hope you check out the channel. I do plan to do a similar video on Magnum Force, the other side to the coin
That would be cool.@@Nerdporeal
im reading about this movie in Tarantino's Film Speculation
Magnum Force will be a future video too!
Callahan was not the warm fuzzy type but I believed he cared for people. If you see his reaction to them finding that teen girl dead says it all and why he sometimes goes to unconventional methods to get the job done. Callahan feels the system is messed up (see his quote in Magnum Force to the rogue police) but says it is the only system for now and he is sticking with it. Callahan is not the fascist as he was portrayed to be, for a fascist does no believe in justice & democracy and wants to overthrow it (like past president trump). Callahan walks to the beat of his own drummer not apologizing for anything and this can intimidate people (& not just the people in the movie) but real life critics. The left wing don't want him and the right wing he has too much class for them. We need a Dirty Harry today, but if he was to exist, he would be in the poor house for all of the criminals suing him for doing his job.
I appreciate the comment and the insight but leave any politics out....it is by its very nature divisive and thats not the purpose of my channel. That being said, i agree with your take. That scene in the Enforcer talking about paying a price for being stylish i feel is very relevant today. Do you agree?
@@Nerdporeal Read Dirty Harry's America: Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the Conservative Backlash by Joe Street. The whole point was Harry walked to the beat of his own drummer neither liberal or conservative.
Yes I agree@@Nerdporeal
Thanks for the recommendation
Your welcome@@Nerdporeal
Please review dirty Harry 2.
Absolutely! I cant leave the audience under the impression Harry Callahan is a Fascist. Magnum Force is awesome. Hope you check out the channel and find other vids that may interest you. Stay Nerdporeal
Wow, even back in 1970, there were a Ton of SIMP Hollywood Actors.
Not sure what you mean