Review of Dirty Harry (1971) by Tom B — 26 Oct 2009
A complicated film to appreciate. In the interviews someone summed it up cogently: Dirty Harry always walks a straight line. Once he makes up his mind, he acts, and he usually does what people wish they could do, but don't, hence rely on someone like Harry to do it for them.
No question the decisiveness, and subversion of authority that underscores it, is part of the appeal. Part of the challenge is how earnest the film is in stating it's point. This element of discomfort lends Dirty Harry an edge over most cop flicks of it's type.
One gets the feeling Don Siegel almost had a grudge. As Sydney Pollack points out in an interview on a Kubrick disk, making movies is propaganda. In that case it's tricky to know how far we can go in enjoying a film like this, that takes itself as seriously as it does.
In that respect it's possible something like Get Carter (the original with Michael Caine) from the same era, carries a more believable message: there may be a darker price to pay for being Dirty Harry.
That said, I've loved this movie, and Clint in it, since I was a kid. Unlike most films I've loved when young, this one fosters a greater degree of ambivalence than most. And in a way that is now also part of its appeal.
This review of Dirty Harry (1971) was written by Tom B on 26 Oct 2009.
Dirty Harry has generally received very positive reviews.
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