DIRTY HARRY
U.S.A. | 1971
Directed by Don Siegel
Starring
Clint Eastwood
Harry Guardino
Andy Robinson
Color | 102 Minutes | R
Format: DVD (R1 - NTSC | 2-disc set)
Warner Home Video
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5-film Dirty Harry Collection
   
 
10
     9   10 = Highest Rating  
Guest Review by Troy Howarth
Renegade cop "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) goes on a one-man crusade to bring a psychopath (Andy Robinson) to justice...
    Famously denounced as "fascist" by bigwig film critic Pauline Kael, Don Siegel's Dirty Harry set the standard for gritty cop thrillers of the 1970s. In essence something of an extension of Siegel's previous cop thriller with Eastwood, Coogan's Bluff (1968), it again depicts a fish out of water as he combats the system — the difference this time is that while Coogan was out of place in terms of geography, Callahan is a native of the urban landscape and jars only in terms of outlook and philosophy.
    The story by Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink hit a nerve with director Siegel and star Eastwood, both of whom sympathized with the way in which the rights of victims were somehow being buried in the liberal mentality of the period, a period which seemed to favor the rights of the accused. Taken at face value, as a textbook of how the law should ideally function, Pauline Kael has a point: it is fascist. However, it seems unlikely that either Siegel or Eastwood were advocating such stormtrooping tactics on a broad scale. The film, instead, presents a clear-cut, extreme situation: there's no question that the demented killer, Scorpio (plainly modeled on the Zodiac killer, then grabbing headlines in San Francisco), is guilty as hell and, as such, Callahan is 100% right in wanting to bring him down at any cost. Scorpio, in addition to being a full-fledged loon, is canny to the system's weaknesses; he knows how to exploit it to his advantage and to carry on his rampage while getting off on various petty technicalities. The situation is black and white in terms of morality — Scorpio is guilty, and Harry is the avenging angel sent to strike him down. At its heart, the film doesn't advocate the abuse of power, it simply presents a situation in which the flaws of the system don't deserve to get in the way of swift dispensation of good old fashioned justice. To suggest that Siegel is advocating anything "fascist" is to miss the point — the film is, ultimately, a grandly crafted piece of entertainment, not intended to be taken too seriously or to be utilized as a piece of philosophical grandstanding.
    To test a cliché, they really don't make 'em like this anymore. Don Siegel was the perfect director for the project, and Eastwood is to be commended for stumping for his participation. The director's lean and economical style is evident throughout — the tone is gritty, not only thematically but aesthetically as well. Siegel was the type of pro who never wasted a foot of film, and Dirty Harry is as good an example of his style as anything he ever made. The pace moves at a rapid clip, the bursts of action are handled with élan and there are some wonderful bits of character 'business' peppered throughout. Seen in an era proliferated with overblown action spectaculars, it's refreshing to see how it used to be done: realistically, simply and with no excess fat or undue bombast.
    Eastwood, of course, is ideal in the role that elevated him from star to icon. With his mixture of disillusionment and sardonic wit, Harry set the standard for all future action heroes, and Eastwood's imprint can be seen on everything from the many Italian imitations of the period (usually starring Franco Nero or Maurizio Merli) to later, larger-than-life figures like Mel Gibson in the Lethal Weapon series or Bruce Willis in the Die Hard franchise. Harry is in many respects a complicated character, and Eastwood makes him far more human and likable that he really had a right to be. The character doesn't suffer fools gladly but at the end of the day represents the kind of man of action we'd all love to have in our corner when the proverbial shit hits the fan. Not surprisingly, Eastwood dominates the film — but not to the extent of completely dwarfing his costars. Robinson is tremendously effective as Scorpio, always on the hint of caricature yet retaining a frightening mixture of sadism and vulnerability. Harry Guardino and John Vernon (Point Blank) also do fine work as Harry's stuffy superiors; Eastwood's exchange with the latter about an old rape case ("I figured he wasn't working for the Red Cross") typifies the sardonic humor of the series.
    If the film seems a little less fresh after so many imitations, not to mention a highly variable string of sequels (of which only the first, 1973's Magnum Force, comes close to equaling its impact), Dirty Harry remains a textbook example of how to make a terrific action picture. Seeing it now, too, with Eastwood firmly established as a multiple Oscar-winning film director, it's plain to see how much he learned from Siegel when acting for him. Like they say, if you're gonna steal, do so from the best.

Warner's new release of Dirty Harry has garnered some controversy in the on-line community. Released as part of a Dirty Harry box set, or available separately as a two-disc special edition, the new transfer offers a clean, sharp transfer that is appropriately dark and gritty. Warner's haven't attempted to prettify the film, but they have taken some heat for purportedly altering the color scheme. Compared to previous, inferior transfers, it's true — the colors do look a bit different. This is to be expected, however. Whether this represents the look of the film as intended by Siegel, or whether the older editions did this more effectively, is open to debate. From my own vantage point, I can only say it looks fine to me — this is not meant to be a pretty film (of all the pictures helmed by Siegel, the only one I can recall going for a more delicate aesthetic would be his mesmerizing Southern Gothic The Beguiled, also starring Eastwood) and the transfer does it justice. Individual viewers are entitled to disagree, of course, but I, for one, am more than pleased with the look of the new transfer. Beyond that, the 2.35/16x9 transfer is sharp, detailed and free of any distracting print damage. The 5.1 soundtrack is clean and punchy — Lalo Schiffrin's jazzy score is particularly well served in this mix; the original mono track is not included.
    Extras begin on Disc 1, with Richard Schickel's audio commentary. Schickel is a friend and biographer of Eastwood, and he does a fine job of detailing the film's back story and shedding light on the iconic star's relationship with Siegel (with whom he did a total of five films; six, if you count Siegel's acting job in Eastwood's debut as a director, Play Misty For Me, 1971). Compared to his sometimes draggy commentary for the 2004 SE of The Good, the Bad & the Ugly, Schickel seems on much better form here — and dead spots are fortunately few and far between. Disc 1 is rounded out with two featurettes on the film and its impact, as well as an interview gallery and trailers for all five Dirty Harry pictures.
    More interesting is a newly created documentary on Disc 2, The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry, which examines the series in depth and features interviews with various famous fans. Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso, a documentary dating from the early '90s, examines the actor/director's career from its inauspicious beginnings as a Universal contract player (his early bit parts included The Revenge of the Creature and Tarantula) to becoming one of the most powerful figures in Hollywood. It's a bit of a puff piece, but is still of interest to his fans. 7/04/08

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