History Film / DirtyHarry

* RareGuns: Scorpio's rifle is an Arisaka No. 2 Paratrooper takedown rifle, but rechambered in .30-'06 and given a sporter stock. Ironically, this makes it virtually worthless from a collector standpoint after the value of Imperial Japanese militaria exploded in the 1990s, since, being one of the rarest rifles in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, it would be worth thousands unmodified.

* WeaponOfChoice: Harry Callahan is famous for using a .44 Magnum revolver, and is responsible for popularizing the revolver as the Weapon Of Choice for badasses everywhere. The size of the weapon reflects his lack of subtlety.

A series of five films starring Creator/ClintEastwood as UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Police Department detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan. He is one of the earliest examples of the CowboyCop. His main weapon is the Smith & Wesson [[HandCannon Model 29 .44 magnum]] [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]].

!!Tropes used:

''Dirty Harry'', the first film from 1971, is credited with inspiring the tone and themes of modern cop films. Creator/ClintEastwood portrays the iconic blunt, cynical, "the buck stops here" kind of law enforcer constantly at odds with his incompetent, [[ByTheBookCop strictly-by-the-book]] bosses. The hero's relentless pursuit of justice kicks, stomps on, and blasts gaping holes through constitutionally protected rights.

It has caused many to accuse the film of carrying a fascist, or at least authoritarian, undertone (compare, for example, with the thematically similar ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' comic and movie franchise). As a result of the controversy surrounding the first film, the sequels tried to balance out the ideology, having Harry's bad guys span the length of the political morality spectrum.

[[AC:Films:]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: The famous "Do I feel lucky?" scene is a huge violation of gun handling protocol as one much always presume the weapon is loaded. Harry sure got lucky that his superiors didn't read him the riot act or severely discipline him for playing games with a hand cannon.
* {{BFG}}: This film sees Harry using a Winchester Model 70, chambered in the massive .458 Winchester Magnum cartridge to try and kill Scorpio in a rooftop shootout. Because of its parabolic trajectory and high recoil, it's a very poor choice for countersniper duties, but fits his personality perfectly.

** Harry's partner, Chico, carries a classically "good" Colt Detective Special, a standard issue police revolver of that era. It helps to establish him as a ByTheBooksCop in comparison to Harry (though [[spoiler:he later goes against orders to aid Harry, getting shot in the process]]).

-->'''Harry Callahan:''' "I know what you're thinking, punk. You're thinking 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Now, to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world and will blow your head clean off, you've gotta ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

* PutDownYourGunAndStepAway: The Scorpio Killer grabs a boy as a hostage; Callahan responds by shooting him in the shoulder (the boy escapes unscathed) and delivering his "Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya', punk?" line before finally taking him out.

* HandCannon: .44 Magnum, "the most powerful handgun in the world". [[note]] In 1971, the statement was true, because although the more powerful .454 Casull had recently been introduced to the market, handguns for that cartridge would not be on the market for another decade, and it didn't become an industry-standard cartridge until 1997.[[/note]]
** Also, somewhat subverted, as in the sequel Film/MagnumForce he tells another officer that he loads it with .44 Special ammunition.

* HollywoodDensity: Two hundred grand in tens and twenties would weigh somewhere between twenty and forty pounds depending on the ratio of denominations. Yes, a man can lift that, but lugging a bag with that much weight in it in one hand while running around the hilly streets of San Francisco in the middle of the night for an hour or more would not be easy.

** Similarly, while the Judge damningly lays out Harry's illegal actions and abuse of Scorpio's rights, he does [[ThrowTheDogABone point out to the D.A.]] that Harry ''was'' trying to save Scorpio's victim within a limited timeframe and that a jury might well sympathize with him because of that.

* RippedFromTheHeadlines: Dirty Harry fought obvious stand-ins for the Zodiac Killer (in ''Dirty Harry'') and the Symbionese Liberation Army (in ''The Enforcer''). This is lampshaded in the 2007 movie ''Film/{{Zodiac}}'', where David Toschi, the detective who served as the inspiration for Dirty Harry (as well as Film/{{Bullitt}}), sees the movie and has to face the fact that RealLife crimes can't be solved by just shooting someone.

* NauseaDissonance: Harry tells someone who is considering jumping off a building that he wants the guy's name, because the mess of a splattered body often makes people hard to identify. The guy says he thinks he's gonna puke, and Harry, who doesn't seem nauseated at all, says "don't do that, not with all those people down there looking up."
* NobleBigotWithABadge In his initial meeting with Gonzales, though this was more hazing the new guy than real bigotry:

This is a series of five films starring Creator/ClintEastwood as UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco Police Department detective "Dirty" Harry Callahan. He is one of the earliest examples of the CowboyCop. His main weapon is the Smith & Wesson [[HandCannon Model 29 .44 magnum]] [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolver]].

* AdultFear:
** Your son being killed only feet away from his home, and the body being found in the bushes.
** Your fourteen-year-old daughter goes to the movies, never comes home and her naked body is found drowned. Scorpio also sent the underwear in the package, implying he sexually assaulted her.
** Your child is on the way to school when the bus is held up by a madman with a gun. [[spoiler: Thankfully these ones make it out okay]].

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: The famous "Do I feel lucky?" scene is a huge violation of gun handling protocol as one much always presume the weapon is loaded. Harry sure got lucky that his superiors didn't read him the riot act for playing games with a hand cannon or severely discipline him.

** The Judge brought in to analyze Harry's actions teaches at the University of California at Berkeley, the surest way in that era of painting someone as an over-permissive liberal. Creator/PaulineKael, a former native of San Francisco, noted in her review how unlikely this would be in real-life and suspected the filmmakers included this specifically to tweak conservative viewers.

* HandCannon: .44 Magnum, "the most powerful handgun in the world". [[note]] In 1971, the statement was true, because although the more powerful .454 Casull had recently been introduced to the market, handguns for that cartridge would not be on the market for another decade.[[/note]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: The famous "Do I feel lucky?" scene is a huge violation of gun handling protocol as one much always presume the weapon is loaded. Harry sure got lucky that his superiors didn't read him the riot act for playing this game with his hand cannon or severely discipline him.

->''"I know what you're thinking: Did he fire six shots? Or only five?"''

->''"Go ahead. Make my day."''

* AntiHero: Dirty Harry himself. From the words of Don Siegel himself:
-->"''I was telling the story of a hard-nosed cop and a dangerous killer. What my liberal friends did not grasp was that the cop is [[NotSoDifferentRemark almost as evil]], in his way, as the sniper.''"

* GotVolunteered: "That's why he's called Dirty Harry."

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: See OffOnATechnicality.
* AxCrazy:
** The Scorpio Killer, in spades.
** Mick the Rapist as well.

* OffOnATechnicality: None of the evidence Harry gets from Scorpio can be used, since he used torture getting it. See HollywoodLaw.