We return to the world of Clint Eastwood as we look at his second most iconic role after the Man with No Name and that character is Harold Francis Callahan, better known as Dirty Harry. A police cop of sorts who started a new trend for cop films; an anti-hero who isn't afraid to cross professional boundaries in the pursuit of one's own vision of justice, especially when a city's own police force are a bunch of slackers or are operated by a corrupt higher authority. This kind of cop became the inspiration for a number of beloved characters who work for the police and much like with the western films that the Man with No Name comes from, we have a lot to thank for Dirty Harry. So unlike most film sagas which are normally shown across a few years, the Dirty Harry films were made across the 70s and 80s with a lot of other films for Clint Eastwood to work on in between. Kind of like James Bond where each film is released at least four years after the last one (with the exception perhaps of
No Time to Die due to the pandemic) and that series has been going on since the 60s. So let's see if we feel lucky and have these films make our days:
Dirty Harry
In the first and perhaps most iconic film of the series, Callahan picks up a blackmail note by a mysterious killer known as Scorpio (played by Andy Robinson) who is set on killing loads of people unless his demands are met.
He reluctantly partners up with a rookie called Chico Gonzalez and works with him to find the killer and put an end to his ways. Some people would say that Scorpio is similar to the real life "Zodiac Killer" in terms of the coded messages and his goal to kill if his demands are not met. Anyway even though this does set up a whole genre of films, it's not the first in that genre that I have seen. But I recognize it as the one that began the genre and trend and I really enjoyed it. Of course, it wouldn't be until
Hot Fuzz where police work is more accurately portrayed with the paperwork part, but this film is a good start to the popular genre that would only get more popular as time goes on. 9/10
Magnum Force
During a stakeout, Callahan and new partner Earlington "Early" Smith (played by Felton Perry) are attracted to the scene of a murder. The murder is the beginning of a series and Callahan resolves to put an end to them despite the victims being criminals and that the murderer may be within the police ranks. One thing you will pick up early on in this series is that Eastwood's character has one-liners and catchphrases in each film which I guess is part of the reason why it's an iconic series of films. Anyway this is a good sequel that explores the themes of vigilante justice and the name itself is the name of his gun in this film (minus the "Force" part). Probably not the sequel we were expecting, but decent enough to be good. 8/10
The Enforcer
In Marin County, two gas men are lured into a trap where they get killed by Bobby Maxwell (played by the late DeVeren Bookwalter), a member of a gang called the People's Revoluntionary Strike Force. He sets out to use the gas men's uniforms as part of a series of crimes that would make him and his gang rich. Meanwhile, Callahan is being reprimanded for excessive use of the force, but eventually decides to go after the PRSF when they kill his partner and do other criminal activities. For the third film, it's again not perfect. But I can sort of see a balance between action and humor this time whereas previous films felt unbalanced between the two things. Some would say that the villains this time around are like cartoon villains, but you can still make a good film with villains that behave like cartoon ones. So yeah another decent flick, but could be better. 7/10
Sudden Impact
So this time around in addition to starring in it, Clint Eastwood is directing too. It was also the first to be released in the 80s too. In 1973, college artist Jennifer Spencer (played by the late Sondra Locke) and her sister become rape in a brutal rape that sees the sister be left in a comatose state. In 1983, Jennifer decides to hunt down and kill the rapists and anyone else who do that kind of crime. Meanwhile, an aging Callahan is once again reprimanded for how he does things and is forced to go on holiday when his superiors can't decide whether to fire him or not due to how his methods actually get results. But his holiday is short-lived when he winds up in Spencer's pursuit of justice against rapists and discovers that the two have a lot in common before deciding to get involved with it all. The film has the firepower and the catchphrases or one-liners that most fans would associate with Dirty Harry. But after a while, you get the feeling that its just rise and repeat. We know Callahan will be able to escape any impossible situation he is thrown into, and we know that he will defeat the villain in the end. I just if you are an action junkie and don't care about the issues within, then this film is fine. But for the rest of us, there are better films in this series. But kudos to Eastwood for directing the film this time even if it's not as good as it had been before. 8/10
The Dead Pool
No your eyes do not fool you. This is indeed called
The Dead Pool and should not be confused with the Merc with a Mouth (though the combination of Deadpool and Eastwood would make one heck of a film). The final film in the series sees Callahan become famous following a testimony he made that put one crime lord Lou Janero (played by Anthony Charnota) into jail. He however is not happy with the press and Janero's men hounding him down and is eventually given another partner called Al Quan (played by Evan C. Kim) who works with him on a series of murders tied to a game called "The Dead Pool". You know this film is the shortest and also last film in the series and I would've loved it to be longer if only to give the series the ending it deserved. But its another decent flick that pokes fun at the problems the series has had and continues to give us the balance of humour and gun play with plenty of one-liners. 8/10
Much like most film series, the films declined in quality as time went on. But its not necessarily a bad thing because it gave us a new genre of films to appreciate and an actor who will forever be more associated with action flicks than most other roles. Eastwood is one talented guy and I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future even though he is in his 90s now. 8/10
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