History YMMV / DirtyHarry

* NightmareFuel: The first film's full of it.
** Most (if not all of it) can be traced to Scorpio. The guy starts out with a murder of a woman that wouldn't be out of place in a TV-PG rated crime procedural today, but quickly moves on to killing a child (using NWordPrivileges in the process) by blowing away part of his face.
** Then he targets a gay black male, but fails to kill him. The scene in which he targets him is tense and full of ParanoiaFuel, due to the fact that the victim does not expect a psychopath suddenly and violently killing him in a public area with friends.
** He murders a young black boy by blowing off his face. Thankfully, this isn't shown, but FacialHorror is strongly implied.
** Then he demands $200,000 ($1.2 million today) for a teenage girl he kidnapped, describing her body in a chilling letter that was sent with a lock of her hair and a [[TheToothHurts fucking tooth]].
** In order to save the girl, Harry needs to answer several payphones throughout the city in a sick, twisted game that ends with Scorpio brutally assaulting Harry and saying that he's going to kill him and let the girl die anyway. NightmareRetardant comes in when Harry stabs the guy in the leg (see Narm description for a nice link).

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments: When Harry finally kills Scorpio, ending his rampage. Audiences leapt to their feet and ''cheered''.
* CompleteMonster: [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Charles Davis]], better known as [[SerialKiller The Scorpio Killer]], is a [[AxCrazy psychotic madman]] who kills for money, but mainly [[ForTheEvulz 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]] by blowing off his face and then makes an attempt to kill a priest, [[CopKiller 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. The girl is implied to have been raped by characters in the film and in a letter from Scorpio in which he claims she has "nice tits" and a mole on her thigh. When [[TheHero Harry Callahan]] arrives with the money, Scorpio strikes him down and reveals [[ILied that he was going to let the girl die anyways]]. The police find the girl, but are unable to save her life, finding her lifeless and naked. 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. He finally attempts to shoot Callahan before being shot dead. [[DirtyCoward Cowardly]] and {{sadist}}ic, Scorpio provides a contrast with [[CowboyCop loose cannon cop]] Harry Callahan, who, despite his methods, ultimately aimed to give criminals apt punishments when the bureaucratic justice system wouldn't.

** In order to save the girl, Harry needs to answer several payphones throughout the city in a sick, twisted game that ends with Scorpio brutally assaulting Harry and saying that he's going to kill him and let the girl die anyway. NightmareRetardant comes in when Harry [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONZrE-BjFVI stabs the guy in the leg]].

** He murders a young black boy by blowing off his face.
** Then he demands $200,000 ($1.2 million today) for a teenage girl he kidnapped, describing her body in a chilling letter that was sent with a lock of her hair and a '''''fucking tooth.'''''

* CompleteMonster: [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Charles Davis]], better known as [[SerialKiller The Scorpio Killer]], is a [[AxCrazy psychotic madman]] who kills for money, but mainly [[ForTheEvulz 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 makes an attempt to kill a priest, [[CopKiller 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 [[TheHero Harry Callahan]] arrives with the money, Scorpio strikes him down and reveals [[ILied that he was going to let the girl die anyways]]. 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. He finally attempts to shoot Callahan before being shot dead. [[DirtyCoward Cowardly]] and {{sadist}}ic, Scorpio provides a contrast with [[CowboyCop loose cannon cop]] Harry Callahan, who, despite his methods, ultimately aimed to give criminals apt punishments when the bureaucratic justice system wouldn't.

* MostWonderfulSound: Harry's gun firing. So much that it was used in ''Film/TheTerminator'' (Orion Pictures version), ''Film/DeathWish3'' (Paul Kersey's .475 Wildey Magnum), ''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), and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (Mii Koryuji's Dragon Jewel rifle in the opening).

* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Many viewers agree with Harry's tough, aggressive methods, whereas others seem to find fascist undertones in the film.

* MostWonderfulSound: Harry's gun firing. So much that it was used in ''Film/TheTerminator'' (Orion Pictures version), ''Film/DeathWish3'' (Paul Kersey's .475 Wildey Magnum), ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'' (the player's default gun), ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' (Barry Burton's gun in the FMV intro), and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (Mii Koryuji's Dragon Jewel rifle in the opening).

* MostWonderfulSound: Harry's gun firing. So much that it was used in ''Film/DeathWish3'' (Paul Kersey's .475 Wildey Magnum), ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'' (the player's default gun), ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'' (Barry Burton's gun in the FMV intro), and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' (Mii Koryuji's Dragon Jewel rifle in the opening).

* MostWonderfulSound: Harry's gun firing. So much that it was used in ''Film/DeathWish3'', ''VideoGame/LethalEnforcers'', ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil1'', and ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Despite Siegel and Eastwood disavowing any political intent, ''Dirty Harry'' was ''extremely'' controversial when released. Critics (notably Pauline Kael) 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 questionable 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.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Despite Siegel and Eastwood disavowing any political intent, ''Dirty Harry'' was ''extremely'' controversial when released. Critics (notably Pauline Kael) attacked it as a "fascist" endorsement of police brutality, the [=ACLU=] and other liberal organizations picketed its premiere, and the press gsavaged it both for its questionable 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.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Despite Siegel and Eastwood disavowing any political intent, ''Harry'' was ''extremely'' controversial when it first came out. Critics (notably Pauline Kael) attacked it as a "fascist" endorsement of police brutality, the [=ACLU=] and other liberal organization picketed its premiere, and the press generally savaged it both for its questionable politics and graphic violence. However, this backlash redounded to its benefit, as many 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.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The most powerful handgun in the world. In fairness, the claim is only made in the initial movie, but an upgrade is made to the .44 [=AutoMag=] in ''Sudden Impact''. Given that handguns have gone up to impractical calibres even for action movies, he goes back to his famous S&W revolver for ''The Dead Pool''.

* 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" didn't originate from it.

* CompleteMonster: [[[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Charles Davis]], better known as [[SerialKiller The Scorpio Killer]], is a [[AxCrazy psychotic madman]] who kills for money, but mainly [[ForTheEvulz 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 makes an attempt to kill a priest, [[CopKiller 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 [[TheHero Harry Callahan]] arrives with the money, Scorpio strikes him down and reveals [[ILied that he was going to let the girl die anyways]]. 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. He finally attempts to shoot Callahan before being shot dead. [[DirtyCoward Cowardly]] and {{sadist}}ic, Scorpio provides a contrast with [[CowboyCop loose cannon cop]] Harry Callahan, who, despite his methods, ultimately aimed to give criminals apt punishments when the bureaucratic justice system wouldn't.

* CompleteMonster: [[AxCrazy Charles Davis]], better known as [[SerialKiller The Scorpio Killer]], is a psychotic madman who kills for money and [[ForTheEvulz his own amusement]]. After sniping a swimming woman, he demands $100 000 in payment or else he will continue his killing spree. After he is foiled of another killing attempt, he [[WouldHurtAChild murders a young boy]] and then makes an attempt to kill a priest, [[CopKiller 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 [[TheHero Harry Callaghan]] arrives with the money, Scorpio strikes him down and reveals [[ILied that he was going to let the girl die anyways]]. 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 Callaghan, Scorpio threatens to shoot a young boy fishing. He finally attempts to shoot Callaghan before being shot dead. [[DirtyCoward Cowardly]] and {{sadist}}ic, Scorpio contrasted with loose cannon cop Harry Callaghan, who ultimately cared for the justice bureaucratic systems that often fail to deliver when giving criminals apt punishments.

* CompleteMonster: The Scorpio Killer, with his nerve-screeching laugh, [[SmugSnake smug]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] demeanor ("I have the right to a lawyer!") and sick [[ForTheEvulz sense of fun]] that serves as a contrast for the loose cannon cop Harry Callahan, who still deep down cares for justice bureaucratic systems that often fail to deliver when giving criminals apt punishments. The film starts with Scorpio sniping a swimming woman to death. His [[MoralEventHorizon actual defining moment of sinking low]] is when he kidnaps a 14-year-old girl, hides her in a well with a limited oxygen supply and sends the police a message that the girl will die if the ransom money doesn't drop in time. When Callahan delivers the money, Scorpio hits him from behind and proceeds to tell him that he changed his mind and is going to let the girl die anyway. When the girl is found, she's dead (and it's strongly implied Scorpio repeatedly raped her). Later, Scorpio captures a school bus full of children, planning to [[WouldHurtAChild kill them all]].

* CompleteMonster: The Scorpio Killer, with his nerve-screeching laugh, [[SmugSnake smug]], [[DirtyCoward cowardly]] demeanor (I have the right to a lawyer!) and sick [[ForTheEvulz sense of fun]] thatserves as a contrast for the loose cannon cop Harry Callahan, who still deep down cares for justice bureaucratic systems that often fail to deliver when giving criminals apt punishments. The film starts with Scorpio sniping a swimming woman to death. His [[MoralEventHorizon actual defining moment of sinking low]] is when he kidnaps a 14-year-old girl, hides her in a well with a limited oxygen supply and sends the police a message that the girl will die if the ransom money doesn't drop in time. When Callahan delivers the money, Scorpio hits him from behind and proceeds to tell him that he changed his mind and is going to let the girl die anyway. When the girl is found, she's dead (and it's strongly implied Scorpio repeatedly raped her). Later, Scorpio captures a school bus full of children, planning to [[WouldHurtAChild kill them all]].
* [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: When Harry finally kills Scorpio, ending his rampage. Audiences leapt to their feet and ''cheered''.

* TearJerker: The [[PyrrhicVictory endings]] of ''Dirty Harry'' and ''The Enforcer''.

* {{Sequelitis}}: General consensus seems to be that each film is successively worse than the last, although there are some who argue that ''Sudden Impact'' is better than ''The Enforcer'' was.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: The most powerful handgun in the world. In fairness, the claim is only made in the initial movie, but an upgrade is made to the .44 [=AutoMag=] in ''Sudden Impact''. Given that handguns have gone up to impractical calibre's even for action movies, he goes back to his famous S&W revolver for ''The Dead Pool''.

* [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Crowning Moment Of Funny]]: The candidates for detective evaluation scene in ''The Enforcer''. Especially when Harry tests Kate Moore's knowledge by asking her a hypothetical situation about his supervisor Mrs. Grey (who is in the room) and a shetland pony.
* [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic Crowning Music Of Awesome]]: The ''Magnum Force'' title theme, which was [[CoveredUp remixed]] into ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s "Meet the Sniper" video soundtrack.
* DracoInLeatherPants: Averted in ''Magnum Force,'' John Milius suspected the audience could sympathize with the vigilante cops for doing away from some genuinely deserving scumbags, so he threw in a few scenes of them murdering collateral victims to keep that from happening. In the Ricca killing, the vigilante cop (who could be Davis, but also could be Astrachan, Grimes, or Sweet; they keep you guessing just who it was by not letting you see his face and making his voice generic) executes not just Ricca, but also his driver, his bodyguard, and his attorney. The pool party massacre had a lot of collateral victims, many of whom probably had nothing to do with the organizer of the event. Davis's shooting of the pimp is probably one where you can sympathize for a few moments (because that man clearly deserved the full six rounds of a revolver after what he did to that prostitute). But in the Guzman killing, Davis not only shoots Guzman, but he also shoots two female hangers-on who were in the room with Guzman at the time, and in the getaway also ends up shooting fellow officer Charlie [=McCoy=].
** It also keeps Lt. Briggs from having a StrawmanHasAPoint moment in the car when he tries to defend their actions later (since no, they didn't all deserve it).

* HarsherInHindsight: In ''Magnum Force'', the pimp kills one of his prostitutes in a taxicab with a bottle of drain cleaner. Reportedly, the men who committed the infamous Hi-Fi murders in Ogden, Utah in 1974 had watched this scene numerous times, although when they actually tried it all they managed to do was cause an allergic reaction in their victims. They had to resort to shooting the victims.
* MoralEventHorizon: Scorpio crosses the line when he gleefully shoots children, then keeps moving the bar higher and higher for despicability and brutality when he kills a young African American boy sniper-style (as though he were a member of an enemy army), kills a police officer (disguised as a priest), brutally rapes a teen-aged girl before leaving her to die in a shallow well, blows everyone away inside a liquor store, and then hijacks a school bus, slapping 10- and 11-year-old boys and girls around and brutally shoving the driver nearly out the door while the bus is in motion. Scorpio's final act is taking a child hostage and daring his pursuer – Callahan – to surrender, or the boy will be killed. This time, Callahan wins!
** In ''Magnum Force'', the vigilante cops cross it when they begin murdering innocent women hanging out with the criminals and [[spoiler: Charlie [=McCoy=]]]. Bobby Maxwell crosses it within the first few minutes of ''The Enforcer'', but ''really'' crosses it when he stabs an elderly night watchman in the back, then [[BadBoss shoots a wounded underling]].

*** The mayor's assurance that Scorpio will not be "molested" in any way (likely an example of HaveAGayOldTime).
** In an early scene in ''The Enforcer'', when a criminal gang demands a getaway car, Harry gives them one: he gets in his squad car and rams the shop front where the criminals are holed up, taking them utterly off guard. In a later scene, Harry is chasing an assassin on foot across rooftops, who accidentally falls through a roof window - [[CrashingThroughTheHarem right into a porn film shoot]]. Harry also uses a toilet plunger on an underworld figure's face to extract information from him.

* StrawmanHasAPoint: {{Defied|Trope}} in ''Magnum Force''. It was known audiences would sympathize with the Death Squad, who were murdering genuinely bad people, so they had them murder a few innocent bystanders and hangers-on and a fellow motorcycle cop in the wrong place at the wrong time.

* TearJerker: The [[PyrrhicVictory endings]] of ''Dirty Harry'' and ''The Enforcer''.

* [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMoments Crowning Moment of Awesome]]: When Harry finally kills Scorpio, ending his rampage.

** The explosive RC truck chase in ''The Dead Pool'' gets a lot less riveting when it dawns on you that Harry's driving a massive 8-cylinder sedan and yet somehow has trouble outrunning a ''radio-controlled toy''.