THE BEST OF DIRTY HARRY

DIRTY HARRY SERIES
****** - CLASSIC
***** - BRILLIANT
**** - ENTERTAINING
*** - WATCHABLE
** - POOR
AWFUL - *
DIRTY HARRY - ******
A serial killer calling himself "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) murders a girl in a San Francisco swimming pool, using a high-powered rifle from a nearby rooftop. SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds a ransom message demanding the city pay him $100,000. Scorpio also promises that for each day that the city refuses his demand, he will commit a murder, and his next victim will be "a Catholic priest or a *beep* The chief of police and the Mayor (John Vernon) assign the inspector to the case, though the Mayor is reluctant because of an incident involving the shooting by Callahan of a naked man with a butcher knife chasing a woman the previous year in the city's Fillmore District.While in a local diner, Callahan observes a bank robbery in progress and kills two of the robbers; he wounds a third, challenging the man lying near a loaded shotgun: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 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?After the robber surrenders, he tells Callahan that he must know if the gun was still loaded. Callahan pulls the trigger with the weapon pointed directly at the robber, and laughs as it is revealed to be empty. In the confrontation with the robbers, he catches some shotgun pellets in his leg, so he is later treated by a police doctor who mentions that he is from Callahan's home district, Potrero Hill.Assigned a rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni), Callahan complains that he needs someone experienced because his partners keep getting injured or worse. When Scorpio kills a young black boy from another rooftop, the police believe the killer will next pursue a Catholic priest. Callahan and Gonzalez wait for Scorpio near a Catholic church where a roof-top to roof-top shootout ensues, with Callahan attempting to snipe Scorpio with a .458 Winchester Magnum rifle. Scorpio escapes, killing a police officer disguised as a priest.Scorpio kidnaps, rapes, and buries alive a teenage girl, then demands twice his previous ransom before the girl's air runs out. The mayor decides to pay, and tells Callahan to deliver the money with no tricks, but the inspector wears a wire, brings a knife, and has his partner follow him. As Scorpio sends Callahan to various payphones throughout the city to make sure he is alone, the chase ends at Mount Davidson. Scorpio brutally beats Callahan and tells him he's going to kill him and let the girl die anyway; Gonzalez comes to his partner's rescue but is wounded. Callahan stabs Scorpio in the leg, but the killer escapes without the money. Gonzalez survives his wound, but decides to resign from the force at the urging of his wife.The doctor who treated Scorpio phones the police and tells Callahan and his new partner, Frank DiGiorgio (John Mitchum), that he has seen Scorpio in Kezar Stadium. Running out of time, the officers break into the stadium and Callahan shoots Scorpio in his wounded leg. When Scorpio refuses to reveal the location of the girl and demands a lawyer, Callahan tortures the killer by standing on the wounded leg. Scorpio confesses, but the police are too late to save the girl.Because Callahan searched Scorpio's home without a warrant and improperly seized his rifle, both pieces of evidence are inadmissible, and the District Attorney has no choice but to let Scorpio go. Outraged, Callahan warns that Scorpio will kill again because of the excitement that killing gives him. Callahan proceeds to follow Scorpio on his own time. To thwart Callahan, Scorpio pays to have himself beaten by a thug, then claims the inspector is responsible. Despite Callahan's protests, he is ordered to stop following Scorpio.After stealing a gun from a liquor store owner, Scorpio kidnaps a school bus load of children and demands another ransom and a plane to leave the country. The Mayor again insists on paying but when offered to deliver the ransom again, Callahan angrily refuses. Callahan, fed up with the way the city is handling the situation with Scorpio, instead pursues Scorpio without authorization, jumping onto the top of the bus from a railroad trestle. The bus crashes into a dirt embankment and Scorpio flees into a nearby rock quarry, where he has a running gun battle with Callahan. Scorpio keeps running until he spots a young boy (Andy Robinson's stepson Steve Zachs in real life) sitting near a pond, and grabs him as a hostage.The inspector feigns surrender, but fires, wounding Scorpio in his left shoulder. The boy runs away and Callahan stands over Scorpio, gun drawn. The inspector reprises his "Do you feel lucky, punk?" speech. Scorpio lunges for his gun, Callahan kills him instantly. As Callahan watches the dead body, he takes out his inspector's badge. After contemplating what will happen to him as a result of his actions, he hurls the badge into the water before walking away.
MAGNUM FORCE - ****
Magnum Force (1973), directed by Ted Post. The main theme of this film is vigilante justice, and the plot revolves around a group of renegade traffic cops who are executing criminals who have avoided conviction in court. Despite Harry's penchant for strong-arm methods, he does not tolerate coldblooded murder of the accused and resolves to stop the killers. In this film Harry's catch-phrase is "A man's got to know his limitations."
THE ENFORCER - ***
The Enforcer is a 1976 American action film and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell In Marin County, two gas company men are lured by a scantily-clad woman to a remote spot in Mill Valley and killed by Bobby Maxwell (DeVeren Bookwalter). Maxwell's gang, the People's Revolutionary Strike Force (PRSF), plans to use the gas men's uniforms and van as part of an ambitious series of crimes that will make them rich.Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and his partner Frank DiGiorgio (John Mitchum), after dealing with a chronic fainter, arrive at a liquor store where robbers have taken hostages. The robbers demand a car with a police radio; the inspector provides one by driving his squad car into the store and shooting the robbers.His superior Captain McKay (Bradford Dillman) reprimands Callahan for "excessive use of force", injuring the hostages, and causing $14,379 of damage to the store, and temporarily transfers him out of the Homicide unit. While assigned to Personnel, Callahan participates in the interview process for promotions, and learns that affirmative action means that three of the new inspectors will be female including Kate Moore (Tyne Daly), despite her very limited field experience.The PRSF uses the gas company van to steal M72 LAW rockets, Colt M16 rifles, a Taser and other weapons from a warehouse. In the course of the robbery, three people are killed: a security guard whom Maxwell kills for his keys; DiGiorgio, whom Maxwell stabs in the back after he stumbles in on the robbery after discovering the guard's body; one of Maxwell's accomplices is accidentally shot when DiGiorgio's gun goes off. Maxwell finishes her off as "dead weight" with DiGiorgio's weapon. To Callahan's distress, Moore is his new partner; she claims to understand the risk, noting that—besides DiGiorgio—two other partners of his have died. After watching an Army demonstration of the LAW rocket on a firing range, they visit the Hall of Justice to sit in on an autopsy on the security guard killed in the robbery. Shortly afterwards, a bomb explodes in the bathroom. Callahan and Moore chase down and capture the PRSF bomber, Henry Lee Caldwell, and meet "Big" Ed Mustapha (Albert Popwell), leader of a black militant group the bomber formerly belonged to.Although Callahan makes a deal with Mustapha for information, McKay arrests the militants for the PRSF's crimes. Callahan angrily refuses to participate in a televised press conference in which the publicity-seeking mayor would commend him and Moore ("one of the first of her sex in the whole country") for solving the case, and McKay suspends him from duty. Moore supports Callahan and gains his respect.The PRSF boldly kidnaps the mayor after a Giants game in a very orchestrated ambush. With Mustapha's help Callahan and Moore locate the gang at Alcatraz Island, where they battle the kidnappers. Moore frees the mayor but Maxwell kills her as she saves Callahan's life. He avenges Moore by killing Maxwell with a LAW rocket. The inspector is uninterested in the mayor's gratitude, returning to his partner's corpse as McKay and others arrive.
SUDDEN IMPACT - ****
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American action film and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by Clint Eastwood (making it the only Dirty Harry film to be directed by Eastwood himself), and starring Eastwood and Sondra Locke.[2] The film is notable for the catchphrase, "Go ahead, make my day", which is uttered by Clint Eastwood's character in the beginning of the film. That phrase, although in its Italian localization "Coraggio... fatti ammazzare", was also chosen as title for the Italian version of the film. Artist Jennifer Spencer and her sister are raped by a group of boys, after being betrayed by female friend Rae Parkins. The brutal rape leaves Jennifer's sister permanently catatonic. Ten years later, Spencer seeks revenge. She kills one of the rapists (George Wilburn) with two shots—one in the groin and one in the head—from a .38 snubnosed revolver. Spencer then leaves San Francisco because of the subsequent police investigation. Once relocated in the town of San Paulo, Spencer begins restoring its boardwalk's historic carousel near the beach where the rapes occurred.Meanwhile, San Francisco Police Department Homicide Inspector Harry Callahan is frustrated when a judge yet again dismisses a case due to unreasonable search and seizure. Later, at his favorite diner, the inspector interrupts a robbery and kills most of the criminals. When the surviving robber takes a hostage, Callahan targets the man with his .44 Magnum and challenges him to "Go ahead, make my day". The criminal surrenders. Callahan later causes powerful crime lord Threlkis to suffer a fatal heart attack at his granddaughter's wedding dinner.Lieutenant Donnelly and other angry superior officers call Callahan in. They cannot fire or suspend the notorious inspector because, as the police commissioner admits, his "unconventional methods ... get results", albeit with tremendous physical destruction and bad publicity for the department. They instead order him to take a vacation, which Callahan spends target shooting with his .44 AutoMag and shotgun-armed partner Horace. But Callahan's relaxation is short-lived, as four of Threlkis's hitmen attack him. The inspector dispatches three, and the other narrowly escapes. The suspect from the dismissed case and his friends also attack, throwing two Molotov cocktails into Callahan's car. He retrieves one of the undetonated bombs and throws it at the attackers' car, causing the men to fatally swerve into the bay. Donnelly immediately sends the inspector to San Paulo to investigate the murder of the man Spencer killed. While the victim is from there, the assignment is also to protect both Callahan and civilians. As Donnelly notes, "people have a nasty habit of getting dead around you."Upon arriving in sleepy San Paulo, Callahan chases down a would-be robber. But, the reckless hot pursuit draws the anger of the local police. While jogging with his bulldog "Meathead"—a present from Horace—Callahan literally runs into Jennifer Spencer. She is less than thrilled. Upon returning to his motel, Callahan is hunted by the surviving Threlkis hitman. The inspector kills him, after being warned by Meathead. Meanwhile, Spencer kills a second rapist, Kruger, at the beach. Callahan recognizes the modus operandi, but police chief Lester Jannings refuses to work with the famous "big city hotshot" inspector. Callahan learns that the victims and Parkins are friends of Jannings' son, Alby. Parkins figures out that the rapists are being targeted and warns two of them (Tyrone and Mick). After fighting Kruger's uncooperative brothers-in-law, Eddie and Carl, Callahan meets Spencer again—this time, at an outdoor cafe. Over drinks, he learns that she shares his emphasis on results over methods when seeking justice. But, the inspector adds the caveat "'til it breaks the law." He then reveals that he is investigating the San Francisco murder of George Willburn (which rattles Spencer).Callahan visits Tyrone's home and finds him dead, yet another victim of Spencer. Mick stays at Parkins' home and both await a likely attack. When the inspector visits them for questioning, Mick lunges for him. After Callahan subdues Mick and takes him to the police station, Spencer arrives and guns down Parkins. Callahan and Spencer meet again and sleep together. But on his way out he notices Spencer's car (which he saw earlier at Parkins' house). He goes back to Parkins' house and finds her body. Eddie and Carl bail Mick out. Meanwhile, Horace arrives at Callahan's motel to celebrate the easing of tensions in San Francisco. Only he meets Mick and company instead. Horace is killed and Mick finds Callahan. The inspector is beaten up and thrown into the ocean. Meanwhile, Spencer arrives at the Jannings' home with intent to kill. However, she finds that Alby Jannings has lapsed into a catatonic state (after his guilty conscience caused him to attempt suicide in a car accident). Chief Jannings admits that to protect his reputation and his only child he "fixed" the crimes. He convinces Spencer to spare Alby's life and promises that Mick, whom he does not know is free, will now be punished. Mick and the others, however, capture Spencer and kill the chief with her .38.Callahan survives Mick's assault. He retrieves his AutoMag from the motel. Mick's group brings Spencer to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk for another rape, but she escapes to the carousel. They recapture her, but are startled by the inspector's apparent return from death. After killing the others, Callahan chases Mick, who absconds with Spencer atop the Giant Dipper. The inspector reiterates his famous challenge "make my day"—this time to Mick. When Mick laughs at Callahan, Spencer uses the diversion to break away. Mick is left wide open for Callahan to shoot. He aims and drops the remaining rapist (who plunges to a grisly death onto a carousel unicorn).The police soon arrive and find Spencer's .38 with Mick; ballistics, Callahan states, will find that "his gun … was used in all the killings." A compassionate Callahan and vindicated Spencer leave the crime scene together.
THE DEAD POOL - **** The Dead Pool is a 1988 American action flim directed by Buddy Van Horn, written by Steve Sharon, and starring Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry film series, set in San Francisco, California.The story concerns the manipulation of a dead pool game by a serial killer, whose efforts are confronted by the hardened detective Callahan. It co-stars Liam Neeson, Patricia Clarkson and Jim Carrey, each of whom eventually went on to greater film fame.At 91 minutes, it is the shortest of the five Dirty Harry films. This was Jim Carrey's first non-comedy film. Fame finally catches up with Harry Callahan. His testimony against crime kingpin Lou Janero puts the mobster in prison and Callahan on the cover of a San Francisco magazine as the city's ace crime fighter. Callahan is attacked by Janero's men at a turnoff near the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge while driving. He knocks down one with his car and shoots the remaining men dead. Callahan discovers he has been assigned a partner: Asian American, martial arts-skilled partner Al Quan (Evan Kim). Unimpressed, he advises Quan to get a bulletproof vest (as his partners often get killed working with him). They are then assigned to investigate the death of rock singer Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey), killed in his trailer outside a meatpacking plant during filming of a music video for a slasher film directed by Peter Swan (Liam Neeson).Later, Dean Madison, Swan's executive producer, is shot and killed during a Chinatown restaurant stickup. Harry and Quan see the holdup and rush to stop it; Harry manages to gun down all of the robbers inside the restaurant, except for one who manages to escape out the door but is subdued by Quan's expert martial-arts skills. Harry wryly compliments Quan's skill. When they examine the dead producer's belongings, they discover a list in his pocket with Harry and Johnny Squares's names on it. It turns out that the dead producer and Swan are carrying out a "dead pool" game in which participants try to predict celebrity deaths, either by natural causes, old age, or as a result of working in dangerous professions. In a turn of events, another celebrity on Swan's list, movie critic Molly Fisher, is stabbed and killed in her condominium, by an intruder claiming to be Swan.Callahan is asked to cooperate with the media, particularly reporter and later love interest Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson), to balance their interference with the investigation. Walker proposes to do an in-depth profile on Callahan for her news report, to make up for an incident earlier in the film where Harry threw and ruined Walker's camera in an attempt to stop her crew from harassing Squares' girlfriend. However, Callahan wants to simply perform his job and stay out of the limelight. Days later, Callahan apologizes for his rude exit at their first dinner and both he and Samantha have a second dinner. After dinner, they narrowly escape being killed by Janero's men, leading the reporter to reconsider the plight of police officers versus the public's right to know.Callahan drives to the prison where Janero is serving his sentence. He promises a huge, chain-smoking quadruple murderer named Butcher Hicks a carton of cigarettes for his help in convincing Janero that if anything bad happens to Callahan, the vicious Butcher will pay Janero a visit. This results in Janero calling off his men, and assigning Callahan a couple of personal bodyguards to watch over him.Callahan and Quan receives a call that a troubled man named Gus Wheeler, rumored to be responsible for the murders, is trying to get on the TV news by dousing himself in gasoline and threatening to light himself on fire if he even sees a fire truck or hose. Ultimately, it turns out that Wheeler is just an attention-seeker desperate to appear on camera. The man accidentally sets himself