Movie Review: Dirty Harry
Clint Eastwood is a real one.
He is one of the last remnants of the old Hollywood that came to prominence after World War II reaching its zenith in the 1960’s and 70’s. His claim to fame of course is the spaghetti western, typified by the Man With No Name trilogy, to this day the absolute best of the genre. Clint had a successful collaboration around that time with director Don Siegel with films like Coogan’s Bluff and Escape from Alcatraz. In the 70’s an aging Clint made a shift from westerns into more gritty drama and action films. The five part Dirty Harry series is the most memorable of this two decade period. After rewatching the eponymous first film it is easy to see why. While a bit hamfisted in its writing and schlocky in its directing, 1971’s Dirty Harry is still a damn fun movie.
Harry Callahan is your classic hardboiled detective. He gets into arguments with his captain and the city mayor, guns down bad guys without hesitation, and doesn’t suffer fools lightly. The film’s plot is driven by his hunt for a serial killer named Scorpio who is sniping random victims throughout San Francisco. The villain has no interesting motive and no complexity of any kind; he’s just a pure evil psychopath killing women and children for fun. If anything the real villains are the political and justice systems that are incapable of dealing with him. This is a key theme of the film and it is relayed with all the subtlety of a .44 magnum round to the face.
Dirty Harry is not a particularly smart film but it is mostly fun to watch. Clint makes just about any scene watchable with that wry taciturn sense of humor. The action is decent and there are some good moments of suspense. I also really love the look and feel of the film. The soundtrack is super funky right from a neat opening scene with a rooftop pool and a dramatic introduction of the villain. Early 70’s San Francisco is an enjoyable place to visit cinematically. Also I gotta give props to the costume designers. Clint’s drip in this is ridiculous. Absolutely love all the suits, vests, and shoes. The best accessory by far though is that .44 magnum that enjoys plenty of screen time. That iconic “Do I feel lucky?” speech still hits the spot.
As Harry grows frustrated by the police department’s fecklessness in dealing with Scorpio the film’s main ideas come into sharper relief. It is a story about how a safe, comfortable, democratic society is limited in its ability to deal with pure self-aware evil. All it takes is one determined mad man to turn an entire city on its head. San Francisco, long known for its liberal social policies, is an ideal staging ground for this exploration. The theme of Dirty Harry was perhaps more controversial in its day. Critics called the film “fascist” but that is giving it too much credit. It’s really just not that deep.
Fun and style on their own do not quite make a film an “A” in my book. To get to those heights a film needs a very polished execution and some real substance to it. Dirty Harry falls short on both points for me. As far as execution, it is mostly good. There are some really cool shots such as a moment where we see Harry standing against the backdrop of the Golden Gate bridge with a blue misty sky. Another shot of Harry walking into the mayor’s office is quite well done. But then you have wonky moments such as a weird zoom out shot during a violent interrogation at the film’s midpoint. It wasn’t just distracting; it created a weird anticlimax where we didn’t get to see the villain confess or not. There are a few other moments like this where the camera work just didn’t land for me. Also the pacing wasn’t great at times. There are some very boring parts such as a night time jogging game of cat and mouse that goes on for way too long.
What’s more, thematically the film was rather shallow. Firstly, the villain feels like a cartoon. He rapes and murders teenage girls, kills children, kills cops, kills random women, and is then somehow turned into some innocent victim by the media. It’s so over the top that it clashes with the gritty realistic vibe they were going for the rest of the film. He didn’t need to be sympathetic, just believable. What’s more the story structure doesn’t help as the villain, due to being an idiot, gets caught at the midpoint. The film needed more mystery and real detective work. Instead we get this weird legalistic subplot where the villain pays homeless people to beat him up so that it looks like Harry did it (?) and then he can’t be surveilled as easily, enabling him to hijack a bus full of schoolchildren. Just goofy writing.
I can appreciate why the Harry Callahan character endured though. He is a lot of fun to watch. His partner Chico was pretty cool too though he doesn’t last long. The awesome soundtrack and groovy setting make this worth checking out. It holds up well for the most part and is a must watch for Clint fans.
Grade: B+
