DIRTY HARRY (1971) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Don Siegel
Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Andy Robinson,
John Vernon, Reni Santoni, John Mitchum, John Larch
"Uh uh. I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell ya the truth, in all this excitement, I've kind of forgotten myself. But being that this is a .44 magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you gotta ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" A crazed serial killer is on the loose, and the man out to stop him is the San Francisco police officer least likely ever to lead a sensitivity seminar. The first and best of the "Dirty Harry" movies, funny, fast-paced and brutal, directed with vicious efficiency by Don Siegel. Condemned as a tribute to law-and-order fascism by critics who probably took the movie more seriously than it takes itself, and defended by others as a dramatic argument for victims' rights. It doesn't really make it on either count, unless you buy the notion that a victim's rights begin when a defendant's rights are eliminated. What's interesting is how effectively Eastwood and Siegel stack the deck, helped by Lalo Schiffrin's pulsing, vertiginous musical score and Andy Robinson's scary, psychotic performance as the killer. This guy isn't just a madman who shoots people, he's total, unchecked evil, and by the time he hijacks a school bus to set up the movie's climax, you want nothing more than to watch Harry blow him away.
Lalo Schiffrin
(1932-2025)
