Thursday, May 20, 2021

Classic Film Night - Dirty Harry

 


Dirty Harry is a 1971 neo-noir action thriller movie. The film was produced by The Malpaso Company and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures. Dirty Harry was written by Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink, and Dean Riesner and directed by Don Siegel.





The story is a psychopathic killer nicknamed "Scorpio" is on a murder spree and leaving ransom letters at the scene of the crime. Now Inspector Harry Callahan aka "Dirty Harry" must find out what the killer wants and put an end to his spree before another victim is killed.










My Thoughts


One of the things that made this movie an all time classic is Clint Eastwood's performance. The guy was made to play this role. He nails the dialogue, he can play a badass perfectly, and most of all he really made the character of Dirty Harry a cool guy.



What also makes Dirty Harry a classic is the dialogue. Sure we've got the classic line of "Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" but, there's also other great lines too. Such as this amazing scene between Harry and a suicide jumper, other than the action that had to be my favorite moment from the movie.



Then we have the movie's villain Scorpio, to say this guy is awful would feel like an understatement. I mean it he was disgusting, and throughout the entire movie I just wanted him to suffer the worst fate possible. I mean it, I have never wanted a villain in a movie to die so badly than Scorpio.



Another aspect of the film that makes it great is Don Siegel's directing. Not only did he direct the actors well in this but he gave a lot of great shots of San Francisco. Whether it be on the rooftops, ground level, a bird's eye view, no matter what the entire movie is shot very well and can be beautiful a lot of times despite the movie being VERY dark.



The last thing to praise Dirty Harry for is the pacing. Granted by today's standards that pacing would be criticized but, it really shouldn't be. Because even though there are slow bits for a majority of the time the movie goes by really quick.








Dirty Harry is one of my many favorite old school movies. Eastwood gives a great performance, the dialogue is great, Scorpio was a villain I love to hate, Siegel has great directing, and the pacing is really good.








My final rating is A Must Watch.








Well, that's all for me. Come back on Saturday, May 22nd for my review of the newest Zack Snyder film Army of the Dead. Until then, enjoy the rest of your day.

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