When detective Harry Calahan (Eastwood) is assigned to pay extortion money to a serial murderer, the payoff goes wrong. Now with the life of a 14-year-old girl at stake, Callahan refuses to allow anything – including the law – to keep him from stopping the killer.
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When you think of classic cop action flicks, there are a couple that spring to mind, including The French Connection, Bullitt, and Dirty Harry. Sadly, I’d never seen any of them before. So, when the opportunity came up to watch this one, I jumped at the chance. Has this film withstood the test of time, or is it another film that has aged badly?
Clint Eastwood takes the lead in Dirty Harry, and does a solid job in the title role. Harry Callahan (aka Dirty Harry) is a hard-nosed cop who does what he must to do his job – and gets all the crap assignments, hence his nickname. While it may seem a stereotypical role, Eastwood manages to bring a depth to the character that still plays well today.
The rest of the cast is pretty solid too, with a few standouts. Andrew Robinson (the husband in Hellraiser) plays the bad guy, and he manages to bring just the right mixture of crazy and cunning to the pic. John Vernon is spot-on as the Mayor, and feels incredibly natural in the role. And Reni Santoni is a rock solid partner for Harry.
The storyline basically involves one cop’s mission to hunt down a serial killer. While that’s been done so many times, Dirty Harry makes it feel fresh again, and that is thanks to their depiction of the cop. Unlike most of these films in more recent times, usually the cop is somewhat dirty, knowing he’s throwing the book out to get the job done, and feeling virtually above the law. With Harry, he may be impulsive and quick to pull his gun, but he doesn’t really think he’s doing anything wrong. When his actions are termed too harsh, he’s genuinely perplexed. After all, he did his job, and caught the bad guy, so why are people trying to come down on him? It’s an interesting take, and one that paints Harry in a better light.
It’s also interesting to see where the film sways from sequences that would get more attention nowadays. When he’s set up to take the blame for beating “an innocent man,” the movie sets it all up, but then quickly lets it fade into the background. It doesn’t change his attitude, he’s not fired, suspended, or punished in any way, and the general public never treats him any differently. In a film today, that false accusation could conceivably be the main drama of the film – in this one, it’s just brushed away.
Dirty Harry, despite its age, still manages to come across as a solid cop action flick. Solid performances and an iconic line (“Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?) helps make this film achieve above it’s typical ‘cop seeks to stop killer at any cost’ plot. Thankfully, while the ending may seem to be the end (as it states), we now know that there are more action-packed moments waiting for Harry Callahan. If this first film is any indication, it seems that those sequels should be worth checking out too.
