10 Things You Didn't Know About DirtyHarry

in 1971 clint eastwood stepped into the shoes and tweed jacket of harry callahan and an on-screen movie legend was born set in san francisco dirty harry is a mean ruthless police inspector who doesn't always play by the rules in order to get the job done thanks to his often questionable antics however harry's methods are really put to the test when a crazed killer called scorpio starts running havoc in the city resulting in brutal fatalities harry must do what he can to stop this maniac while also having to stay within the boundaries of the bureaucratic guidelines of his law enforcement profession in this fan favorite classic action movie [Music] so get ready to ask yourself how lucky do i feel as we look into 10 things that you didn't know about the original dirty harry so let's check it out punk [Music] [Music] you've got to ask yourself one question do i feel lucky well do you punk number 10. origins of harry [Music] no nonsense san francisco cop harry callahan was the brainchild of husband and wife writing team harry julian fink and rita m think their original script for dirty harry was actually called dead right and unlike the final film in the script the action takes place in new york city the inspiration for the things to write dirty harry was the real life zodiac killings which took place in the late 60s and early 70s with the scorpio character being based on the notorious real-life murderer one theme that the thinks were keen to explore was harry's morality with him working on a blurred line between being a cop and criminal with his actions being questionable to the point where he himself breaks the law but tries to do so in order to do the right thing very similar themes get explored in the batman comics with both the batman and two-faced characters interestingly in the original script it wasn't harry who killed scorpio but a marine sniper but the script increasingly changed in time with up to four scripts being written at one stage the action shifted to seattle till finally the location was settled in san francisco which is where some of the real-life zodiac tragedies actually took place [Music] which i would imagine would have hit a raw and confronting nerf with audiences at the time number nine potential dirty harrys so when it came to harry callahan there is only one actor who could have been the dirtiest of them all and that of course was clint eastwood however he wasn't the original choice for the parts george c scott claims that he was offered the part but turned it down due to the movie's violence at one stage harry was seen as an older character in his late 50s something of a run-down veteran of the force with the likes of john wayne bert lancaster and robert mitchum being considered until it was decided that maybe a slightly younger actor could take on the role with the king of cool himself steve mcqueen being sought after for the role he turned it down to starring fellow crime street thriller bullet but regardless none of these casting possibilities works which caused the production's then producer jennings lang to take the production to a different direction number eight at one stage dirty harry was to be a tv movie [Music] unable to find a lead role for harry callahan producer jennings lang sold the dirty harry script to abc television with the intention of dirty harry to be a made for tv movie now this isn't necessarily a bad thing as also that very same year steven spielberg's duel was also broadcast on abc as a tv movie proving that despite being made for the small screen it could still be a gritty edge of your seat thriller with intensity but without actually having to show excessive violence or blood however abc got cold feet and just felt that the amount of violence that would be required to film dirty harry along with its grim subject matter was just too much for a tv audience so they abandoned the project number seven then warner brothers stepped in [Music] abc then sold the rights of dirty harry to the movie production company warner brothers who would eventually go on to distribute the final film however at the start they had different ideas for dirty harry they hired empire strikes back director ivan kirschner to direct the movie and they also cast frank sinatra in the role of harry sinatra was 55 at the time and fit the original vision of harry being a character in his mid to late 50s also at this time red dawn director john milius was hired to rewrite the script in which he was only given three weeks to do so however as the production went on both ivan kirschner and frank sinatra had walked out of the dirty harry production so basically this was one production which couldn't catch a break and was back to square one number six clint eastwood saves the day word of mouth of the dirty harry script was starting to get around and build some traction paul newman was then approached with the possibility of him playing harry but he recommended a then 41 year old clint eastwood who at the time was most well known for starring as the man with no name in a series of spaghetti westerns at the time of being approached eastwood was working on the final touches of his directorial debut play misty for me eastwood was sent several scripts that had been written during the movie's production eastward wanted to revert back to one of the earlier scripts as at that stage the killer in dirty harry who was called travis not scorpio killed only rich and elite people who had done the wrong thing and escaped justice director don siegel got on board at the request of eastwood as the two had previously worked on three films together and siegel also had some issues with some of the scripts he didn't like the ending where it's a marine sniper who defeats the killer as it robs harry of the journey that he goes on throughout the film so with eastwood and siegel coming on board dirty harry took shape into the movie that we all know along with eastwood's movie production company the male passo company producing the film the movie hero or in this case anti-hero can only be as good as their villain number five a plane crash led to the recasting of scorpio back when dirty harry was to be a frank sinatra vehicle american soldier turned actor odie murphy was the number one choice to play the terrifying villainous scorpio however the casting never happened as murphy sadly passed away in a plane crash james khan was also considered to play but actor andy robinson who eventually played scorpio came on the scene through eastwood despite being an unknown at the time eastwood wanted robinson in the role after seeing him in a play called subject to fitz feeling that robinson could bring out the unhinged nature of the character as well as the character's intensity however playing the part was no easy role for robinson as in real life he didn't like guns and flinched every time he was required to use one while filming his nervous disposition was so evident the production of dirty harry had to come to a temporary halt so robinson could attend gun training despite this robinson is very convincing as a deranged killer so much so the actor actually got death threats in real life of which was so full on he had to get an unlisted telephone number [Music] it's really sad when an actor gets punished for a role that they've played there are actually several actors who have been so good in their villainous roles they would actually go on to get abuse in the real world including william arferton who played walter peck and ghostbusters and tony goldwyn who played carl in ghost number four filming location [Music] so naturally dirty harry was filmed around the city of san francisco which makes sense as that's where the movie is based clint eastwood did all of his own stunts including jumping on the school bus yeah no stunt doubles here that was all eastward clearly the guy has guts the scene where harry tries to talk to a jumper was also done for real in which eastwood travelled up several floors on some machinery no trick photography or studio work that was him really high up there the scene was quite ambitious for its time and directed by eastwood himself what's really curious is a scene where we see harry on the streets of san francisco where we see a movie theater playing play misty for me which was clint eastwood's previous movie now this raises so many questions like play misty for me exists in the dirty harry universe which means clint eastwood himself also exists in this movie's universe so does that mean that harry often gets people telling him that he looks like clint eastwood or at least that he looks like the guy from play misty for me who knows maybe clint eastwood the actor doesn't exist in the harry universe or the harry verse and maybe in his down time harry decided to explore his love of acting and star and play misty for me but after starring in the movie maybe he got embarrassed about his acting career and now he doesn't talk about it number three dirty harry band without a doubt dirty harry is one brutal and intense movie and not for the faint of heart but maybe it was a little too brutal and intense particularly in finland where after the movie's release in that part of the world in 1972 finland banned the movie for its depiction of violence and mental health dirty harry's distributors were not too happy with this and appealed the banning at the finnish supreme administrative court where it was eventually ruled that dirty harry can be shown in theaters provided minor cuts be made however upon returning to the big screen finland banned the movie again which led to yet another court case between dirty harry's distributors and the powers that be behind the movie's cinematic cull the results were yet again ruled in the movie's favor only this time a total of three minutes were required to be cut in order for the movie to return to the screens finally dirty harry hit finnish theatres in 1973 two years after its initial us release however it wasn't all bad news for dirty harry some countries really embraced the movie where dirty harry was even used by the philippines police department for training purposes which is awesome number two the novelization offers more story than we see in the film so there was a novelization of dirty harry written by american author philip rock and there are several differences between the book and the movie including some plot elements that weren't even in the film in the beginning of the book before working on the scorpio case we learned that harry has been investigating a series of muggings that had been taking place in the city and the suicide jumper that we see in the film along with the end scene of harry throwing his badge were not in the book the biggest differences come with the scorpio character as the book explains that his real name is charles davis who has a backstory where as a teenager he murdered his grandparents where he would become a mental patient at massachusetts it's also explained in the book that he uses astrology to determine his next crimes and who his next victim should be the book was working on one of the earlier scripts of dirty harry hence the differences so if you want to experience dirty harry with more detail and backstory then check out the book interestingly one of the scripts also has scorpio as a former vietnam soldier who was traumatized by the horrors that he had witnessed number one dirty box office takings dirty harry shot his way onto the big screen in december 1971 and made 36 million dollars on a four million dollar budget making it the fourth highest grossing movie of 1971 and it was met with praise from critics mainly for clint eastwood's performance and for being a gritty thriller although some felt that the story was a bit dumb and far-fetched but overall is still saved thanks to clint eastwood's intensity there was however negative backlash and controversy surrounding the movie's release as it sparked up many discussions revolving around the nature of law enforcement police brutality and human rights despite this dirty harry has increased in popularity and recognition in time with it being a template for gritty street crime thrillers and action movies that followed with harry often being considered as the original movie tough guy the movie has frequently received recognition by the american film institute and is also considered a landmark of 1970s cinema what totally sells dirty harry is clint eastwood his fed up and no-nonsense demeanor can be appreciated as being observed as a cop who has witnessed a lot of grisly crimes in the city's mean streets a man molded by a dark and dirty occupation which has left him playing rough and bending the rules which makes his actions questionable but also relatable underneath his mean exterior is a man whose heart is generally in the right place and wants to do good but in trying to bypass the bureaucratic nature of his profession leaves him conflicted and questionable as mentioned questions like does the ends justify the means which in all tense and purposes makes harry a very interesting third-dimensional character flawed but interesting harry is heroic and brave but the means in which he reaches those heroics makes him for lack of a better word dirty if you want a gritty street crime thriller then definitely check out dirty harry it definitely goes straight in for the kill and doesn't mess about it takes you right into the belly of the beast of the brutal world that it creates making an intense cinematic experience anyway i'm minty and a lot of people actually think that the line go ahead make my day is from dirty harry but it's actually not it's actually a line from the fourth dirty harry movie sudden in pack you know just throwing it out there see [Music] ya [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Minty Comedic Arts

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Length: 15min 37sec (937 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 05 2021