Talk:Dirty Harry

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Dirty Harry article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

California: San Francisco Bay Area Low‑importance

	California portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.
	San Francisco Bay Area portal This article is supported by San Francisco Bay Area task force (assessed as Mid-importance).

Film: American

	Film portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Film. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see lists of open tasks and regional and topical task forces. To use this banner, please refer to the documentation. To improve this article, please refer to the guidelines.FilmWikipedia:WikiProject FilmTemplate:WikiProject Filmfilm
	This article is supported by the American cinema task force.

Library of Congress Low‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Library of Congress, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the Library of Congress on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Library of CongressWikipedia:WikiProject Library of CongressTemplate:WikiProject Library of CongressLibrary of Congress
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the importance scale.

References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.

Baker, Ronald (2001). "Deconstructing Dirty Harry: Clint Eastwood's Undoing of the Hollywood Myth of Screen Masculinity". In Gabbard, Glen O (ed.). Psychoanalysis and Film. International Journal of Psychoanalysis Key Paper Series. Karnac Books. ISBN 1855752751.

Ending quote

For those who care, here's the quote from the end of the movie:

Ah Ah. I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking "Did he fire six shots or only five?" Now to tell you the truth I've forgotten myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

Lefty 02:54, 2005 Mar 4 (UTC)

I thought this came from the speech with the Bank Robber at the beginning of the film. Callahan, while eating a hot dog, stumbles on a bank robbery in progress. He seriously wounds one of the robbers and corners the man, who is lying in a heap on the street. Callahan gives the now famous speech to introduce the hand gun. He may reprise the speech at the end of the film. -- Tinymogul 01:48, 3 March 2007 (UTC)[reply]

This not the correct quote for the film...this quote is from the beginning of the film, and is made to one of the bank robbers.

The quote from the ending is correct as given. The lines earlier in the movie when he shoots the bank robbers and stands over one of the wounded robbers are a little different:

Ah ah...I know what you're thinkin': Did he fire six shots, or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've kind of lost track myself. But bein' this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: "Do I feel lucky?" Well, do ya, punk?

--Jonball52 (talk) 16:45, 7 February 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Error?

WHen it says that he fired all 6 shots in the final chase scene and then goes on to state that a shot was a ricochet leading him to believe that Dirty Harry's gun was empty, it seems that there is an error in the logic.

Could anybody correct it if it is wrong? I haven't seen the movie so I wouldn't know if DIrty Harry actually runs out of bullets or not.

Thanks

It's not clear to me if the original writer meant the "setup" quote or the finale. In the setup, Harry has fired all 6 (count 'em). In the finale, it's clear he's only fired 5 (count 'em). And, given his tone in the finale, only a fool believes he's empty... Also, I Q the correctness of the quote (tho I haven't seen the film recently...): is it "I lost" or "I've lost"?

On a separate note, include his shield # (2211)? Trekphiler 11:17, 16 December 2005 (UTC)[reply]

It might run afoul to put this in the article without finding a source, but the first ("setup") scene establishes that Harry is absolutely certain how many bullets he fired (6), because after claiming his opponent's gun and being asked, he (dry) fires the gun directly at the man. I think it is meant to be fairly clear that Harry is equally certain that he only fired five shots in the final scene. Wnt (talk) 00:50, 6 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Video games?

Just wondering, should there be some mention of the Video Game of Dirty Harry on the NES system (Dirty Harry: The War Against Drugs) as well as the future Dirty Harry game for the upcoming Playstation 3 and Xbox 360? I was considering adding a section for it. --Cini Duel 08:37, 31 October 2005 (UTC)[reply]

Hmm, why isn't Space Quest 6 mentioned in here, there is an entire part there which is a joke about this movie.

That kind of information would fall into the trivia category. Trivia is discouraged on Wikipedia. —Quicksilver^{T @} 21:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

French Connection preceded Dirty Harry

"Clint Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt, cynical, unorthodox detective who is seemingly in perpetual trouble with his bosses, set the style for a number of his later roles and, indeed, a whole genre of anti-hero films such as The French Connection."

Actually, FC came out before Dirty Harry. Yes, we usually today do not think of Gene Hackman as the hard-bitten cop, but there you have it. -- Enda80 22:10, 10 June 2006 (UTC)Enda80[reply]

Thank you for your suggestion! When you feel an article needs improvement, please feel free to make whatever changes you feel are needed. Wikipedia is a wiki, so anyone can edit almost any article by simply following the Edit this page link at the top. You don't even need to log in! (Although there are some reasons why you might like to…) The Wikipedia community encourages you to be bold. Don't worry too much about making honest mistakes—they're likely to be found and corrected quickly. If you're not sure how editing works, check out how to edit a page, or use the sandbox to try out your editing skills. New contributors are always welcome. --TheMadBaron 22:39, 10 June 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Title screen capture

Waaay too many DVD covers in the film section so I uploaded a screen capture of the title portion of Dirty Harry at a low enough resolution so as not to represent a threat to the copyright holder (Warner Bros). Now, I think this makes an interesting shot for the Wiki on Dirty Harry as it also has Eastwood in profile but I'll let others make the judgement to include it as I am clearly biased.

Here is the link http://wiki.riteme.site/wiki/Image:Dirty-harry-title.jpg

Besides, the current DVD box uses the orginal 1971 poster that's been rebranded as part of a Clint Eastwood collection. Let's use an unmolested movie poster from the period to show the art direction and tastes of that period to place the film in its context. Anyway, the screen capture is an option.

Scorpio Killer - Possibly based on a gay Vietnam vet?

After viewing the scene where the Scorpio killer is torturing Harry - some suggest that the dialogue spoken would be deemed as if the character was openly gay, or based on a real-life Vietnam Veteran who was discharged for being openly GLBT. Scorpio, in the film, has no love life although there are some character traits which would be deemed as if sexual orientation was suggestive.4.230.54.37 06:28, 17 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

That would be speculation and not in line with Wikipedia policy. —Quicksilver^{T @} 21:54, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Miscellaneous editing

I took out the whole WWE parody of the "Do you feel lucky" scene. Their have been numerous parodies of that scene, and I don't see why that particular parody should get its own little space.

Who played the thug?

Although not credited I think James Earl Jones plays the thug who Scorpio hires to beat him up. What do people think? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.16.46.83 (talk) 21:41, August 26, 2007 (UTC)

The actor's name was Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999), better-known as a soul, R&B and funk singer, songwriter and record producer. 71.116.123.91 (talk) 02:36, 28 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong, Curtis Mayfield was NOT in this movie. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.150.206.225 (talk) 17:06, 19 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong, he was. burden's on you to demonstrate a reason for changing the page. ThuranX (talk) 17:29, 19 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Show one bit of proof that Curtis Mayfield played the thug. The burden is actually on YOU to prove your unvalidated claims. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.150.206.225 (talk) 17:30, 19 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It wasw fully cited at one point. I recommend you dig back and fix it. Otherwise, I'm going to keep reverting you on the basis of vandalism, and get you blocked for it. ThuranX (talk) 17:41, 19 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Nonsense in the photography section

I pulled this off the end of the photography section:

The controversial Houston, TX art car artist/photographer Montrose Patriot was denied entry by staff of Envy Magazine since they currently disallow DSLR cameras from photographers who are considered 100% outsider (as in pariahism/persona non grata) with their magazine release parties to which photographers with a DSLR camera are usually typecasted. One modeling agency in the Houston Metro area based in the Galleria retaliated where he was banned for life as if he were Andrew Dice Clay with a Canon Rebel XT; the president of the modeling agency, along with an Envy Magazine staff member and photographer, would hang a noose on the back bumper of his art car for high-tech lynching H-town art car artists as if they were dirty hippies with a VW Bus.

Even if this weren't nonsense, it wouldn't belong in the Dirty Harry article. --Faits (talk) 18:21, 26 November 2007 (UTC)[reply]

"Thirty-five years after the film's release"

I think statements like this should be ommited, or changed to "Dozens of years.." to avoid having to update the number of years as time passes. 77.127.68.216 (talk) 15:54, 23 June 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The main villain's gun

Scorpio uses a 9 mm Walther P-38 in the final scene, before he is shot by Dirty Harry. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Fillosaurus (talk • contribs) 21:05, 11 July 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The submachine gun used in the rooftop shootout scene was not a STEN as claimed in the article, but a WWII era German MP-40 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.23.113.58 (talk) 14:24, 3 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Legal claims

I don't have access from here to access JSTOR, but I wish someone would cover the legal argument that they make in this film. I'm no lawyer, but it seems very implausible to me even before the days of "good faith exceptions" that someone can be seen sniping at a priest, nearly kill a cop while being stabbed with a knife leaving a wound that leads to his apprehension, and yet because the final apprehension is done without a search warrant all those earlier charges go away and the cops release him. To me the political cargo of the film seems like an unpleasant propagandum that should be at last put to rest. Wnt (talk) 01:06, 6 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

An interesting point, and one well worth following up. Remember though that Wikipedia does not allow for the inclusion of original research. Edelmand (talk) 12:14, 22 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

The plot of the film obviously was inspired by some ridiculous law enforcement situations created in the wake of the Miranda v. Arizona decision (1966). Police often found themselves unable to take immediate action, even when faced with substantial evidence of wrongdoing, lest the entire case be invalidated in court. Tension is escalated in Dirty Harry, because the wrongdoing involves human lives placed in jeopardy. Subsequent U.S. Supreme Court rulings have modified Miranda, making it easier for law enforcement personnel to carry out their duties. —Quicksilver^{T @} 22:18, 27 May 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Imdb's goofs section has the following: The District Attorney tells Harry that his search of Scorpio's dwelling was illegal and violated the Fourth Amendment, making all evidence inadmissible. Harry's search is entirely legal under Exigent Circumstances, as someone's life was in imminent danger. Additionally, Scorpio is stated to be living in Kezar Stadium under the consent of the grounds-keeper. However, the grounds-keeper, in all likelihood, does not have the legal standing to grant that kind of permission, making Scorpio a squatter and thus not protected by the Fourth Amendment.

Scorpio is not charged with any crime, due to lack of evidence. However, in reality, he could have been charged with assault on an on-duty police officer (when Harry is hit on the head as he's trying to deliver the money), assault with intent to kill (when he fires at Chico), and illegal possession of an automatic weapon.--WickerGuy (talk) 20:00, 4 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Plot length

This plot is way too long, and should probably be trimmed down. ThuranX (talk) 04:00, 24 February 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Dirty Harry character based on Dave Toschi

This is ridiculous. First of all, Harry Fink created the Dirty Harry character before 1968 when Bullitt and Toschi became known. Ergo, they had never even heard of Toschi. Second, the original Dirty Harry character was a cigar-chomping, frequently unshaven detective that carried a .44 magnum revolver. Toschi wore suits with a large bow tie and carried a .38. Roger Ebert is simply wrong to have written this and I'm deleting it.TL36 (talk) 10:51, 21 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Audie Murphy Approached to play the Scorpio Killer?

Could someone come up with a source for this? Otherwise, it needs to be deleted. It sounds unbelievable that Murphy would play someone that kidnaps, rapes and kills a fourteen-year old girl. The article's sentence, "Audie Murphy was first approached to play the Scorpio Killer, but he died in a plane crash before his decision on the offer could be made," is certainly incorrect because Murphy was killed on May 28, 1971 and filming for Dirty Harry was almost finished by that time after having started in mid-April of '71. I'll let it stand for the time being.TL36 (talk) 10:50, 21 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Serial Murders

Did Scorpio extort the city out of $100,000 by threating to next "kill a Catholic priest or a nigger" randomly or did he warn he would kill either of those individuals every single day that his demands were unmet? USN1977 (talk) 00:49, 27 June 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Feminist outrage?

Under 'critical reception' the article states that "Feminists in particular were outraged by the film and at the Oscars for 1971 protested outside holding up banners which read messages such as "Dirty Harry is a Rotten Pig".[30]"

Can anyone say what feminists were outraged about in this film? The footnote gives Patrick McGilligan's book as authority. But it's hard to see anything against women in this film: he shot a rapist in the Filmore district, as discussed with The Mayor, he missed his wife, and spoke sympathetically with Gonzales's wife. What's wrong with that? Asmaybe (talk) 10:30, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

removal

ive remove some sections of the Critical reception section for having a major liberal bias — Preceding unsigned comment added by 108.33.35.140 (talk) 03:54, 6 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

I understand your concern, but this does not constitute a "bias." It is simply a reporting of the various different critical responses to the work. These may not reflect the truth or majority opinions, but they are notable because they were reported by major reliable sources, and therefore should be included in the article as reference. —JmaJeremy•Ƭalk•Cont 07:03, 12 July 2012 (UTC)[reply]

dry fire (plot, third paragraph)

this is more of a question, but can you dry fire a revolver?

based on the article,

Dry firing is the practice of "firing" a firearm without ammunition. That is, to pull the trigger and allow the hammer or striker to drop on an empty chamber.

he isn't really dry firing, as the chambers aren't empty; they have spent ammunition in them. is there a different term for this? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sensorsweep (talk • contribs) 01:09, 26 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Contradictory

Well, was the part "originally written for John Wayne", or was it only offered to him because Sinatra couldn't do it? Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 22:40, 28 May 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Six months is plenty long enough to wait for a reply. I've removed most of the stuff about John Wayne, aside from a passing mention that he was considered for the part early on, because all that stuff had the flimsiest sources. In the quote that was there, Wayne claims he passed because he didn't want to take Sinatra's cast-offs, so obviously (by his own account) he wasn't offered it first. I was going to at least leave in the part about him being the inspiration for the original story, but that was unsourced anyway. It could probably still use some clean up and fine-tuning, but I hope it at least reads a little better now. Kafziel ^{Complaint Department: Please take a number} 16:46, 21 November 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Unsourced material in need of sourcing

The following material from the Development subsection of the Production section is need of citations. There was only one citation, but it's to a non-existent website. To see how this material was incorporated into the article, the last version of the article in which he appeared prior to its removal is here. Nightscream (talk) 18:33, 26 January 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Milius' draft is dated 23 September 1970 inspired by Akira Kurosawa's studies in lone-gun detectives. Milius has also mentioned being influenced by a friend of his, a Long Beach police officer who dealt with criminals in a rather summary fashion. According to Milius, his friend "rarely brought people back" but was, contrastingly, extremely gentle with animals. Quite a bit of Milius' script remains in the finished film, including Harry's mystique and his "Do I feel lucky?" monologue.
....
Despite this, [Robinson] still blinked when firing guns during certain scenes involving shootouts. Robinson was also reportedly uncomfortable about filming the scenes where he verbally and physically abuses several schoolchildren.
Writer Dean Riesner was hired to work on the script. Riesner worked previously with both Eastwood and Siegel as a writer on Coogan's Bluff, and Play Misty for Me. Screenwriter John Milius' contribution was also worked in by writing a draft of the film inspired by Akira Kurosawa's studies in lone-gun detectives, while director Siegel tackled the material from the viewpoint of bigotry.
In the former, Harry and Chico drive around Potrero Hill questioning the residents after the scene of Charlie Russell's murder. As they continue to be greeted with suspicion from everyone, Harry begins to talk about how the people are raised mistrusting cops. He tells Chico that he grew up in Potrero Hill, and learned at an early age not to depend on the police. He soon decides that this case is not one that will be solved by the usual methods of police work, and that Scorpio will not be satisfied until he has made good on his threat to kill a priest. This scene was most likely included as part of Harry's character while he was still written as an older, disillusioned cop. As Harry gets his leg bandaged, listen for Steve Rogers to confirm the Potrero Hill background with the line, "We Potrero Hill boys gotta stick together."
One of the original ideas for the film's ending included a sequence with Scorpio kidnapping a group of schoolchildren at an airport, then attempting to hijack a plane. When the studio decided that the whole thing would be too expensive to film, it was Eastwood who suggested using the rock quarry for the ending. He remembered it from his childhood; having lived nearby, he had passed it often on drives with his parents. The abduction of the school children was still worked into the end of the film, basing it again on the real-life events of the Zodiac case, where the killer threatened to attack a school bus full of children. The airport sequence eventually found its way into the series, being worked into the plot of Magnum Force.

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Dirty Harry. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at {{Sourcecheck}}).

Y An editor has reviewed this edit and fixed any errors that were found.

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120513105710/http://www.nramuseum.com/the-museum/the-galleries/william-b-ruger-special-exhibits/hollywood-guns-6/dirty-harry-(1971)-smith-wesson-29.aspx

N An editor has determined that the edit contains an error somewhere. Please follow the instructions below and mark the |checked= to true

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.
http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=3094 [works without 's', not with (the form it is in now)]

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 06:02, 9 November 2016 (UTC)[reply]

The final scene,

"Eastwood initially did not want to toss the badge, believing it indicated that Callahan was quitting the police department. Siegel argued that tossing the badge was instead Callahan's indication of casting away the inefficiency of the police force's rules and bureaucracy."

What's the difference? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.189.221.29 (talk) 01:21, 23 March 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Dirty Harry. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:30, 25 May 2017 (UTC)[reply]

New material to Legal Issues Section

8 years after the last comment, I have added material to the above #Legal claims section.--WickerGuy (talk) 20:03, 4 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Dirty Harry. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 05:56, 11 September 2017 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 2 external links on Dirty Harry. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 5 June 2024).

If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 23:27, 9 December 2017 (UTC)[reply]