If examined in any kind of detail, most modern heroes are maniacs.
And yet, in spite of this,Dirty Harryremains among my all-time favourite thrillers.
Dirty Harrys plot reads like a 70s right-wingers worst nightmare or darkest fantasy.
(Come on, sing everyone!
Scorpio shrieks to a group of terrified school kids, in one of the films blackly comic moments.
Sing or Ill go home and kill all your mommies!)
The answer, perhaps, is both.
In the face of the mop-haired sociopaths killing spree, Callahan can only react with largely impotent violence.
As for Scorpio, it was Eastwood himself who recommended the relatively unknown Andrew Robinson for the part.
Eastwood was absolutely correct.
Robinsons performance inDirty Harryis nothing short of outstanding.
At the Academy Awards, protesters lined up outside with placards stating, Dirty Harryis a fascist pig.
Ironically,Dirty Harryfalls victim to its own attitudes.
This setting was another of Eastwoods choices, and it gives these final scenes a gloomy, downbeat tone.
The face-off between Callahan and Scorpio, in which the former gets to reprise his Do I feel lucky?
The success ofDirty Harryensured that sequels inevitably followed.
Almost exactly 40 years afterDirty Harryset the trigger-happy cop template, along comes Elliott Lesters Brit-cop flick,Blitz.
LikeDirty Harry,the underlying politics ofBlitzare exceedingly unpleasant if theyre subjected to any kind of scrutiny.
The alternate world of action movies, on the other hand, simply wouldnt be the same without them.
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