Dirty Harry [1971]

Country of Origin: USA
Year of Production: 1971
Running Times: 102 mins
Format: Technicolor 35mm
Ratio: Panavision [anamorphic] 2.35:1
Sound: mono

PRODUCTION
Production Companies: The Malpaso Company / Warner Brothers
Executive Producer: Robert Daley
Producer: Don Siegel
Associate Producer: Carl Pingitore
Unit Production Manager: Jim Henderling

SCRIPT
Script: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner, John Milius [uncredited]
Story: Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink

DIRECTION
Director: Don Siegel, Clint Eastwood [suicide jumper sequence - uncredited]
Assistant Directors: Robert Rubin, Barry Stern

PHOTOGRAPHY
Director of Photography: Bruce Surtees

EDITING AND POST PRODUCTION
Editor: Carl Pingitore

MUSIC
Music: Lalo Schifrin
Score Mixer: Dan Wallin

SOUND
Sound: William Randall
Re-Recording Mixer: Dan Wallin

MAKE UP AND COSTUMES
Make Up: Gordon Bau
Hair: Jean Burt Reilly
Costume Designer: Glenn Wright

DESIGN AND SET CONSTRUCTION
Art Director: Dale Hennesy
Set Decorator: Robert De Vestel

MISCELLANEOUS
Assistant to Producer: George Fargo
Dialogue Supervisor: Scott Hale

LOCATIONS
Locations: California Hall, San Francisco, California, USA; Larkspur, Marin County, California, USA; Mill Valley, California, USA; San Francisco, California, USA

STUNTS
Stunt Co-Ordinator: Buddy Van Horn [uncredited]

CAST
Clint Eastwood [Harry Callahan]
Harry Guardino [Bressler]
Reni Santoni [Chico]
John Vernon [the mayor]
Andy Robinson [Scorpio]
John Larch [Police Chief]
John Mitchum [De Georgio]
Mae Mercer [Mrs Russell]
Lyn Edgington [Norma]
Ruth Kobart [bus driver]
Woodrow Parfrey [Mr Jaffe]
Josef Sommer [Rothko]
William Paterson [Bannerman]
James Nolan [liquor store proprietor]
Maurice Argent [Sid Kleinman]
Jo De Winter [Miss Willis]
Craig Kelly [Sergeant Reineke]
Debralee Scott [Ann Mary Deacon - uncredited]
Lois Foraker [Hot Mary - uncredited]
Mary Ann Neis [Miss Van Sachs - uncredited]
George Burrafato [taxi driver - uncredited]
Joy Carlin [communications secretary - uncredited]
Tony Dario [police sergeant - uncredited]
Diane Darnell [mayor's secretary - uncredited]
Diana Davidson [swimmer - uncredited]
Vince Deadrick Jr [man - uncredited]
Charles Dorsett [man watching television - uncredited]
Denise Dyer, Diane Dyer, Jack Hanson, Derek Jue, Sean Maley, Richard Samuelson, Pamela Tanimura [bus kids - uncredited]
George Fargo, Angela Paton [homicide detectives - uncredited]
Joe Finnegan [man in truck - uncredited]
Maxwell Gail Jr, John Garber, Christopher Pray [hoodlums in tunnel - uncredited]
Eddie Garrett, Stu Klitsner [policemen - uncredited]
David Gillum, Richard Lawson [homosexuals - uncredited]
Scott Hale, Dean Webber [newsmen - uncredited]
Bob Harris [man in truck - uncredited]
Marc Hertsens [doctor - uncredited]
Charles Hicks [flower vendor - uncredited]
Victor Paul [car driver - uncredited]
John W. Peebles [walkie-talkie cop - uncredited]
Albert Popwell [bank robber - uncredited]
Ernest Robinson [robber]
Allen Seaman [orderly - uncredited]
Don Siegel [man running in street - uncredited]
Charles Washburn [intern - uncredited]
Stephen Zacks [lake kid - uncredited]
Ann Bowen, Jana D'Amico, Al Dunlap, Leslie Fong, H.B. Haggerty, Kate Harper, Diana Henrichsen, Raymond Johnson, Laurie Mock, Charles A. Murphy, Ann Noland, Kathleen O'Malley, Lolita Rios, Frederic Ross Kristoffer Tabori, John Tracy, Janet Wisely [bit parts - uncredited]

"Dirty" Harry Callahan, a San Francisco cop with a reputation for extreme methods, is pitted against a serial killer who is sniping victims from rooftops. As the number of victims increases, Callahan is forced to resort to ever more brutal ways to find and stop him.

The politics may be questionable but there's no denying Dirty Harry's worth as pure entertainment. It redefined the Hollywood cop thriller in the early 70s and inspired a whole genre of ultra-violent cop thrillers in Italy. Clint Eastwood has rarely been as good as he is here and the increasingly moribund sequels have done nothing to lessen the impact of a seminal cop classic. It earns its place here thanks to Andrew Robinson's wonderfully twitchy performance as the deranged serial killer Scorpio which inspired many a serial killer movie that followed.

USA
Theatrical Distributor: Warner Brothers
Video Distributor: Warner Brothers Home Video
Laserdisc Distributor: Warner Home Video [12483 - 1992]; Warner Home Video [13613 - 1994; The Dirty Harry Collection - includes the documentary Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso; a booklet with full chapter listings and an essay on each film]; Warner Home Video [16746 - 1999]; Warner Home Video [1019]; Warner Home Video [1019 LV]
DVD Distributor: Warner Home Video [1019 - 1997]

Australia
Rating: MA

Finland
Rating: banned in 1972; later released with a K-16 rating

Norway
Rating: 16 [with cuts]; 18 [uncut]

Sweden
Rating: 15

UK
Rating: 18

USA
Rating: R

West Germany
Rating: 16

1972
Edgar Allan Poe Awards
Best Motion Picture [Harry Julian Fink, Rita M. Fink, Dean Riesner] - nominated

1972
February
6: Sweden - theatrical release

March
6: Norway - theatrical release
10: West Germany - theatrical release

1973
January
5: Finland - theatrical release

1992
December
23: USA - laserdisc release [Warner Home Video [12483]]

1994
November
22: USA - laserdisc release [Warner Home Video [13613 - The Dirty Harry Collection]

1997
November
19: USA - DVD release [Warner Home Video [1019]]

1999
January
19: USA - laserdisc release [Warner Home Video [16746]

2000
September
14: USA - DVD release

2001
August
18: USA - television broadcast [on WPIX]

You don't assign him to murder cases, you just turn him loose.

Detective Harry Callahan. He doesn't break murder cases. He smashes them.

Do you feel lucky punk?

Dead Right - shooting title

SEE ALSO
The Creature Wasn't Nice [1981]
Hollywood Shuffle [1987]
Loose Cannons [1990]
The Mask [1994]
The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! [1988]
National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1 [1993]
Play Misty for Me [1971]
Quest for Camelot [1998]
Return of the Living Dead Part II [1988]
Robin Hood: Men in Tights [1993]
Scary Movie 2 [2001]
Short Circuit 2 [1988]

FOOTAGE INCLUDED IN
AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies [2001]
A Salute to Clint Eastwood [1996]

MAGAZINES

FilmMagasinet May / June 1996 p.80
review [by Erlend Eskeland]

BOOKS

The BFI Companion to Crime pp.107-108
review

police; serial killers; switchblades; helicopters; kidnapping; swimming pools; snipers; psychopaths; children; school buses; bank robberies; police brutality; rooftops; telephone boxes; buried alive; stilletos; ransoms