Alternate versions

As with all of the "Dirty Harry"-films this one also had some cuts for violent content in the initial Swedish release. Among trimmed scenes were Scorpio pulling Harry's knife out of his leg, and the scene where Scorpio pays a man to beat him up, which was cut by almost 40 seconds.

When screened on the cable TV channel, AMC, the first shootout was edited in such a way as to create a continuity error with Harry's "Did I shoot five times, or six?". In the edited version, his third shot is missing, as is his sixth shoot (which sends the robber crashing through a window). Thus, he only fires four times, not six, as he does in the unedited version.

In an edited version that aired on the San Francisco station KBHK-TV (now KBCW-TV) in November of 1992, the pre-title sequence showed the doomed woman in the yellow bathing suit, but not through a sniper scope as in the original theatrical version. The pre-title sequence in this version also omitted frontal shots of Scorpio's rifle as it was being aimed. In addition, this version omitted footage of a nude Ann Mary Deacon being pulled out of a hole, instead showing Miss Deacon's covered body on a stretcher.

The 5.1 remix on all DVD and Blu-ray releases replace a number of the original gun sound effects along with other sound effects that differ from the original mono version.

A US DVD released around 2000 has 5.1 Surround sound mix with the original gunshot sound effects (Clint Eastwood Collection)

The Kinney WB shield is plastered in several home media releases with different opening logos:

• The film's inaugural VHS from when it was released in 1979 contained the Saul Bass version of the Warner Bros. Television logo.
• The Saul Bass variant appeared in the 1983 VHS.
• The 1986 VHS and 1992 reissue used the 1984 variant. The only difference in those releases is the word "presents" appearing underneath the Warner Communications byline in the latter print.
• In the 2000 VHS and 2001 DVD, the 1992 variant is shown.

The opening credits and title card in the Laserdisc and 1981 VHS are white instead of yellow.

Harry Callahan's character name becomes Harry ''Callaghan'' in the Italian version's subtitles and overdubbing because the local distributor thought it sounded better.