Dirty Harry Review

Dirty Harry
Dirty' Harry Callahan is a ruthless cop who'll take whatever means necessary to stop a ruthless killer at large in his city of San Francisco. Oh, and he's carrying a .44 Magnum to do it.

by Bob McCabe |
Published on
Release Date:

01 Jan 1971

Running Time:

102 minutes

Certificate:

18

Original Title:

Dirty Harry

Eastwood debuts his most popular non-western anti-hero in splendid form here, courtesy of Don Siegel's gritty direction and some iconic, oft-quoted talk about the size of Clint's handgun.

As Dirty Harry Callahan, he's willing to stop at nothing to get criminals off the streets. From the opening prelude of a bank robbery and attempted suicide, to the main chase to find a ruthless serial killer who's sniping at random victims, Harry gets the job done.

Along with the macho posturing, Dirty Harry is also a great city movie, with San Francisco used to full effect, and looking especially wonderful in this format.

Eastwood's Harry is iconic for a reason - he's a stunning example of ruthless machismo and armed cool. What's more, quotable lines aside, this remains one of the better cop movies out there.
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