San Francisco Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan is on the trail of vigilante Police Officers who are not above going beyond the law to kill the city's undesirables.
San Francisco Police Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) and his new partner, Earlington "Early" Smith (Felton Perry) have been temporarily reassigned from Homicide to Stakeout Duty. Meanwhile, those of the city's criminals who manage to avoid punishment by the courts are nevertheless being killed by unknown assassins. Callahan begins to investigate the murders despite orders from his superior officer, Lieutenant Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook). A man has to know his limitations.Written by
Bruce Janson <bruce@cs.su.oz.au>
According to screenwriter John Milius, the sex scene with the Asian woman "Sunny" (Adele Yoshioka) is in the script because Clint Eastwood received many fan letters from Asian women that contained sexual propositions. See more »
Goofs
During the hijack scene while plane is taxing down runway, the first time the plane is shown, it has two engines. the rest of the time it has four engines. See more »
Quotes
[first lines]
Harry Callahan:
[at end of main titles]
This is a 44. Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and it could blow your head clean off. Do you feel lucky?
[fires at the audience]
See more »
Crazy Credits
The credits are played over a hand (presumably Harry's) holding a 44 Magnum against a red background. As such, this is the only Dirty Harry movie in which the opening credits are not played over San Francisco scenery. See more »
Alternate Versions
A Network Television cut that aired in the 80s and 90s made the following cuts:
-The gunshot to the camera at the end of the opening titles is cut off.
-Many of the gunshots to victims such as Ricca, the Pimp, people in the swimming pool etc are cut down significantly, removing several gunshots. Lingering shots on their dead bodies are also removed.
-Much of the language, including racial slurs are all removed entirely.
-The scene of the pimp killing the prostitute is shortened for language, violence, and sexual content. Some TV edits just cut it entirely and go straight to the pimp's traffic stop after the robbery scene.
-Love scenes with Sunny and Harry are also shortened.
-The Guzman scene is severely cut down. All shots inside his room with the naked man and woman doing drugs are cut entirely. The scene is re-edited so Guzman walks out to the balcony, the cop shoots the guard outside his room, the stakeout squad jump into action, then the movie immediately cuts to Charlie McCoy's death scene in the basement.
-McCoy's shot to the head is cut
-Some deaths in the Pilancio shoot out are censored and a lot of impact shots of bullets are cut.
-Many cuts are made to the movie to fit it into a 2 hr time slot with commercials as well. See more »
I sometimes wonder if "Magnum Force" is a better movie than "Dirty Harry." In the latter, Harry Calahan is up against a psycho causing panic, while in "Magnum Force" Harry opposes a number of enemies: enemies he would not have expected at first. Crime is still on the rise, there is too much corruption and too few 'real' cops, like him. When he meets some young, aspiring cops he is amazed by their qualities. Great acting by Clint Eastwood who is just perfect in playing the old-fashioned Harry Callahan. There is violence, but the strange thing is you support Callahan in 'cleaning' the city. One of the best in the Dirty Harry-series.
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I sometimes wonder if "Magnum Force" is a better movie than "Dirty Harry." In the latter, Harry Calahan is up against a psycho causing panic, while in "Magnum Force" Harry opposes a number of enemies: enemies he would not have expected at first. Crime is still on the rise, there is too much corruption and too few 'real' cops, like him. When he meets some young, aspiring cops he is amazed by their qualities. Great acting by Clint Eastwood who is just perfect in playing the old-fashioned Harry Callahan. There is violence, but the strange thing is you support Callahan in 'cleaning' the city. One of the best in the Dirty Harry-series.