MovieChat Forums > Dirty Harry (1971) Discussion > Scorpio - most hideous villain ever?

Scorpio - most hideous villain ever?


Credit to Andrew Robinson who can play a loveable dad (Hellraiser) to… this fucking thing.

Many villains are deliciously evil and fun to watch - like Hannibal Lecter or Hans Gruber. Not this guy. Scorpio is just putrid on every level, whenever he’s on screen you feel your skin crawl.

Firstly the look - he looks like a kind of psychotic clown without the make-up. Like a modern day jester with his scrawny body, big hair and turtle neck top, gleefully bouncing around.

Then there’s the noise. That hideous high pitched squeal he delivers when Harry stabs him in the leg. The constant feminine whining, the sadistic chuckles when he taunts a victim. Just… eww.

That’s just the aesthetics. As a movie villain he’s next level - he kills vulnerable people around the city with a sniper rifle - women, kids, old priests, ‘niggers’. He threatens to suffocate an innocent girl unless he’s paid a huge sum, when he gets the money he taunts Harry that he’ll kill the girl anyway! (and he does)

That’s before he’s terrorising kids on a school bus along with the nice old lady driver, he gets the kids to sing then starts slapping them around. It’s seriously uncomfortable viewing and, as intended, you’re praying for Harry to blow this fucker’s head off.

His worst aspect? Throughout all this horror he plays the victim. Like a Leftist or a radical Muslim, he’s the ultimate crybully, whining and screaming that Callahan is persecuting him… so that he can get away and get back to raping and killing unsuspecting people again.

Seldom have I thought ‘thank fuck for that’ so intensely when a villain gets taken out. Dirty Harry is not a horror film, but Scorpio almost takes it there.

The only sadness is that he gets off too easy - a bullet in the chest after all the suffering he’s caused? I’d like to have seen something a lot nastier for this piece of shit *shudder*


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One of the best acting roles ever!
At minimum on par with Robert Shaw in 'Jaws".
Both should have received an Academy Award nomination at least.

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For sure, Robinson's performance was incredible. Back in 1971, who had seen a character like this before? He came across as insane, yet fit the role perfectly and carried the story so well.

His mannerisms when he's 'excited' reminds me of the Wheelers in Return to Oz.

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He’s like the child catcher from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for adults.

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I agree , this page i just found may further your point too

https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Scorpio_(Dirty_Harry)

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Absolutely one of the very worst vililans of all time. Who could deny that?

And one of the best things about this villian is that we don't find out later he's misunderstood and has a hidden heart of gold (as films are wont to do with their villians these days).

"Like a Leftist or a radical Muslim, . . "

Or like whiny losers storming the Capitol because an election didn't go their way . . .

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No, not ‘like whiny losers storming the Capitol because an election didn't go there way’.

The 2020 election was obviously stolen and the American people were absolutely right to protest. It remains a disgrace on America’s record that the Dems were allowed to cheat, and that American citizens remain incarcerated for objecting.

Get it right.

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Yeah, it was so "obvious" that it was consistently tossed out of court -- by Republican judges.

No wait -- that's the Deep State at work isn't it?

I forget, let me look for my QAnon manual . . . .

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The Supreme Court did not want to contest an election result so refused to investigate, this has been covered over and over.

You honestly believe that Joe Biden - a demented husk who nobody likes and didn’t even campaign - got more votes than any other President in the history of America..? 🤣

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Dude, I don't know what to tell ya. Over 60 cases were dismissed because they didn't have a valid case. And Trump, recently on Rogan, still keeps the myth alive: “I would bring in papers that you would not believe, so many different papers. That election was so crooked, it was the most crooked.”

But where are these mysterious papers? Answer: They don't exist. Otherwise the cases would never have been tossed. Otherwise Trump would be showing them around town. It's much easier for a conman to keep repeating the myth, the con, and having people believe it as an article of faith than it is to be honest. Then again, if they were honest they wouldn't be running the con to begin with.

And the "crowd size" argument is the worst anecdotal evidence I have ever heard. Illogical to its core.

I'll let you have the last word if you'd like on this, because I'm past arguing with people over the existence of unicorns and flat Earths at this point.

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Let’s try again. You honestly believe that Joe Biden - a demented husk who nobody likes and didn’t even campaign - got more votes than any other President in the history of America..? 🤣

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That "nobody likes?"

My turn to ask do YOU really believe that? How did arrive at that determination? Bias and emotion I'm guessing.

"Demented husk"

Do you have anymore pointless ad hominins you'd like to dish on him?

Gee . . . come to think of it . . maybe the last election was rigged. Kamala's rallies were always packed and Trump rallies had consistent swaths of empty seats at the venues time after time again.

Time to get my sign ready, rally the troops and storm the Capitol! If I yell "RIGGED" loud and often enough saps like you will believe it.

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How come you came back after saying ‘I’ll let you have the last word?’ 🤷🏻‍♂️

Well since you’re here you can finally answer the question… You honestly believe that Joe Biden - a demented husk who nobody likes and didn’t even campaign - got more votes than any other President in the history of America..? 🤣

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Well, I gave you a chance to make a closing statement. Instead, you interlaced asinine comments within a question. So I'll answer your childish nonsense and then disengage from this pointless discussion: Absolutely.

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Melton: You honestly believe that Joe Biden - a demented husk who nobody likes and didn’t even campaign - got more votes than any other President in the history of America..?

Seperatrix: Absolutely.



😆😆😆👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻🤣🤣🤣

I can see why you would want to ‘disengage’ from a discussion after an admission like that 😅

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Why are political posters stinking up this board?

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Because cultists of a certain stripe cannot resist inserting politics into any and every conversation. You can't talk about films, sports, the weather, etc. without hearing someone mentioning "leftists" or pissing and moaning about "woke" or "wokeness" or whatever.

It should be classified as a mental illness at this point.

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He was definitely great in this. I actually didn't see "Dirty Harry" for a long time (It was one of the" classic movies" I finally watched after my dad passed away in 2016)... what I remember Andrew Robinson in is an episode of "Law & Order," where he played a "blue-collar dad" to a boy who ended up killing a private school administrator. He was great in that role also.

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