History YMMV / DirtyHarry

* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: Harry's gun firing. So much that it was used in ''Film/TheTerminator'' (the original Orion Pictures/Hemdale version), ''Film/DeathWish3'' (Paul Kersey's .475 Wildey Magnum), ''The Last of the Finest'', ''Series/TheYoungIndianaJonesChronicles'', ''Film/CodeOfSilence'', ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'' (the player's default gun), ''VideoGame/DonPachi'' (when the game tallies up the player's bomb stock), ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' (Barry Burton's gun in the FMV intro), ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (Mii Koryuji's Dragon Jewel rifle in the opening), and many others.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Despite Siegel and Eastwood disavowing any political intent, the film was ''extremely'' controversial when released. Critics (notably Creator/PaulineKael) attacked it as a "fascist" endorsement of police brutality, the [=ACLU=] and other liberal organizations picketed its premiere, and the press savaged it both for its alleged politics and graphic violence. However, this backlash rebounded to its benefit, as conservative viewers (including police organizations and UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, who invited Eastwood to the White House after seeing it) ''loved'' the movie for the same reasons liberals hated it.

* FirstInstallmentWins: The first film is easily the one that has retained the greatest stature in pop culture, to the point that some people forget that "Go ahead, make my day" [[BeamMeUpScotty didn't originate from it]].

* TearJerker: The mother of Charlie Russell reacting to her son's brutal murder, mentioning that he was only 10 years old. You want to give the poor woman a hug. Plus, the discovery of Anne Mary Deacon's naked corpse.

** The torture scene described as "downright horrific" on the main page can just as easily be seen as a tad silly due to Scorpio's [[EvilIsHammy hysterical, overdone blubbering]]. Also, his [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONZrE-BjFVI scream when stabbed]] is ''hilarious''.

* LoveToHate: Scorpio is a [[WouldHurtAChild shit]]-[[DirtyCoward tier]] [[RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil human]] [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain being]], but go to ''any'' Website/YouTube video with him in it and you'll see people who still think that Creator/AndrewRobinson plays the best movie psycho ever for how scary yet charming he is.

* CompleteMonster: [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Charles Davis]], better known as the [[SerialKiller Scorpio Killer]], is a [[AxCrazy psychotic madman]] who kills for money, but mainly for his own amusement. After sniping a swimming woman, he demands $100,000 in payment or he will continue his killing spree. After he is foiled in another killing attempt, he [[WouldHurtAChild murders a young boy]] and then tries to kill a priest, killing a police officer in the process. He then kidnaps a 14-year-old girl and buries her alive, demanding a ransom in exchange for her life. When "Dirty" Harry Callahan arrives with the money, Scorpio strikes him down and reveals that [[ILied he was going to let the girl die anyways]] before trying to murder Harry out of sheer cruelty, and shooting his partner Chico Gonzalez when he rescues Harry. The police find the girl, but are unable to save her life. Scorpio's final gambit is to hold a school bus full of children hostage, planning to kill them all. Upon being foiled by Callahan, Scorpio threatens to shoot a young boy fishing.

* ThirdActStupidity: [[spoiler: After spending the entire movie dominating the Police and getting everything he wants Scorpio panics because Harry jumps on the school bus. If he had just used the many child hostages at his disposal or realized that there wasn’t much Harry could do on top of the bus he likely would’ve gotten away on the plane he demanded.]]

* FailureHero: [[spoiler: Ultimately Harry doesn’t accomplish much in the movie. He prevents the Priest from getting killed, but Scorpio gets away and kills a Police Officer. He’s not able to save the girl and by torturing Scorpio to try to find out where she is he ends up getting the confession tossed allowing him to go free. The only reason Harry is able to stop him at the end is because [[ThirdActStupidity Scorpio panics]]. It’s a miracle none of the kids on the bus were killed.]]

* DesignatedHero: Some accuse Harry of being this, due to him constantly disregarding police protocol.
* FailureHero: Harry doesn’t really accomplish anything throughout the movie. He does save the Priest, but another officer is killed in the process and Scorpio gets away. When he tortures Scorpio for info about the girl it forces the DA to drop all charges since the confession was coerced and the girl dies anyway. Ultimately he only kills Scorpio after he panics and focuses all his attention on Harry instead of the numerous hostages he has at his disposal.

** Near the end of the film, Scorpio picks up his gun in an attempt to shoot Harry, despite not being sure if the latter has any bullets left, and ends up being killed by Harry as a result. Was it because Scorpio was cocky enough to think he could kill Harry? Or was it because Scorpio realized it was the end of the line for him and decided to pull a SuicideByCop in order to avoid spending the rest of his life is prison?

* CommonKnowledge: No, Harry did not [[spoiler:quit the police force at the end of the first movie]] though it’s understandable why people think that. Director Creator/DonSiegel has stated that [[spoiler:Harry throwing his badge into the water]] was meant to symbolize his disgust with the law and how it lets people like Scorpio roam free.
** The belief that the first movie glorifies [[CowboyCop Cowboy Cops]] is also untrue. ''Dirty Harry'' is a case of an UnbuiltTrope and actually [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructs]] the idea that one has to break the rules to get things done. [[spoiler:The film actually ends with Harry [[BittersweetEnding lamenting his violent antics after shooting Scorpio dead.]]]]

** According to Creator/ClintEastwood, he and Don Siegel themselves had different takes on the character, with Eastwood viewing Harry as a coarse but essentially heroic figure and Siegel treating him as barely better than Scorpio himself. Recognizing that their differing political views influenced their perspectives on Harry, Eastwood and Siegel never explicitly discussed how the film should portray him, allowing viewers to decide for themselves.

* CommonKnowledge: No, Harry did not [[spoiler:quit the police force at the end of the first movie]] though it’s understandable why people think that. Director Don Siegel has stated that [[spoiler:Harry throwing his badge into the water]] was meant to symbolize his disgust with the law and how it lets people like Scorpio roam free.

* CommonKnowledge: No, Harry did not [[spoiler:quit the police force at the end of the first movie]] though it’s understandable why people think that. Director Don Siegel has stated that [[spoiler:Harry throwing his badge into the water]] was meant to symbolize his disgust with the law and how it lets people like Scorpio to roam free.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: The district attorney drops the case against Scorpio after Harry [[spoiler:beat a confession out of him.]] The film portrays treats this situation as JerkassHasAPoint, however, Harry also legally confiscated a submachine gun that was most likely unregistered seeing as Scorpio didn’t have it after. That alongside the attempted murder of Harry and Chico would’ve put Scorpio behind bars for the rest of his life. Dropping the case was completely unnecessary.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Despite Siegel and Eastwood disavowing any political intent, the film was ''extremely'' controversial when released. Critics (notably Creator/PaulineKael) attacked it as a "fascist" endorsement of police brutality, the [=ACLU=] and other liberal organizations picketed its premiere, and the press savaged it both for its alleged politics and graphic violence. However, this backlash redounded to its benefit, as conservative viewers (including police organizations and UsefulNotes/RichardNixon, who invited Eastwood to the White House after seeing it) ''loved'' the movie for the same reasons liberals hated it.

** [[spoiler:It should be noted that nothing he did was actually effective either. The shootout on the roof saved the Priest but got a Police Officer killed. His actions in apprehending Scorpio at Kezar Stadium did not save the girl, and worse yet made it impossible for the DA to make a case against him. Finally it's only because Scorpio panicked on the bus that he's able to kill him at the end.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: The Scorpio Killer, some loved Creator/AndrewRobinson's convincing and maniacal portrayal of a psychopathic serial killer, others found him to be a boring, [[FlatCharacter one dimensional]], StrawCharacter.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: an [[InvertedTrope Inversion]]. The district attorney drops the case against Scorpio after Harry [[spoiler:beat a confession out of him.]] The film portrays treats this situation as JerkassHasAPoint, however, Harry also legally confiscated a submachine gun that was most likely unregistered seeing as Scorpio didn’t have it after. That alongside the attempted murder of Harry and Chico would’ve put Scorpio behind bars for the rest of his life. Dropping the case was completely unnecessary.