Review of Dirty Harry (1971) by Cory L — 26 Jul 2012

This is the first of a series of Dirty Harry movies. It's the best one. The story is based on the Zodiac Killer who committed a series of murders in Northern California 1960s and 1970s. The movie came out in 1971 before the actual murders had ended.

In the movie the killer was a sniper. The real Zodiac Killer used a pistol and a knife. The movie starts with the killer shooting a girl in a swimming pool from the top of a skyscraper. A well trained military sniper couldn't make a shot like that, but it was a dramatic start to the movie.

The real theme of the movie though is a criticism of the politically correct culture our country was starting to become. It's been 40 years now and it's only gotten worse. The witnesses to the real Zodiac Killer described a man with crew cut hair.

The killer in the movie was made into a long hair hippie type with a peace sign belt buckle. Dirty Harry was an old school cop who didn't worry about proper procedures and politically correct attitudes.

And yes, at the end of the movie he only fired five shots. This was an R rated movie so I was too young to see it in 1971. I think I saw it at the OSU Student Union while I was in college. When I got my Laserdisc player this was one of the first movies on Laserdisc I bought.