These days demands to preserve individual freedoms are associated with political Right, while the demands that such freedoms be sacrificed for the sake of greater good are associated with political Left. Half a century ago in USA it was quite the opposite. The leftists were those valiantly defending human and civil rights, while right-wingers were authoritarians eager to suppress them for the sake of “law and order”. The debate between those two camps found its way into Hollywood films and the best known example is Dirty Harry, 1971 action thriller directed by Don Siegel, nowadays known as the genre classic and one of the most iconic films of its time.
The plot, partially inspired by the real and never solved case of Zodiac Killer, is set in San Francisco. It begins when a beautiful girl swimming in a rooftop pool gets killed by a sniper. The perpetrator is Charles Davis (played by Andrew J. Robinson), sadistic psychopath who calls himself “Scorpio” and begins sending messages to city administration demanding ransom in exchange for stopping his killing spree. The murder is investigated by Inspector Harry Callahan (played by Clint Eastwood), policeman known for conducting unorthodox and often violent methods in fighting crime which brought him the nickname “Dirty Harry”. He is assigned inexperienced detective Chico Gonzalez (played by Reni Santoni) as a partner and two of them begin working on ways to apprehend the killer who intensifies his campaign of terror. Davis is finally caught while trying to collect the ransom after abducting little girl. Callahan gets the confession, the evidence and whereabouts of a girl which was actually killed, but later gets informed that he didn’t obtain that information according to legal standards. They are inadmissible in court and, therefore, Davis walks out as a free man. Callahan is determined to get him one way or another and Davis gives him another chance while hijacking bus full of schoolchildren in order to complete his murderous ransom scheme.
During the premiere of this film, American society was deeply divided and this division reflected on the way it was greeted. Critics, who were usually leaning left, didn’t like the protagonist in the form of policeman who violently handles criminals without much regard for human and civil rights won in the previous decade. Most explicit of them was Roger Ebert, who accused Dirty Harry of being “fascistic”, and that accusation stuck to this film until this day. On the other hand, average audience was enthusiastic about this film and turned into a huge hit that would ultimately lead to four sequels. This is often explained with the script that used crime story to deal with some serious issues, like the soaring crime rates in big cities, which authorities failed to stop. Fictional character of Harry Callahan offered a simple solution in which the violent thugs were to be given their own medicine with little or no regard for complicated legal procedures that often stand in a way of true justice and do more harm than good. If Dirty Harry is indeed a right-wing film, it could be best attributed to the views of its screenwriter John Millius, known as the one of the rare right-wingers among New Hollywood film makers. On the other hand, accusation that this film condones police brutality and vigilantism is not exactly confirmed by the script in which Callahan at the end of day conducts his business within the limits of law. Millius was nevertheless forced to further clarify this issue in the script for 1973 sequel Magnum Force.
Regardless of what someone might think about politics between the script, Dirty Harry works as incredibly well-made and entertaining piece of cinema. The cast is more than superb. Clint Eastwood, who has already built career playing “strong silent types” enhances this film with charismatic presence and brings on the screen character many in the audience would love to have by their side if the situation gets rough. Eastwood’s Callahan is confident, capable and usually stoic man who keeps his emotions firmly in check, except in the harrowing scene when tortures Davis into revealing location of the girl. On the other side another great performance is delivered by Andrew J. Robinson, relatively young actor who embodies pure Evil in his role. Robinson did such a good job that he later had his career hampered by being typecast in similar role and had to wait for Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and the popular role of Elim Garak in order to finally step out of this film’s shadow and show his proper acting range.
Those talents were well accompanied by Don Siegel, director who had something of a test run for this film by working with Eastwood on Coogan’s Bluff three years earlier. In this film he finds a perfect way to deal with some serious social issues while delivering a quick, solid action film with well-defined characters and some powerful and memorable scenes. He also puts locations of San Francisco – city that was embodiment of US counterculture and 1960s social change – to good use. Viewers might be tempted to see it as embodiment of everything that is “cool” and good in America, but Siegel very effectively shows its dark side underbelly, embodied by rampant crime and burgeoning sex industry, an area in which evil characters like Davis can be like fish in the water and the forces of Good must have their hands constantly dirty, like the protagonist. This very dark vision further enhanced by great music score of Lalo Schiffrin, which uses acid jazz motives that create impression of a city and society which are becoming twisted by forces beyond their control. This score is much darker than Schiffrin’s score for Bullitt, another iconic film set in San Francisco. Comparisons between those two in many ways shows how the world changed in only three years and how prosperous, progressive and liberated brave new world of 1960s gave way to 1970s decay, violence and grittiness. Although dark, Dirty Harry still allows the audience to enjoy it and even think about some important issues that are as relevant today as they were half a century ago.
RATING: 9/10 (+++)
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