by Ken Johnstone

Created on: May 28, 2009

I still remember the "Dirty Harry" series of movies, starring Clint Eastwood in the leading role, from when they first played in the cinemas from 1971 to 1988. There are five movies in total, starting with the original "Dirty Harry" (1971) and ending with the "Dead Pool" in 1988.

Certain characters have now entered cinema folklore and taken on almost iconic stature. Most everyone will have seen at least one "Rambo" movie with Sly Stallone, or one of the Harrison Ford "Raider" series. And then you have the likes of Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator, Bruce Willis in the "Die Hard" series, and Mel Gibson in "Lethal Weapon". It would be fair to say that Clint Eastwood in the role of Inspector Harry Callaghan, the ultra-cool, hard-nosed San Francisco cop with a penchant for blowing away the bad guys with his .44 Magnum handgun, was most probably the template that most of these characters were based on!

The original Dirty Harry movie that the subsequent series was based on took the movie world by storm back in 1971, and caused a furore in the media worldwide. Back then the star, Clint Eastwood, wasn't the well-known and respected Oscar-winning actor that he is today. In fact, he was best known as a leading actor in Westerns, in particular the "Fistful of Dollars" series, and in the long-playing TV series "Rawhide". (1959 - 1966) So it was a bit of a sea change for Eastwood to take on this role, and also a bit of a gamble. In fact, he WASN'T the first choice for the part, the role originally being offered to Frank Sinatra and a couple of other actors who all turned it down!

So what's the movie about, and why did it cause such a sensation back at the time of its original release in 1971? Well, the plot was simple enough. A serial killer called "Scorpio" is on the rampage in San Francisco, and Inspector Callaghan, the aforementioned Dirty Harry, is assigned to the case. (The plot was loosely based on a series of actual murders that took place in San Francisco by a killer called "Gemini", who in fact was never caught!) Where the controversy begins is with the character of Dirty Harry. He's not at all your conventional cop, the All-American, clean cut good guy. Rather Inspector Callaghan is what could best be described as a loose cannon. A widower, (his wife and child were killed in a car crash with a drunk driver) he is now a total loner and completely immersed in his job, but his methods more resemble those of an out of control vigilante than a member of the

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