Is the scene where Harry has shot Scorpio after stabbing him earlier in the same leg and he is asking "Where's the girl" and steps on his wound and the camera shot begins to go back and it shows Scorpio screaming.... That is such a GREAT scene.....
share
Well, it's pretty intense.
And it brings into focus some of the main themes or issues this movie is grappling with. Harry has clearly gone well beyond the scope of his authority here -- beyond what the law empowers him to do. In a sense he has gone rogue.
The question is: are the circumstances so extraordinary that they justify him morally, if not legally? I think I would have to say so -- even though in general I am very jealous of my constitutional rights, and in general think the police have too much power these days.
For some odd reason the scene reminded me of the stadium scene in _Experiment In Terror_(1962).
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0055972/
Ozy
And I stood where I did be; for there was no more use to run; And again I lookt with my hope gone.
THE POLICE HAVE TOO MUCH POWER??!!WHAT ABOUT ALL THE SCORPIO'S OUT THERE?
You want to play the game, you'd better know the rules, love.
-Harry Callahan
Actually, you have it backwards. The police TODAY are much more restricted in what they can do to fight crime, than even in the early 70's. I agree that there ought to be laws that restrict police from stepping over the rights of the accused, but sometimes that can cost more people their lives because these predators can walk from a known crime because their "rights" were violated. That was the theme of all the Dirty Harry movies.
share"but sometimes that can cost more people their lives because these predators can walk from a known crime because their "rights" were violated. That was the theme of all the Dirty Harry movies."
And oddly enough, I think "Magnum Force" touched on the 'death squad/extrajudicial execution' subject quite well...
[deleted]
I just watched this entire scene with our 17 yr old son (an aspiring film maker) . . . we examined all the camera angles, the choices the director makes . . . absolutely brilliant filmmaking and the moral center of this film. Also, I believe, the scene that gets completely overlooked when examining the characters and theme of this film. Morality really fades into the background and the film becomes about these 2 men, morally indiscernible and separated only by virtue of one of them has a badge. I have watched this film dozens of times and still come to the same conclusion that Harry is neither a fascist nor a hero. He has become as "bad" a person as Scorpio, which is why he is the only man capable of stopping him.
shareYou can only make that statement if you totally remove the circumstances to the crime. Harry is completely different than Scorpio in a moral sense. Why? He doesn’t choose his victims at random and only does this act to save the life of another, not to torture.
share"only does this act to save the life of another"
I may or may not agree with this comment, but that is what makes the film so brillaint and kind of underscores my point. Both characters are beyond the law and beyond morality. Why does Harry dismiss his partner after he shoots Scorpio at the stadium? I would argue he does so because he wants no witnesses to the action he is about to take, because he knows it is morally questionable. Does he really torture just to find out where the girl is? The girl was already dead and Harry later (lamely) argues that he didn't know that. In fact, Harry tells his superior the girl is "already dead" when he agrees to be the bag man.
There is a parallel to be drawn here in the Rodney King beating, where protocol was changed so that pursuing officers are not allowed to be the arresting officers, because their adrenaline is pumping and they make personal mistakes. Harry was just savagely beaten by Scorpio hours before, his partner shot and presumed dead . . . is his character so 1-dimensional that he only seeks the location of the girl? Does he not take some personal satisfaction in inflicting pain upon the man who has so far bested him and continued to kill with impunity?
Consider then the next scene in the District Attorney's office when Harry is dressed down for violating the law. If the law is based on some moral sense of right and wrong, what does that then make Harry?
My interpretation of the film is that Harry is no hero. He is a mere reflection of Scorpio, both operating outside the law and morality to further their own personal agendas. It just so happens Harry has a badge, and Scorpio carries a peace symbol for a belt buckle.
Harry never did anything that is even vaguely on the same level as kidnapping, raping, torturing, and burying alive, an innocent teenage girl. That act was about 10 orders of magnitude worse than causing an extremely painful wound to be a little more painful for a few seconds, no matter what the reason for doing so.
shareagreed-Harry is only interested in justice no matter what the costs.even though he is legally wrong he could be considered somewhat heroic.
sharetomloft2000 wrote:
"agreed-Harry is only interested in justice no matter what the costs.even though he is legally wrong he could be considered somewhat heroic."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legally wrong, morally correct, and not morally equivalent to Scorpio in any reasonable sense.
Harry sent "fatso" DiGiorgio outside to get some air to protect DiGiorgio, in case there was a deposition and they had to answer for their actions. Not being there, DiGiorgio could justly claim no knowledge of police brutality.
Yes, that scene is spellbinding. I remember Ebert and Siskel did a feature on Clint Eastwood back in the early 80s and talked about that scene in depth.
Love's turned to lust and blood's turned to dust in my heart.
[deleted]
One little problem I have with the torture scene. If Harry had the awareness to know he needed to protect De Giorgio why didn't he have the same awareness to protect himself (and increase the chances that Scorpio would stay behind bars where he could do no further harm) by simply DENYING he had even tortured Scorpio? And why did he stroll into the DA's office the following day and act as if he was shocked that torturing a suspect for information would almost certainly compromise the case? Especially considering he had failed to get a search warrant either, how does an officer experienced enough to make inspector not know this?
shareMaybe it has more to do with acting and attitude than breathtaking artistic cinematic acomplishment, but when it comes to great scenes in this movie the signature one is best known for good reason. Most important hot dog ever eaten in the history of mankind.
sharethe most important moral question of the film . . . was that ketchup, or blood? (kind of funny how Eastwood will later take a backhanded slap at himself in "Sudden Impact" about how no one puts ketchup on hot dogs any more)
sharewam-bam! great!
I was thinking of the immortal words of Socrates, who said, "... I drank what?"
I watched the film on blu ray a couple of days ago and this scene is awesome, as is the whole film.
The blu ray just seems to bring the whole film back to life, like it was shot yesterday.
The bank raid scene is also fantastic, as is the final chase on foot, after scorpio dumps the bus.
Harry's magnum has never sounded so real.
Love that scene too.
It is a great scene. I especially love it from the moment Harry shoots Scorpio and the music score kicks in while Scorpio is pathetically pleading for his life. In most movies, Scorpio would've taunted Harry with some BS "come on! do it!" lines to make the villain look cool and as tough as the protagonist. I love that when Scorpio is put in such a vulnerable position that he shows what a gutless coward he really is. Much more realistic than most movies.
"Where's the girl?" -"You...shot me!"
"WHERE'S THE GIRL?" -*sobbing* "I have rights!"
I LOVE this scene!
this scene is a monument. terrific film making.
"Because of my big legs and my karate, I can do the splits......Noo...Prroblemm"
The hilarious part is when Harry is walking up to him and he starts going: “Ewwaaaa N-N-No-No-No-No” real rapidly. It sounds like he’s shaking his head side-to-side quickly while he’s saying it.
He starts whining about how Harry tried to kill him……Harry’s reply: “If I tried that your brains would be splattered all over this field….now where’s the girl?!” Classic.
Sig: "Nobody on the left talks about race." --GameBoyFan
Ignoring: MythicCDXX, Creeping Judas, ROU killing time, RonPaul_Lies, Digby (and aliases), ibestupid, Holiday_Hobo, sharon_18, TilaMoo, Okie-from-Muskogee/boo321, NorCalNik, Nullifidian
The scene in the stadium os the best scene of the film. The others that defended Harry in that scene are right on. He is in no way even comparable to that scum bag. Even though he stated she was dead earlier, he did not know it as fact. He was trying desparately to find her location in case she was alive and I have no problem at all with how he went about getting the info. It's not like there was a question that this man was innocent. He knew it was Scorpio.
shareIt is a great scene...so dynamic.
When the lights come on in the empty stadium and suddenly there is a cut to the entire WIDE Panavision screen as Harry's arm extends with that big 44 across the entire screen -- it was the kind of movie-making that takes your breath away and excites you.
Film lore: as the "helicopter backs away" from Harry stomping on Scorpio's wounded leg, up up into the darkness above Kezar Stadium..the shot fills with fog until everything below is obscured and then disappears.
A total "lucky break." The fog swept in as the helicopter was moving up. And they matched Lalo Schifrin's ghostly, haunting fade out music to the fog coming in.