Have a Harry New Year

Ha! I told you I’d get an entry in before December lets out! Two and a half hours until 2009 where I live, so suck it! Today’s entry is about the Dirty Harry movie series.

And just so you know, this post WILL feature spoilers for all five Dirty Harry films. If you’re interested in seeing them and don’t want them spoiled, sorry, this update is not for you.

The Dirty Harry series is about the adventures of a tough cop named Harry Callahan. Harry cares more about justice than rules and what people (namely, his superiors) think. The Dirty Harry series is responsible likely most primarily for popularizing the police movie genre featuring tough, renegade cops. In this post, I’ve highlighted several reccuring plot points and themes in the series, such as how there’s always at least one psycho that Harry will have stopped (read: shot) by the end of the movie, there’s always a line that happens early on in the film that is repeated at the end, the chief of police is always angry at Harry for some reason, and actor Albert Popwell tends to make cameo appearances in four of the five movies in the series. Thus, we start with:

Dirty Harry (1971)

The psycho(s) Harry has to stop: Totally insane guy known only as the “scorpio killer”.
Harry’s Partner: Chico Gonzales, a Mexican man (Harry’s partners have significantly varying ethnicities throughout the series) who is newer to the police force. Harry is quick to accept Chico at first, mainly because his partners tend to get injured on the job, but soon enough Harry comes to terms with Chico. Unfortunately, Chico is shot in an encounter with Scorpio, but survives and is hospitalized. He resigns from the police department after that.
Harry’s Girlfriend: He doesn’t have one in this film, but they do make mention how his wife was killed by a drunk driver.
Recurring Line: “I know what you’re thinking, ‘Did he fire six shots or only five?’ To tell you the truth, in all this excitement I’ve lost track myself, but being this a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and would blow your head clean off, you’ve got to ask yourself a question: ‘Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya, punk?” said to a bank robber near the beginning of the movie (turns out he was bluffing, he  was out of bullets, but the robber wasn’t feeling lucky anyway), and to the Scorpio Killer at the end (Scorpio apparently was feeling lucky enough to try to attack Harry again, but this time Harry had one bullet left, which naturally ended up killing Scorpio).
Why the Chief is Angry at Harry: Harry’s methods of stopping Scorpio are more rough than the people on the force are used to. At the end of the film, after he shoots Scorpio, Harry throws away his badge, possibly anticipating the negative consequences killing Scorpio will bring.
Albert Popwell: Plays the bank robber to which Harry first says this movie’s Recurring Line.

Magnum Force (1973)

The psycho(s) Harry has to stop: Band of rookie police officers that kill criminals and people who get in their way. Their leader is none other than the current police chief himself.
Harry’s Partner: Earlington Smith, a black man. He gets killed by a bomb in his mailbox planted by the vigilante officers.
Harry’s Girlfriend: A girl who lives in the same apartment as Harry.
Recurring Line: “A man has got to know his limitations”, spoken to the corrupt police chief once during the beginning of the film, and again after Harry has killed him.
Why the Chief is Angry at Harry: Harry’s trying to stop the chief’s underground vigilante operation. You’d be angry, too.
Albert Popwell: A pimp who gets killed by the vigilantes.

The Enforcer (1976)

The psycho(s) Harry has to stop: Terrorist group called the People’s Revolutionary Strike Force.
Harry’s Partner: Because the chief is angry at Harry (see Why the Chief is angry at Harry), Harry is temporarily transferred from the Homicide unit to the Personnel unit, where he meets Kate Moore, who is applying for the rank of Inspector. He is angered that she and others applying with her have little or no experience in homicide or, in fact, have made any arrests at all, while there are far more experienced officers who haven’t been put in Homicide. Later, Harry is transferred back to Homicide, and Kate ends up as his new partner. He is frustrated when her lack of experience in Homicide becomes apparent time and again. However, he eventually sees her good qualities, and as the bond between them is strengthened, she becomes…
Harry’s Girlfriend: Whether or not there is any romance between Harry and Kate is up for debate, but he becomes friends with a girl, in any case. Unfortunately, this doesn’t last long, because in the final fight between the police force and the Strike Force, Kate is shot and killed.
Recurring Line: “Don’t concern yourself, inspector,” spoken from Kate to Harry during the many times Harry is concerned she will get hurt or killed on the job, and then finally right before she dies. Harry also remarks sarcastically, “Marvelous” many times when her lack of experience is demonstrated.
Why the Chief is Angry at Harry: As usual, he doesn’t like Harry’s rough methods of crime-fighting, which is what causes him to get transferred to Personnel temporarily. Then when the police department intends to lie to the press about the Strike Force being apprehended, Harry announces in front of the press that this is a lie (and not in an especially tactful way, either), causing him to get suspended.
Albert Popwell: Plays ‘Big’ Ed Mustapha, the leader of a black militant group who helps in identifying a few members of the Strike Force.

Sudden Impact (1983)

The psycho(s) Harry has to stop: Originally, he’s sent to another city to investigate the murders of several small-time criminals. The person murdering the criminals is Jennifer Spencer. She’s out for revenge against them after they gang raped her and her sister. Her sister was so traumatized by the event that she has been in a catatonic state ever since. Harry ends up siding with Jennifer when he finds out. He saves her from the last of the criminals and police investigation.
Harry’s Partner: When he is reassigned, he has no partner, but several people do help him out with his investigation a bit.
Harry’s Girlfriend: Jennifer Spencer. He runs into her before he learns that she is the murderer he is looking for, and they share many of the same views on justice, or the lack thereof in the world. When the criminals she’s out to kill are done with, Harry covers for her so it looks like she had no involvement, understanding her motive.
Recurring Line: “Go ahead, make my day.” spoken from Harry to a bank robber near the beginning when Harry is pointing a gun at him and the robber is threatening to shoot a hostage. Said again to one of the criminals Jennifer is after when said criminal is holding Jennifer at gunpoint.
Why the Chief is Angry at Harry: When Harry is reassigned, the chief in the new city is angry because of Harry’s usual unconventional methods of crimefighting.
Albert Popwell: Plays Horace King, an old friend of Harry’s. When Harry is reassigned, Horace gives him a dog as a gift. Harry is not very happy about it.

The Dead Pool (1988)

The psycho(s) Harry has to stop: Harlan Rook, a crazy schizophrenic who believes that a filmmaker named Peter Swan is stealing his thoughts to make movies out of them (See? Crazy). Harlan starts killing people who are involved with Swan’s films, until Harry shoots him, of course.
Harry’s Partner: An Asian man named Al Quan. Al is a martial arts expert. By the end of the film, Al is severely injured and out of commission, but alive.
Harry’s Girlfriend: Samantha Walker, a reporter whom Harry dislikes at first. However, when he learns that she is not like other reporters he’s met, they get along better.
Recurring Line: “You’re shit-outta-luck,” said from Harry to a robber in one scene, and to Harlan at the end of the movie before shooting him with a harpoon gun.
Why the Chief is Angry at Harry: In addition to the usual reasons, the Chief wishes Harry would improve his public relations skills, but Harry is not fond of the press because of how their pushiness can sometimes turn situations for the worse. His attitude presumably softens a bit when he dates Samantha.
Albert Popwell: He’s not in this one.

So, there you have it, the last post of the year, and hasn’t it been a good one? Everyone enjoy having a 9 in the year number for the first time in a decade. Goodnight!

~ by krakenzilla on January 1, 2009.