Dirty Harry: Most influential cop movie ever?

Joey123

I am of the opinion that Don Siegel's Dirty Harry (1971) is the most influential cop movie ever made, and to illustrate my point I edited together a short, 5 minute video contrasting scenes from it with several cop thrillers that have come along since, showing their similarities.

Now, I wasn't saying that the movies that came along since necessarily ripped Dirty Harry off; I was merely pointing out how much of a lasting effect Siegel's film had on the cop movie genre. Here are just some of the movies I think it influenced

Manhunter (1986, Michael Mann)
Lethal Weapon 2 (1987, Richard Donner)
Point Break (1991, Kathryn Bigelow)
Speed (1994, Jan de Bont)
Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995, John McTiernan)
Se7en (David Fincher, 1995)
L.A. Confidential (1997, Curtis Hanson)

Knowing my luck, the video will be taken down soon for 'copyright infringement', but I'd love to get some feedback on it, if people think I was clutching at straws, or if they agree, or just to name some other movies Dirty Harry clearly influenced.

FrostyJack

It would be hard to argue against it, I can't think of any similar movies made before then and the same formula is used to this day. The ill informed Captain, the quirky partner, the big shoot out at the end etc are still used to this day. It is no wonder I love all the films in the list above as well.

And then there is this:

johnny_ultimate

Stray Dog did it all first

mike65

Dirty Harry has clearly been influential but that film itself borrowed heavily from a Frank Sinatra thriller made in 1968 called The Detective and Don Siegels earlier New York cop drama Madigan also 1968.

*useless tenuous linkage - The Detective was based on a 1966 novel the sequel to which was about the same cop trapped in the high rise HQ of a multi-national which is taken over by terrorists. The rights were sold the cops name was changed to John McClain we all know the rest.

Hart

While I would agree that Dirty Harry has been influential I would argue that Lethal Weapon has been a lot more of an influence. It gave us; the cop on the edge, mismatched buddies, plenty of humour and loads of action (but a low body count and relatively blood free).

Because which there aren’t too many cop movies that reflect Harry’s extreme right wing views…

irishh_bob

Hart wrote: »

While I would agree that Dirty Harry has been influential I would argue that Lethal Weapon has been a lot more of an influence. It gave us; the cop on the edge, mismatched buddies, plenty of humour and loads of action (but a low body count and relatively blood free).

Because which there aren’t too many cop movies that reflect Harry’s extreme right wing views…

what extreme right views ? , he didnt fcuk around with deranged pyschopaths in dirty harry

in magnum force , when replying to a claim that the foursome were queer for each other , he said he didnt care if the whole san francisco police force was queer if they were able to shoot like david soul and co

Joey123

Hart wrote: »

While I would agree that Dirty Harry has been influential I would argue that Lethal Weapon has been a lot more of an influence. It gave us; the cop on the edge, mismatched buddies, plenty of humour and loads of action (but a low body count and relatively blood free).

Because which there aren’t too many cop movies that reflect Harry’s extreme right wing views…

While I quite like Lethal Weapon, I don't think you could argue it was more influential than Dirty Harry. Lethal Weapon came over a decade-and-a-half after the release of Don Siegel's film. Also, several motifs from the Lethal Weapon franchise can be linked back to Dirty Harry: Riggs, like Callaghan, is a widower who lives alone, and the scene in Lethal Weapon (not included in the video) where Riggs 'talks' down a potential suicide jumper is not unlike a similar scene in Dirty Harry.

Also, extreme right-wing views? I think the character of Dirty Harry's right-wing views were greatly exaggerated by the likes of Pauline Kael, but even if they were right-wing, I don't think many of the policemen seen in American movies since could be called left-wing!

pixelburp

I remember a few years back there was a (completely unsubstantiated) rumour knocking about that Eastwood was to play Harry Callaghan one last time. Probably came from the same source that said Cher was to play Catwoman in the new Batman movie.

I'm not sure though I would agree that Dirty Harry is the most influential. It & the character is certainly something that exists within popular culture and transcends the medium - everyone knows "Do you feel lucky" and so on - but I'm not sure it's the most influential.

You could easily argue that another cop movie from the same year - The French Connection - has had far more of a lasting impact on what we perceive as the template for the standard 'hard boiled' detective thriller. If anything, that template still exists to this day, while the Loose-Cannon style has become a point of ridicule and parody, as seen from the Simpsons clip above.

OldeCinemaSoz

"Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy."

"Intent? How did you establish that?"

"When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross!"

"I think he's got a point."

Classic. :cool:

PerrinV2

^^^
I thought you were quoting this for a second

Frank: Yes. Well, when I see 5 weirdos dressed in togas stabbing a guy in the middle of the park in full view of 100 people, I shoot the bastards. That's *my* policy.
Mayor: That was a Shakespeare-In-The-Park production of "Julius Caesar", you moron! You killed 5 actors! Good ones.

OldeCinemaSoz

"A good man's always gotta know his limitations...!!!"

OldeCinemaSoz

I just love these DIRTY HARRY threads...

"Are you finished with the questioning, Callahan?"

"Hypothetical situation, huh? All right, I'm standing on the street corner, and Mrs. Grey there comes up and propositions me. She says if I come home with her, for $5 she'll put on an exhibition with a Shetland pony..."

"If this is your idea of humor, Inspector..."

"All right, what are you trying to do here, Callahan?"

"I'm just trying to find out if anybody in this room knows what the hell law is being broken, besides cruelty to animals....!!!"

Gael

I think you could well be right, Joey123. Though I'm surprised you missed the clear copying that Horatio in CSI:Miami does of Dirty Harry (seen in the first couple of seconds of your video), especially the sunglasses and the one liners.

Good video, BTW.

pixelburp wrote: »

I remember a few years back there was a (completely unsubstantiated) rumour knocking about that Eastwood was to play Harry Callaghan one last time.

Eastwood dismissed that fairly humourously on Letterman a while back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjFPTXohUFo

OldeCinemaSoz wrote: »

"Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That's my policy."

"Intent? How did you establish that?"

"When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross!"

"I think he's got a point."

Classic. :cool:

Here's the whole scene in all its glory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRA5FBtbHHM

Joey123

Gael wrote: »

I think you could well be right, Joey123. Though I'm surprised you missed the clear copying that Horatio in CSI:Miami does of Dirty Harry (seen in the first couple of seconds of your video), especially the sunglasses and the one liners.

Good video, BTW.

Ha ha, I hadn't noticed that connection, but then I don't watch CSI. It's a legitimate argument. I also forgot, as I mentioned earlier, to include the scene from Lethal Weapon when Riggs talks down a suicide jumper (though the outcome is quite different in Dirty Harry).

Thanks for the feedback on the video!

OldeCinemaSoz

I've always thought that Clint Eastwood's
finest years were between A FISTFULL OF DOLLARS
from 1964 to THE ENFORCER from 1976...

:cool:

OldeCinemaSoz

Harry Callahan: "You heroes killed a dozen people this week. What are you going to do next week....?"

Davis: "Kill a dozen more...?!?!"

:cool:

OldeCinemaSoz

It must have been revolutionary times indeed
in the mid 1970s when a film like THE ENFORCER garnered a
15s here... :eek:

Nuns sporting AK47s and priests defiling
the letter of the law?!?!?

It's NOW an 18 of course... :rolleyes:

A sunflower state following the sun as USUAL........