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U.S.A.
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1971
Directed by Don Siegel
Starring
Clint Eastwood
Harry Guardino
Andy Robinson
Color
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102 Minutes
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R
Format: DVD (R1
- NTSC
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2-disc set)
Warner Home Video
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Dirty
Harry Ultimate Collector's Set
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10
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9 |
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10
= Highest Rating |
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Guest
Review by Troy
Howarth |
Renegade
cop "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) goes
on a one-man crusade to bring a psychopath (Andy
Robinson) to justice...
Famously
denounced as "fascist" by bigwig film critic Pauline
Kael, Don Siegel's Dirty
Harry set the standard for gritty cop thrillers
of the 1970s. In essence something of an extension
of Siegel's previous cop thriller with Eastwood,
Coogan's Bluff (1968),
it again depicts a fish out of water as he combats
the system — the
difference this time is that while Coogan was
out of place in terms of geography, Callahan is
a native of the urban landscape and jars only
in terms of outlook and philosophy.
The story
by Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink hit a nerve
with director Siegel and star Eastwood, both of
whom sympathized with the way in which the rights
of victims were somehow being buried in the liberal
mentality of the period, a period which seemed
to favor the rights of the accused. Taken at face
value, as a textbook of how the law should ideally
function, Pauline Kael has a point: it is
fascist. However, it seems unlikely that either
Siegel or Eastwood were advocating such stormtrooping
tactics on a broad scale. The film, instead, presents
a clear-cut, extreme situation: there's no question
that the demented killer, Scorpio (plainly modeled
on the Zodiac killer, then grabbing headlines
in San Francisco), is guilty as hell and, as such,
Callahan is 100% right in wanting to bring him
down at any cost. Scorpio, in addition to being
a full-fledged loon, is canny to the system's
weaknesses; he knows how to exploit it to his
advantage and to carry on his rampage while getting
off on various petty technicalities. The situation
is black and white in terms of morality —
Scorpio is guilty, and Harry
is the avenging angel sent to strike him down.
At its heart, the film doesn't advocate the abuse
of power, it simply presents a situation in which
the flaws of the system don't deserve to
get in the way of swift dispensation of good old
fashioned justice. To suggest that Siegel is advocating
anything "fascist" is to miss the point —
the film is, ultimately, a grandly crafted piece
of entertainment, not intended to be taken too
seriously or to be utilized as a piece of philosophical
grandstanding.
To test a cliché, they
really don't make 'em like this anymore. Don Siegel
was the perfect director for the project, and
Eastwood is to be commended for stumping for his
participation. The director's lean and economical
style is evident throughout — the tone is gritty,
not only thematically but aesthetically as well.
Siegel was the type of pro who never wasted a
foot of film, and Dirty
Harry is as good an example of his style
as anything he ever made. The pace moves at a
rapid clip, the bursts of action are handled with
élan and there are some wonderful bits
of character 'business' peppered throughout. Seen
in an era proliferated with overblown action spectaculars,
it's refreshing to see how it used to be done:
realistically, simply and with no excess fat or
undue bombast.
Eastwood, of course, is ideal
in the role that elevated him from star to icon.
With his mixture of disillusionment and sardonic
wit, Harry set the standard for all future action
heroes, and Eastwood's imprint can be seen on
everything from the many Italian imitations of
the period (usually starring Franco Nero or Maurizio
Merli) to later, larger-than-life figures like
Mel Gibson in the Lethal
Weapon series or Bruce Willis in the Die
Hard franchise. Harry is in many respects
a complicated character, and Eastwood makes him
far more human and likable that he really had
a right to be. The character doesn't suffer fools
gladly but at the end of the day represents the
kind of man of action we'd all love to have in
our corner when the proverbial shit hits the fan.
Not surprisingly, Eastwood dominates the film
— but not to the extent of completely dwarfing
his costars. Robinson is tremendously effective
as Scorpio, always on the hint of caricature yet
retaining a frightening mixture of sadism and
vulnerability. Harry Guardino and John Vernon
(Point Blank) also
do fine work as Harry's stuffy superiors; Eastwood's
exchange with the latter about an old rape case
("I figured he wasn't working for the Red Cross")
typifies the sardonic humor of the series.
If the film seems a little
less fresh after so many imitations, not to mention
a highly variable string of sequels (of which
only the first, 1973's Magnum
Force, comes close to equaling its
impact), Dirty Harry
remains a textbook example of how to make a terrific
action picture. Seeing it now, too, with Eastwood
firmly established as a multiple Oscar-winning
film director, it's plain to see how much he learned
from Siegel when acting for him. Like they say,
if you're gonna steal, do so from the best.
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Warner's new release of Dirty
Harry has garnered some controversy in
the on-line community. Released as part of a Dirty
Harry box set, or available separately as a two-disc
special edition, the new transfer offers a clean,
sharp transfer that is appropriately dark and
gritty. Warner's haven't attempted to prettify
the film, but they have taken some heat for purportedly
altering the color scheme. Compared to previous,
inferior transfers, it's true —
the colors do look a bit different. This is to
be expected, however. Whether this represents
the look of the film as intended by Siegel, or
whether the older editions did this more effectively,
is open to debate. From my own vantage point,
I can only say it looks fine to me —
this is not meant to be a pretty film (of all
the pictures helmed by Siegel, the only one I
can recall going for a more delicate aesthetic
would be his mesmerizing Southern Gothic The
Beguiled, also starring Eastwood) and the
transfer does it justice. Individual viewers are
entitled to disagree, of course, but I, for one,
am more than pleased with the look of the new
transfer. Beyond that, the 2.35/16x9 transfer
is sharp, detailed and free of any distracting
print damage. The 5.1 soundtrack is clean and
punchy —
Lalo
Schiffrin's jazzy score is particularly well served
in this mix; the original mono track is not included.
Extras begin on Disc 1, with Richard Schickel's
audio commentary. Schickel is a friend and biographer
of Eastwood, and he does a fine job of detailing
the film's back story and shedding light on the
iconic star's relationship with Siegel (with whom
he did a total of five films; six, if you count
Siegel's acting job in Eastwood's debut as a director,
Play Misty For Me,
1971). Compared to his sometimes draggy commentary
for the 2004 SE of The
Good, The Bad And The Ugly, Schickel seems
on much better form here —
and dead spots are fortunately few and far between.
Disc 1 is rounded out with two featurettes on
the film and its impact, as well as an interview
gallery and trailers for all five Dirty Harry
pictures.
More
interesting is a newly created documentary on
Disc 2, The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry,
which examines the series in depth and features
interviews with various famous fans. Clint
Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso, a documentary
dating from the early '90s, examines the actor/director's
career from its inauspicious beginnings as a Universal
contract player (his early bit parts included
The
Revenge Of The Creature and Tarantula)
to becoming one of the most powerful figures in
Hollywood. It's a bit of a puff piece, but is
still of interest to his fans.
7/04/08
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