"Well I'm all broken up about that man's rights."
Actors: Clint Eastwood
Format: Color, Widescreen
Language: English
Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number of discs: 1
Rating:
Studio: Warner
DVD Release Date: June 3, 2008
Run Time: 102 minutes
"Detective Harry Callahan. You don't assign him to murder cases. You just turn him loose."
YouTube - Eastwood's Greatest Hits - Dirty Harry
When it comes to Dirty Harry, where do you really start? With the movie, the actor, or how this one movie changed action movies forever?
I'll start with the Bluray DVD package.
There are two packages, a single movie package, and then a complete Dirty Harry collection. I got the single movie because, well quite frankly as much as I find the sequels entertaining, none of them can live up to the first movie, and that is the one that deserves the royal treatment, and it gets it.
Whether you buy the boxed set or just the first movie, get ready for a nice package of visuals and special features.
The single movie comes in a Bluray 'case' like you've never before seen. It is actually a book that happens to also have a BD movie included. The boxed set has even more, including a badge! (But I have the gun on display with
my movie memorabilia
)
It isn't a novel or anything like that, but it harkens back to the days of Laser Disc and the Criterion Collections where they included movie stills, and some even came with full size coffee table books. Granted nobody wants a DVD package the size of a road atlas, so this is a nice compromise.
The disc itself contains numerous special features and interviews. Honestly though, aside from the interviews and the inclusion of "Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows" narrated by Morgan Freeman, most if not all of the special features are also on my standard DVD set I also own.
Not all the special features are created or even treated equal though. Some look pretty rough and I will say I don't think any effort whatsoever was put into cleaning up the video on some of them. By far the worse was the special feature 'The Dirty Harry Way'. The only way I can describe it is it reminded me of a VHS tape that sat on the self a couple years too long. It is almost unwatchable it is that bad.
The other features are better, but none of them are in High Def. Still though they are fun to watch and Robert Urich does a good job taking us through some memories of not only the first movie, but many memorable scenes throughout the franchise.
John Millus makes his presence known as always. I like the man, but he definitely has an over inflated sense of self worth, just like he displayed in the Conan special features. There is an interesting note on Millus, but you'll have to keep reading, I'll get to that in a bit. He still has some interesting things to say though. Arnold chimes in too, commenting on some memorable scenes (which he manages to get wrong! Harry eats hotdogs,
not hamburgers!) Why would Arnold be on a Dirty Harry special feature though? Besides the two of them being friends, Dirty Harry redefined the action genre and staged the way for people like him... but more on that in a bit too.
The interviews are also very interesting to watch. Overall when you take the companion book into consideration, it's a nice special features package. It's not too bloated like T2 and the new Star Wars movies, it's 'just right'. What they could have and should have done better though is clean up the video to match the tribute that this is supposed to be.
What could have been...
To take a line from Rod Serling- Picture if you will...
Take a minute and try to imagine how this movie would have looked and felt if the studio got their first pick actor.
Sinatra was so much the favorite that this demo poster was made. Sinatra hurt his wrist and couldn't do the movie. Clint though wasn't even the second choice, that went to Paul Newman. Newman read the script and immediately rejected it saying it was too violent and 'political'. It was then offered to Clint and he was told about Newman's comments about it being too political for him and Clint's response was "Really? Let me see it." The rest as they say is history.
Along with Clint came his long time friend and Director Don Siegal. The two had worked together many times before and Siegal knew his leading man and exactly how to shoot this film. What they created was a dirty and gritty police film that had action, drama, chases, and some controversial views on the establishment.
The title is "Dirty Harry" and it's implied that he's a dirty cop, but he is far from what we think of as a dirty cop. Try to give Harry a bribe and see what happens... but have the misfortune of being the bad guy that the courts let go on a 'technicality', even though they know they have the killer everyone is looking for, and well that's when Harry gets down and dirty. He stops at nothing to catch the bad guy and administer justice as it sometimes deserves to be dished out... with the same harsh and cruel outcome that the killer gave his victims. Is Harry moral, absolutely, but does he bend and even break the rules to 'Serve and Protect'... most definitely.
One of the things that sets Dirty Harry apart from the rest of the films, and many other action movies for that matter, is the bad guy. Andrew Robinson is the actor that plays Scorpio, a killer loosely based on the real life Zodiac killer of that time. Robinson was picked specifically because he looked sweet and innocent, 'like a choir boy' as Siegal and Eastwood put it. Robinson isn't a physical presence like most action movie villains are- he is though a very real and scary look at a real killer... someone twisted and insane. Whatever happened to Scorpio in Nam definitely changed his life forever, or perhaps maybe the experience unlocked a lust and desire to kill that Scorpio couldn't keep locked up anymore. We will never know though because Harry's form of justice was final and left no room for Oprah or Barbara Walter's interviews to see what horrible thing happened to this 'sweet man' and how he really is the victim. Harry doesn't see it that way and neither do I, nor do any of Scorpio's victims or his victims relatives... Clint is the star, but when you watch this again, give Robinson his dues. He is creepy, insane, and all around evil... and this was his first big screen movie! He was so good that he not only was type cast, he actually received death threats from people.
Always remember this, in order to have a good hero, you must have a good and believable bad guy, and Andrew more than delivered when it came to that. Give him his respect and credit he deserves... I mean I wanted to shoot Scorpio myself! This is a very nice man in real life that pulled off playing pure insane and evil... bravo Andrew. You were the only real true bad guy Clint ever faced!
My wife actually watched this with me and right away she commented that this wasn't just a typical action flick where outrageous stunts, explosions, and high powered weapons meant more than the plot. When the scene came up where Harry tracks down Scorpio in the football stadium and shoots him in the leg (with a very realistic portrayal of what a magnum can do) literally flipping Scorpio over, what happened next made my wife cringe (you can now see the compound fracture from the magnum shot and bone sticking out of Scorpio's leg before Harry steps on it to find out where the buried girl is. On SDVD I never noticed the bone, just the blood) and at first she said "He's a cop, he can't do that. That's not right..." I asked her to to think back to when our own daughter was 13 and if someone had kidnapped her, who would she want on the case? She immediately changed her mind and said 'Harry'.
So Dirty Harry really isn't a 'dirty cop', but he doesn't exactly play by the rules either.
So what made Harry so cynical and 'dirty'? It's the stuff of legends, as well as fodder for future movie ripoffs. Harry's wife and daughter are killed in a car accident, when a drunk driver crossed the center line. Harry is a tough guy and the only way he knows how to grieve is to bury himself in his work and 'take the bad guys off the streets'. Sixteen years later another movie franchise would start, and the lead character and hero also was a cop whose wife and daughter are killed in a car accident by a drunk driver. Unlike Dirty Harry though, Lethal Weapon was a full blown 1980's action flick. Don't get me wrong, I love the movie, but if it wasn't for Clint and Dirty Harry, action flicks may not have become the world wide entertainment and box office block busters that we know them to be.
Die Hard also pays a lot of tribute and has to thank Clint and Dirty Harry for the genre. Mclane is also a lone rogue cop that doesn't exactly always see eye to eye with his boss or the establishment.
The idea of an 'anti-hero', was completely unheard of before Eastwood showed the world 'The Man with no Name' and then Harry's form of justice. Hero's before that wore white and never broke the law, ever.
Now, a little about the movie transfer. For a 4K video transfer and the fact Warner really spared no expense on this boxed set or the first movie, I expected a lot. I will say that overall it is far better than my SDVD version, but it wasn't what I expected either.
Closeup shots look incredible, but dark scenes have a lot of jitter and artifacting in them. Considering most of this movie is filmed at night and in dark scenes, that means there are a lot of less than stellar scenes. This is Bluray and 4K... what happened? The only thing I can come up with is this is a 37 year old movie and maybe this was the best they could do with film stock that old. I want to believe that, but after seeing the 4K transfers of the James Bond flicks Dr. No and Thunderball... well I just can't help but think they could have done better.
Like I said though, it is still much better than the SDVD, but I also still would not call this 'high definition'. One scene would be incredibly clear and crisp, only to be followed up by a scene that still showed many transfer flaws.
All things said though, take the picture to the left. Granted that's not an actual screen shot, but look at the pattern of Harry's suit. On regular DVD the herringbone pattern would have been nothing but a blur and fuzzed up mess. Here it is just as crisp as the promo still shown.
So overall I say it is better than DVD, but it isn't a magical transfer and not 'quite' HD, but still good.
Sound... The studio like Harry, kept things minimal but when a point needed to be made, it sure was. In the history of movies there is nothing that sounds like a .44 magnum. (This gun is so popular and sounds so distinctive that Hollywood often dubs a .44 Magnum for any pistol, even the rather wimpy real life pop of a Beretta 9mm is often made to sound like Harry's famous gun) It is so distinctive of a sound that anyone would recognize it immediately. The Bluray transfer and sound definitely keeps the myth and magic alive.
Early in the movie Harry goes on a rooftop stakeout and brings a a .458 magnum elephant gun with him, and when the shots start flying between him and Scorpio's submachine gun, the bass really kicks in and you can 'feel' the bullets ripping through the air. It's a sonic experience just like any time Harry fires his now famous magnum.
Speaking of the ever famous .44 magnum Harry uses, it's interesting to note that he uses several versions throughout the movie. In most scenes he uses a Smith & Wesson Model 29 with a six inch barrel, but in scenes where they wanted the gun to look even more menacing they used an eight inch barrel version. Most people never pick up on the gun change, they only know they never want to be looking down the business end of ether version!
Movie quotes- As I mentioned earlier, Clint Eastwood redefined the hero role and Dirty Harry transformed action films forever. One thing that people don't know is that the now common 'one liner' started with none other than Connery in his version of Bond, but Eastwood has the honors of some of the most famous movie lines, and Dirty Harry has one of them, along with Sudden Impact as being in the top 100 most famous movie lines ever. But... what if the line had been delivered as it was written?
I mentioned John Millus earlier. His contribution to the Dirty Harry franchise is that he was one of the screenplay writers of Magnum Force, but... he also wrote the lines that became one of the most famous ever said in a movie... the 'Do you feel lucky punk?' line... but how would it have been remembered if Clint said it exactly as it was written?
Callagahan
Well? Was it five or was it six? Regulations say five...hammer down on an empty...only not all of us go by the book. What you have to do is think about it. I mean, this is a .44 Magnum and it'll turn your head into hash. Now, do you think I fired five or six? And if five, do I keep a live one under the hammer? It's all up to you. Are you feeling lucky, punk?
Siegal knew Eastwood was a minimalist, and the 'speech' was one of the longest Clint ever delivered in a movie then or now, but Siegal and Clint knew it just didn't sound 'right'. The rewrite is still quoted to this day. Words don't do justice, it's something you have to see and hear it...
YouTube - Dirty Harry
This line is more than movie magic though, it really has relevance to the not only the movie but Harry's character. In the beginning of the movie when Harry delivers the line, he knows hes out and he's playing with the bad guy.
By the end of the movie and after the court system blindly letting Scorpio go, Harry isn't playing around any more and his tone reflects that. He also 'knows' he's not out of shots and at this point is taunting Scorpio to take the dare. This is what they call a circular story line, when something at the beginning becomes a factor at the end.
Harry isn't a bad guy, but he knows if he takes Scorpio in alive, the court system definitely would find him guilty this time, but their form of justice would allow Scorpio to appeal and appeal and appeal, staying alive and even the potential for parole. So Harry knows he didn't fire six, only five, just like in the beginning he knew he fired all six rounds. This time, teeth clinched, Harry delivers justice as most of us secretly want to see happen.
The movie also delves into the wild west image that Eastwood was becoming famous for. As the movie progresses, his suit becomes less modern and starts taking on the look of the lone sheriff facing the gunman at high noon. The .44 magnum revolver is similar to the look of his western revolvers, and he is now dressed in a plain brown suit that doesn't look much different than what a 1900's sheriff would have worn. In this sense Dirty Harry was the real bridging of Clint's westerns to modern times and handled it much better than Coogan's Bluff did. It also made Eastwood an international star and forever changed action movies.
For those that are Eastwood fans, this is a must have.
For those looking for a high def BD movie that will knock your socks off, it is okay but you'll probably be disappointed in that respect. If you want a good story and acting, this is better than the SDVD version when you include the 'book' and special features. I had Out of The Shadows on a seperate disc and it is nice having that included.
If you are an Eastwood fan... SamClub has the complete set for $88, which comes out to less than $18 a movie (and that's BD not SDVD) and you can get it even cheaper online. Check the Shack Store for prices and deals and I think you'll find this is a nice High Def set to have and the price isn't that bad when you consider it's five movies and a ton of special features.
Features and overall quality, it is worth the $23 I paid for it that's for sure.