Rating: 
Summary: FIRST AND BEST OF THE SERIES
Review: Thirty years on DIRTY HARRY still ranks as one of THE coolest movies of all time. From the first fade-in the viewer is completely hooked and your heart will remain in your mouth throughout. Clint gives his most famous performance as trigger happy San Francisco cop Harry Callahan who is on the trail of a coldblooded sniper, known to the police only by his codename: Scorpio. Scorpio is after what most bad guys are after: money, if he doesn't get it, someone will die. Harry reluctantly finds himself partnered with Mexican cop Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni)to catch the killer. Andrew Robinson is wonderfully nasty as the hippy bad guy, and everything about this movie is near perfect: from Bruce Surtee's photography, to Lalo Schifrin's score; only some of it is a little dated. There are many scenes to savor: the opening scene & credits; the scene where Harry gets a potential suicide down from a ledge, Andy Robinson paying a back street heavy to rough him up etc etc. This is unquestionably the best of the series stylish, slick, funny, tough & violent. If you haven't seen it yet, do yourself a favor.
Rating:
Summary: makes my day
Review: What Dirty Harry did to revolutionize the 'cop drama' as well as the social statement it made about America in the 70s can fill volumes. But I suppose this isn't the place for an academic lecure. So let's just say this is a great movie. There is a reason everyone loves it. It's well written, well acted, and an all around great film. And some of our most memorable quotes come from this film. "I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself. But being as 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?" The dvd contains no commentary, but it does have two documentary featurettes on it. One is from 1971, which is pretty much worthless. The other is a longer documentary which really delves into Harry Callahan (not just _Dirty Harry_). There is also an extensive 'Interview Gallery'. It's a great dvd for a great movie.
Rating:
Summary: THE Best Cop Action flick -period!
Review: Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry is the quintessential man's man and tough cop. He defines the archtype. This gritty flick defines a genre and few films since have been able to come close to matching it. I am a bay area native so I can't watch the movie and not enjoy the period elements to the film. Larkspur Landing- today is the site of the Golden Gate Ferry terminal in Marin County and a shopping center and a bunch of apartments. In the early 1970s before development took over- this was an old rock quarry. The quarry is the site of the famous ending to this flick and one of the most quoted one liners in film history- the "do you feel lucky punk" . A must for any action flick collection - on DVD the color and sound are great! Top quality DVD
Rating:
Summary: Best Cop Drama Ever Made
Review: Without "Dirty Harry", there wouldn't no "Die Hard", there wouldn't no "Lethal Weapon", and there probably wouldn't have been a "Naked Gun", either. Clint Eastwood epitomized the quintessential cop on the edge as Harry Callahan, the cop armed with his cunning plus a .44 magnum that can blow your head clean off. When a sniper named Scorpio kills two people and threatens to kill more, it's up to Callahan to stop him. Callahan breaks all the rules and gets himself kicked off the force - but naturally, that doesn't stop him. What ensues is a cat - and - mouse battle between hero and villians, involving gunfire, a football arena and a packed school bus full of kids. Whether you enjoy action films or Clint Eastwood, "Dirty Harry" belongs in your collection. Few cop dramas have ever been as good as the one with Dirty Harry Callahan.
Rating:
Summary: It'll blow you away
Review: "Dirty Harry" made Clint Eastwood a star. Yes, there was the Italian westerns that made him famous, but this is the one that made him an American icon. Harry Callahan is the man every man wants to be.
The story is that a roof top sniper is killing the citizens of San Francisco. He is a cold, vicious murderer who wants a huge ransom to stop. Harry Callahan is the cop assigned to the case. Harry is a loner, he's the type to shoot first (with his massive, now infamous, Smith and Wesson .44 Magnum) and ask questions later. At first he goes along with police procedure, until the killer starts a new MO. When Harry tries to arrest him, he violate some of the killer's civil rights, and then is released. Harry begins stalking him as the killer is now trolling for new victoms.
This movie is not a mystery, it is more about social issues. Some people say the movie is dated. Maybe, maybe not. I think that rights of the accused are still highly sensitive issue today. Dirty Harry just did what any one of us in those extraordinary circumstances would have done.
On top everything it is an excellent action thriller. The pace is tight and it is just great to see someone just doing what's right, not nessesarily what's leagle.
Rating: 
Summary: Agit-prop fascist garbage.
Review: Last night (3/24/04), while editing a novella I'm polishing, I watched "Dirty Harry" on The History Channel. THC (hmmm...) had invited John Milius, Hollywood's best-known anti-pinko fascist, and the uncredited writer of "Dirty Harry"'s final script, to comment on the film. Which is rather like having an arsonist discuss his skill at starting fires. "Dirty Harry" isn't drama, it's propaganda. It isn't an intelligent consideration of the issue involved -- how do you maximize the police's ability to apprehend criminals while curtailing the legal system's tendency to trample the rights of the innocent? -- it's nothing more than an attempt to agitate its audience, for all the wrong reasons. The plot is obvious, the characterizations crude and implausible. The villain is a sub-human degenerate anyone would loathe, the sort who, as the joke goes, murders his parents, then begs for mercy because he's an orphan. He isn't merely psychotic -- he not only enjoys killing people, but turning the law against itself. He even pays a man to beat him up and then puts the blame on Harry. He's so impossibly evil that even the most fuzzy-headed bleeding-heart liberal would approve of Harry smashing the guy's skull to pulp with a tire iron -- and then condemn Harry for letting him off easy. Both Harry and the audience _know_ the guy is guilty. There is no moral issue when there is no question of guilt. Harry's actions are morally (if not legally) justifiable, because they seem necessary to save someone's life, and there is no legal alternative to them. But Harry is the "cause" of this particular problem, because his failure to follow proper procedures allows the villain to go free since, as the script so crudely and unsubtly states it, "He has rights." The film's message is simple -- and simple-minded: If "the justice system" can't protect us from such obvious monsters, how it can it protect us from the less-obvious ones? It can't, of course. Harry's contradictory nature - he wants to make the world a better place by being a cop, but doesn't want to play by the rules - is only briefly touched on. His self-inflicted "martyrdom" at the end (discarding his badge in a pit) is actually a veiled condemnation of the police -- what good are they when we "need" people like Harry to establish justice? Milius's smirking remark that "some people consider the film fascist," without contradicting the claim, shows where his feelings lie. "Dirty Harry" implies we should just let cops do their duty, using whatever means necessary, without restraint, and that justice is attained only when _every_ guilty person is punished, regardless of how many innocent people are swept up in the process. If that isn't fascism, I don't know what is. Should Mr. Milius be reading this, let me explain to him _why_ the Constitution includes protection of habeas corpus, against unreasonable search and seizure, et al. It isn't to protect the criminal; it's to protect the innocent against the likes of John Milius, who would have the police do whatever was "necessary" to bring someone to "justice." Sorry, no. I believe the best interests of society are served by occasionally letting the guilty go free. Considered only as a movie, "Dirty Harry" is worth four stars. My two-star rating is for its pandering politics.
Rating:
Summary: BEST ACTION MOVIE OF ALL TIME!
Review: IN THE ONE THAT STARTED EVERYTHING, ''DIRTY'' HARRY CALLAHAN [CLINT EASTWOOD] GOES AFTER A SERIAL KILLER [ANDREW ROBINSON]. STILL THE BEST OF THE DIRTY HARRY SERIES. HAS A SUSPENSEFUL PLOT, TOP OF THE LINE ACTION, EXTREMELY CLEVER PACING AND IT HAS A NOT-TO-MISS FINALE. EVERY COP MOVIE THAT CAME OUT AFTER THIS EITHER TRYED TO COPY ITS PLOT OR ITS MAIN CHARACTER. THIS IS ARGUABLY CLINT EASTWOOD'S GREATEST MOVIE EVER. I DON'T CARE WHO YOU ARE, EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT A FAN OF CLINT EASTWOOD, OR EVEN IF YOU'RE NOT A FAN OF ACTION MOVIES, YOU NEED TO MOST DEFINITELY SEE THIS IF YOU STILL HAVEN'T SEEN IT BY NOW. A TREAT FOR ALL. FOLLOWED BY FOUR SEQUELS, BEGINNING WITH MAGNUM FORCE.
Rating:
Summary: One of the Classics of the Genre
Review: This movie hits home on every level. I liked its "live" action style... especially in the scene where Harry "talks" a suicide victim to the ground... the camera hovering over his shoulder. I lived in San Francisco in the 70s and in every way, the streets looked just as they did in this film. The action in the windows of the car match the actual places he visits, and so forth. I wanted to mention the awesome performance of Andy Robinson as "Scorpio" the serial killer.... which was NOT far-fetched as some reviewers here have said, but was actually based on an actual San Francisco serial killer called "Zodiac" who was never caught. The plot and the action never stop in this high action powerhouse of a film. This DVD is also BEAUTIFULLY presented in crystal clear anamorphic widescreen and superb sound. A credit to the company who released it. I also want to mention that this is the UNCUT version and NOT the version seen on commercial TV. The extras are also terrific, especially a short documentary by the late Robert Urich who had a part in the second Dirty Harry film "Magnum Force".
Rating:
Summary: Best Cop Drama Ever Made
Review: Without "Dirty Harry", there wouldn't no "Die Hard", there wouldn't no "Lethal Weapon", and there probably wouldn't have been a "Naked Gun", either. Clint Eastwood epitomized the quintessential cop on the edge as Harry Callahan, the cop armed with his cunning plus a .44 magnum that can blow your head clean off. When a sniper named Scorpio kills two people and threatens to kill more, it's up to Callahan to stop him. Callahan breaks all the rules and gets himself kicked off the force - but naturally, that doesn't stop him. What ensues is a cat - and - mouse battle between hero and villians, involving gunfire, a football arena and a packed school bus full of kids. Whether you enjoy action films or Clint Eastwood, "Dirty Harry" belongs in your collection. Few cop dramas have ever been as good as the one with Dirty Harry Callahan.
Rating:
Summary: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?
Review: My mother said I could only watch the "cleaned up" version on TV when this movie came out as it was too violent back in the 70's. This movie made me a huge fan of Clint Eastwood. So much, that I named my cat "Dirty Harry". It's the original and undisputed king of action movies!
| 
