Jun
4
“Dirty Harry” DVD Review
Filed Under Movies, Political Films
Warner Bros. has double-dipped the Dirty Harry franchise and released a new boxed set yesterday with all five films, a documentary about Clint Eastwood and an Inspector Harry Callahan police badge, should you be interested in emulating his style of policework in your off-hours; his .44 Magnum that could “blow your head clean off” is not included. I haven’t had a chance to go through all the content in the collection, but I did watch the first film last night.
Last week, I discussed at length the myth of the Western hero in regards to the latest Rambo film. Those same heroic attributes are just as easily applicable to Insp. Callahan, only now in the context of the detective genre. Dirty Harry operates simultaneously inside and outside of the law. He’s part of a bureaucracy that’s at its wit’s end in trying to apprehend the serial killer Scorpio, but he is every inch a vigilante, just one with a badge.
There have been so many copycats in the 37 years since the release of “Dirty Harry,” that it’s almost difficult to imagine the film was ever controversial in its depiction of police brutality. For more than a generation, cop movies have aped Dirty Harry’s unique brand of justice. The “Lethal Weapon” series turned vigilante cops into a thing of comedy. “RoboCop” brought Dirty Harry into the future. “Training Day” won Denzel Washington a long-deserved Academy Award for Best Actor.
How many films since “Dirty Harry” have ended with the policeman hero throwing away his badge? “Point Break” and “The Fast and the Furious” immediately spring to mind. Dirty Harry’s badge, however, is really just a “Get Out of Jail Free” card, his license to kill. Cops like Callahan are driven by some other force to dispense justice, one that’s not symbolized by a gold shield or a police manual or the Constitution.
“Dirty Harry” and the movies it spawned have always appealed to my reptile brain. As human beings, our thirst for balance and order amid the chaos is always satisfied by a lawman who shows the lawless a thing or two about what lawlessness really is.
-Brad Lohan
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[…] “Dirty Harry” DVD Review […]
Solid flick. It’s been on HDNet Movies the last few days. Chico, Harry’s partner is played by the guy who played “Poppy” on Seinfeld. I’m sure he’d rather be remembered for being in Dirty Harry.