DIRTY HARRY's Fortieth Anniversary

I have just returned from seeing an excellently newly restored theatrical print of the 1971 Clint Eastwood classic DIRTY HARRY that was screening at NYC's Bryant Park in Manhattan and since this year is the fortieth anniversary of the first theatrical release of the film,it's interesting to see the effects and influences this pivotal cult action film has had over the cinema during these last 40 years.

Back in the year 1971 I when I was 17 years old at the time I first saw DIRTY HARRY was the fact that this film was part of a wave of controversially violent movies with modern social messages that all came out that very same year as HARRY and were equally influential on cinema just like the Clint Eastwood film was: such as Sam Peckinpaw's STRAW DOGS, Ken Russell's THE DEVILS,William Friedkin's THE FRENCH CONNECTION and most especially Stanley Kubrick's A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. And after forty years these five films especially DIRTY HARRY still continue to be as controversial and influential over cinema and more importantly moviegoers than most modern films made these days. Ironically back in 1971 important American film critics like Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert savagely attacked DIRTY HARRY for claiming that the film promoted a sadistical fascist point of view regarding police officers going against the criminal elements in today's society.But what these esteemed film critics missed the boat about what DIRTY HARRY really is as a film is that it was the first film of it's genre(the rogue cop film) that really pointed it's finger at the frustration of law enforcement officers in it's continual fight against crime of being restricted in doing their duties of protecting the public by cause of recent court decisions like Escobedo & Miranda that protects criminal suspects civil rights against unlawful interrogations and search & seizures.But as a result, those decision also affected adversely the rights of the victims of these very same criminals and there is no body better than Dirty Harry to vent his frustration against the dense bureaucratic police superiors and police red tape in accomplishing his duties to protect the innocent citizens of San Francisco against the vicious criminal elements of the city.

What is equally ironic is that Clint Eastwood was not the first choice for the Dirty Harry role since it was previously offered to John Wayne,Frank Sinatra,Steve McQueen and Paul Newman who all turned down the role for various reasons.In the case of John Wayne, he objected to the violent script and Harry being a rogue cop,while Sinatra originally accepted the role but passed on it because of health reasons.As for McQueen,he didn't want to do another cop film after BULLITT(1968) and Newman being the liberal that he was,he didn't like the right wing aspect of the script. But after the box office and critical success of the first DIRTY HARRY film,all four actors did "rogue cop"films like Wayne in MC Q(1974) & BRANNIGAN(1975),Sinatra in THE FIRST DEADLY SIN(1980) & CONTRACT ON CHERRY STREET(1977),Newman in THE DROWNING POOL(1975) and McQueen in his last film,THE HUNTER(1980) Due to the tremendous popularity of the first DIRTY HARRY film,Eastwood reprised the character in four more films such as MAGNUM FORCE(1973),THE ENFORCER(1976), SUDDEN IMPACT(1982) and THE DEAD POOL(1988) and has influenced such rogue cop franchises such as the LETHAL WEAPON series,the BEVERLY HILLS COP series and the DIE HARD series. Although it has been more than 20 years since the last DIRTY HARRY film,movie audiences still enjoy the character of Inspector Harry Callahan and I for one, can echo the famous byline that appeared on the movie poster of the last original Bruce Lee film to be theatrical released here in the US,THE RETURN OF THE DRAGON(1974) that says""Boy, Do we need him now!" and I can apply that same sentiment to Dirty Harry!