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Harry Callahan (fictional character)
Encyclopedia
Harold Francis "Dirty Harry" Callahan is a fictional San Francisco
police detective
in the Dirty Harry film series
, encompassing Dirty Harry
(1971), Magnum Force
(1973), The Enforcer
(1976), Sudden Impact
(1983), and The Dead Pool
(1988). Callahan is portrayed by Clint Eastwood
in each movie.
From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: someone who does not hesitate to cross professional and ethical
boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice
, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept bureaucracy. The "Dirty Harry" archetype
does not shy away from killing; all of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals. His rationale for such conduct is that it is done with the greater good
in mind: protecting the innocent and victims of crime. Callahan's methods are rarely endorsed by his superiors, who on various occasions have demoted, suspended or transferred him to other departments.
with the San Francisco Police Department
, usually with the Homicide department, although for disciplinary reasons he is occasionally transferred to other less prominent units, such as Personnel (in The Enforcer
) or Stakeout (in Magnum Force
). Callahan's primary concern is protecting and avenging
the victims of violent crime. Though proficient at apprehending criminals, his methods are often unconventional; while some claim that he is prepared to ignore the law and professional and ethical boundaries, regarding them as needless red tape
hampering justice, his methods are usually within the law – he takes advantage of situations that justify his use of deadly force, sometimes almost creating those situations. When a group of men holding hostages in a liquor store in The Enforcer
demand a getaway car, Callahan delivers one by driving the car through the store's plate glass window and then shooting the robbers. Rather than following the rules of the police department, Callahan inserts himself into the scene of the event at a time when the imminent use of deadly force by the criminals justifies his use of deadly force against the criminals. Conversely, in Sudden Impact when he finds out that Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke
), the person responsible for a series of murders in San Francisco and San Paulo, was a rape victim killing her unpunished rapists, he lets her go free, indicating that he feels her retribution was justified.
Callahan went a step further in Dirty Harry: determined to know the location of a 14-year-old girl that serial killer
Charles "Scorpio" Davis has kidnapped and tortured, he ignores Scorpio's pleas for a doctor and a lawyer and pressed his foot on Scorpio's wounded leg until he gave up the location. Callahan was later informed by the District Attorney that due to numerous civil rights violations much of the evidence against Scorpio was inadmissible and he would be released without charge. Callahan explains his outlook to the Mayor, who asked how Callahan ascertains that a man he had shot was intending to commit rape; the inspector responds, "When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross."
While his partners and many other officers respect and admire Callahan, others see him as unfit to serve on the police force. He often clashes with superiors who dislike Callahan's methods, and judges and prosecutors are wary of handling his cases because of frequent violations of the Fourth Amendment
and other irregularities. A police commissioner admits that Callahan's "unconventional methods ... get results", but adds that his successes are "more costly to the city and this department in terms of publicity and physical destruction than most other men's failures." (The publicity makes him well known; in Sudden Impact, the police chief of another city calls him "the famous Harry Callahan.") Callahan is often reprimanded, suspended, and demoted to minor departments. At the start of Magnum Force Lt. Briggs transfers him to stakeout. In The Enforcer Captain McKay assigns him to personnel. In Sudden Impact he is threatened with a transfer to traffic and being fired, and in The Enforcer he begins a 180-day suspension imposed by McKay. According to film critic Roger Ebert
, "it would take an hour in each of these movies to explain why he's not in jail."
The films routinely depict Callahan as being a skilled marksman and strong hand-to-hand combatant. He is a multiple winner of the SFPD's pistol championship. In the five movies, Callahan is shown killing a combined total of 45 criminals, mostly with his trademark revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
, which he describes as "the most powerful handgun in the world." He refuses to join the secret police death squad
in Magnum Force as he prefers the present system, despite its flaws, to the vigilante alternative. In his fight against criminals, however, including the fellow officers on the death squad, Callahan is merciless and shows no hesitation or remorse at killing them.
In Dirty Harry, several explanations are suggested for his nickname. When his partner Chico Gonzalez asks of its origins, Frank DiGiorgio says that "that's one thing about our Harry; [he] doesn't play any favorites. Harry hates everybody: Limeys
, Micks
, Hebes, Fat Dagos
, Niggers
, Honkies
, Chinks
, you name it." After being called to talk down a jumper
, Callahan states he is known as Dirty Harry because he is assigned to "every dirty job that comes along." When Harry is ordered to deliver ransom money to Scorpio, Gonzalez opines "no wonder they call him Dirty Harry; [he] always gets the shit end of the stick."
The movies reveal little about Callahan's personal background. In the first film, Callahan tells his partner's wife that his wife was killed by a drunk driver. She appears in Magnum Force
in an old photograph which Harry turns around. The doctor tending to him after the first film's bank robbery intimates that "us Potrero Hill
boys gotta stick together." The first film's novelization explains that Callahan grew up in this neighborhood and describes a hostile relationship between the police and the residents. Callahan recalls once throwing a brick at a cop, who picked it up and threw it back at him. The following sequels show that Harry lives within the city limits in a small studio apartment, near Chinatown
or Nob Hill. In Magnum Force
Harry's friend Charlie McCoy says "We should have done our 20 in the Marines", indicating that they served together in the armed forces. In The Dead Pool
, a coffee mug on Harry's desk at the police station bears the United States Marine Corps
seal.
revolver
, which he uses in all of the films. The gun's prominence in the films instantly popularized it. The character states the use of a "Light Special", .44 Special
loads (a reference to the fact that .44 special cartridges can be fired in .44 magnum handguns), that he loads himself because it gives him "better accuracy and control in a gun this size". He also states that it's like using Wadcutter
s in a .357 Magnum. Both of these instances show Callahan's erudition in the arena of high-power handguns. The .44 magnum cartridge was developed by Elmer Keith by loading .44 special cartridges with very heavy bullets and amounts of smokeless powder. These heavy loads could, and can, destroy some light-framed .44 special handguns, and so when Remington chose to produce handguns specifically for this cartridge, they made sure the new .44 Magnum cartridges were so long that they would not fit in .44 special revolvers.
Callahan loses hold of his sidearm three times during the course of the series; first in Magnum Force, second in Sudden Impact, then in The Dead Pool. In The Enforcer, Callahan doesn't lose it, however he doesn't employ it to kill the final villain (in favor of a portable rocket launcher). Additionally, in Sudden Impact, Callahan temporarily upgraded to a .44 Automag
. Contrary to popular belief, it was not an AMT firearm, but an original AMP AutoMag built specifically for that film.
In Dirty Harry, he used a Winchester Model 70
bolt action rifle in .458 Winchester Magnum
for the night gunfight with the Scorpio Killer and used a switchblade
during his second encounter with Scorpio. Harry also uses a Colt Python
revolver to obtain ballistics evidence in Magnum Force. Other weapons Callahan uses initially in the final climax of other films include a bomb
, an M72 LAW
rocket launcher and a harpoon
. In one film, Harry's partner Frank DiGiorgio, refers to Harry's gun as a "pocket-cannon".
he mentions that of two unseen partners (Fanducci and Dietrich), one is dead and the other in hospital having been shot. His partner in Dirty Harry, Chico Gonzalez, is shot by Scorpio and though he survives, he decides to quit the police. His partner in Magnum Force
, "Early" Smith is killed by a bomb planted in his mailbox. Kate Moore in The Enforcer
is shot dead by terrorists (and in the process saves Harry's life). In Sudden Impact Horace King is murdered by criminals who were waiting for Harry in his hotel room. Occasional Callahan partner Frank DiGiorgio was also killed, albeit whilst working with another officer. Of all Callahan's partners seen on screen, Quan and Gonzalez are the only two to survive.
Another theme explored in several movies is Callahan being assigned a partner he would instinctively resent being paired with, Chico Gonzalez because he is a rookie
college graduate, and Kate Moore because she is a woman. However, they eventually earn his respect and both go on to save Harry's life.
, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry," has entered the lexicon
as slang for ruthless police officers. Harry Callahan was voted number 23 by Empire Magazine on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters. Callahan was voted the 17th greatest movie hero
on 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
. He was also named one of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture by Entertainment Weekly
. He was also ranked 42nd by Premiere
magazine on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. The character also received recognition from the American Film Institute
. Callahan's trademark weapon, the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
revolver, was named the second greatest movie weapon of all time, behind the lightsaber
from Star Wars
.
On AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
, two of Dirty Harry's famous lines ranked 6th and 51st, respectively:
The former phrase was borrowed by US President
Ronald Reagan
in a March 1985 speech to the American Business Conference. Promising to veto any proposed tax rises, he challenged those who wanted them to: "Go ahead, make my day." It has also given its name to a law in several US states, the Make My Day Law, which protects homeowners who use lethal force against intruders.
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
police detective
Inspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...
in the Dirty Harry film series
Dirty Harry (film series)
Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood...
, encompassing Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
(1971), Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
(1973), The Enforcer
The Enforcer (1976 film)
The Enforcer is a 1976 American film, and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.-Plot:In Marin County,...
(1976), Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact
Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood...
(1983), and The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool is a 1988 American action thriller film about the manipulation of a "dead pool" game by a serial killer, whose efforts are foiled by a hardened detective. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series, set in San Francisco, California and starring Clint Eastwood as...
(1988). Callahan is portrayed by Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
in each movie.
From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: someone who does not hesitate to cross professional and ethical
Ethics
Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality—that is, concepts such as good and evil, right and wrong, virtue and vice, justice and crime, etc.Major branches of ethics include:...
boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice
Justice
Justice is a concept of moral rightness based on ethics, rationality, law, natural law, religion, or equity, along with the punishment of the breach of said ethics; justice is the act of being just and/or fair.-Concept of justice:...
, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept bureaucracy. The "Dirty Harry" archetype
Archetype
An archetype is a universally understood symbol or term or pattern of behavior, a prototype upon which others are copied, patterned, or emulated...
does not shy away from killing; all of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals. His rationale for such conduct is that it is done with the greater good
Consequentialism
Consequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct...
in mind: protecting the innocent and victims of crime. Callahan's methods are rarely endorsed by his superiors, who on various occasions have demoted, suspended or transferred him to other departments.
Biography
Callahan is an InspectorInspector
Inspector is both a police rank and an administrative position, both used in a number of contexts. However, it is not an equivalent rank in each police force.- Australia :...
with the San Francisco Police Department
San Francisco Police Department
The San Francisco Police Department, also known as the SFPD and San Francisco Department Of Police, is the police department of the City and County of San Francisco, California...
, usually with the Homicide department, although for disciplinary reasons he is occasionally transferred to other less prominent units, such as Personnel (in The Enforcer
The Enforcer (1976 film)
The Enforcer is a 1976 American film, and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.-Plot:In Marin County,...
) or Stakeout (in Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
). Callahan's primary concern is protecting and avenging
Revenge
Revenge is a harmful action against a person or group in response to a grievance, be it real or perceived. It is also called payback, retribution, retaliation or vengeance; it may be characterized, justly or unjustly, as a form of justice.-Function in society:Some societies believe that the...
the victims of violent crime. Though proficient at apprehending criminals, his methods are often unconventional; while some claim that he is prepared to ignore the law and professional and ethical boundaries, regarding them as needless red tape
Red tape
Red tape is excessive regulation or rigid conformity to formal rules that is considered redundant or bureaucratic and hinders or prevents action or decision-making...
hampering justice, his methods are usually within the law – he takes advantage of situations that justify his use of deadly force, sometimes almost creating those situations. When a group of men holding hostages in a liquor store in The Enforcer
The Enforcer (1976 film)
The Enforcer is a 1976 American film, and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.-Plot:In Marin County,...
demand a getaway car, Callahan delivers one by driving the car through the store's plate glass window and then shooting the robbers. Rather than following the rules of the police department, Callahan inserts himself into the scene of the event at a time when the imminent use of deadly force by the criminals justifies his use of deadly force against the criminals. Conversely, in Sudden Impact when he finds out that Jennifer Spencer (Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke
Sondra Locke is an American actress, singer and film director.She made her film debut in The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter , for which she was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress...
), the person responsible for a series of murders in San Francisco and San Paulo, was a rape victim killing her unpunished rapists, he lets her go free, indicating that he feels her retribution was justified.
Callahan went a step further in Dirty Harry: determined to know the location of a 14-year-old girl that serial killer
Serial killer
A serial killer, as typically defined, is an individual who has murdered three or more people over a period of more than a month, with down time between the murders, and whose motivation for killing is usually based on psychological gratification...
Charles "Scorpio" Davis has kidnapped and tortured, he ignores Scorpio's pleas for a doctor and a lawyer and pressed his foot on Scorpio's wounded leg until he gave up the location. Callahan was later informed by the District Attorney that due to numerous civil rights violations much of the evidence against Scorpio was inadmissible and he would be released without charge. Callahan explains his outlook to the Mayor, who asked how Callahan ascertains that a man he had shot was intending to commit rape; the inspector responds, "When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross."
While his partners and many other officers respect and admire Callahan, others see him as unfit to serve on the police force. He often clashes with superiors who dislike Callahan's methods, and judges and prosecutors are wary of handling his cases because of frequent violations of the Fourth Amendment
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution
The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution is the part of the Bill of Rights which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures, along with requiring any warrant to be judicially sanctioned and supported by probable cause...
and other irregularities. A police commissioner admits that Callahan's "unconventional methods ... get results", but adds that his successes are "more costly to the city and this department in terms of publicity and physical destruction than most other men's failures." (The publicity makes him well known; in Sudden Impact, the police chief of another city calls him "the famous Harry Callahan.") Callahan is often reprimanded, suspended, and demoted to minor departments. At the start of Magnum Force Lt. Briggs transfers him to stakeout. In The Enforcer Captain McKay assigns him to personnel. In Sudden Impact he is threatened with a transfer to traffic and being fired, and in The Enforcer he begins a 180-day suspension imposed by McKay. According to film critic Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
, "it would take an hour in each of these movies to explain why he's not in jail."
The films routinely depict Callahan as being a skilled marksman and strong hand-to-hand combatant. He is a multiple winner of the SFPD's pistol championship. In the five movies, Callahan is shown killing a combined total of 45 criminals, mostly with his trademark revolver, a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
, which he describes as "the most powerful handgun in the world." He refuses to join the secret police death squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
in Magnum Force as he prefers the present system, despite its flaws, to the vigilante alternative. In his fight against criminals, however, including the fellow officers on the death squad, Callahan is merciless and shows no hesitation or remorse at killing them.
In Dirty Harry, several explanations are suggested for his nickname. When his partner Chico Gonzalez asks of its origins, Frank DiGiorgio says that "that's one thing about our Harry; [he] doesn't play any favorites. Harry hates everybody: Limeys
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
, Micks
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
, Hebes, Fat Dagos
Italian people
The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...
, Niggers
Black people
The term black people is used in systems of racial classification for humans of a dark skinned phenotype, relative to other racial groups.Different societies apply different criteria regarding who is classified as "black", and often social variables such as class, socio-economic status also plays a...
, Honkies
White people
White people is a term which usually refers to human beings characterized, at least in part, by the light pigmentation of their skin...
, Chinks
Chinese people
The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
, you name it." After being called to talk down a jumper
Jumper (suicide)
A jumper, in police and media parlance, is a person who dies by suicide by jumping from a height, or people who have jumped, then survived, often with major injuries and permanent disabilities...
, Callahan states he is known as Dirty Harry because he is assigned to "every dirty job that comes along." When Harry is ordered to deliver ransom money to Scorpio, Gonzalez opines "no wonder they call him Dirty Harry; [he] always gets the shit end of the stick."
The movies reveal little about Callahan's personal background. In the first film, Callahan tells his partner's wife that his wife was killed by a drunk driver. She appears in Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
in an old photograph which Harry turns around. The doctor tending to him after the first film's bank robbery intimates that "us Potrero Hill
Potrero Hill, San Francisco, California
Potrero Hill is a hilly neighborhood in San Francisco, California.-Location:Potrero Hill is located on the eastern side of the city, east of the Mission District and south of SOMA and the newly designated district . It is roughly bordered by 16th Street to the north, Potrero Avenue and U.S...
boys gotta stick together." The first film's novelization explains that Callahan grew up in this neighborhood and describes a hostile relationship between the police and the residents. Callahan recalls once throwing a brick at a cop, who picked it up and threw it back at him. The following sequels show that Harry lives within the city limits in a small studio apartment, near Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
or Nob Hill. In Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
Harry's friend Charlie McCoy says "We should have done our 20 in the Marines", indicating that they served together in the armed forces. In The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool
The Dead Pool is a 1988 American action thriller film about the manipulation of a "dead pool" game by a serial killer, whose efforts are foiled by a hardened detective. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series, set in San Francisco, California and starring Clint Eastwood as...
, a coffee mug on Harry's desk at the police station bears the United States Marine Corps
United States Marine Corps
The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...
seal.
Weapons
Callahan's signature weapon is a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
, which he uses in all of the films. The gun's prominence in the films instantly popularized it. The character states the use of a "Light Special", .44 Special
.44 Special
The .44 Special or .44 S&W Special is a smokeless powder center fire metallic cartridge developed by Smith & Wesson in 1907 as the standard chambering for their New Century revolver, introduced in 1908.-Development history:...
loads (a reference to the fact that .44 special cartridges can be fired in .44 magnum handguns), that he loads himself because it gives him "better accuracy and control in a gun this size". He also states that it's like using Wadcutter
Wadcutter
A wadcutter is a special-purpose bullet specially designed for shooting paper targets, usually at close range and at subsonic velocities typically under 800 ft/s . They are often used in handgun and airgun competitions...
s in a .357 Magnum. Both of these instances show Callahan's erudition in the arena of high-power handguns. The .44 magnum cartridge was developed by Elmer Keith by loading .44 special cartridges with very heavy bullets and amounts of smokeless powder. These heavy loads could, and can, destroy some light-framed .44 special handguns, and so when Remington chose to produce handguns specifically for this cartridge, they made sure the new .44 Magnum cartridges were so long that they would not fit in .44 special revolvers.
Callahan loses hold of his sidearm three times during the course of the series; first in Magnum Force, second in Sudden Impact, then in The Dead Pool. In The Enforcer, Callahan doesn't lose it, however he doesn't employ it to kill the final villain (in favor of a portable rocket launcher). Additionally, in Sudden Impact, Callahan temporarily upgraded to a .44 Automag
AutoMag (pistol)
The .44 Auto Mag pistol is a large caliber semi-automatic pistol. It was designed between 1966 and 1971 by the Auto Mag Corporation to bring .44 magnum power to a semi-automatic pistol....
. Contrary to popular belief, it was not an AMT firearm, but an original AMP AutoMag built specifically for that film.
In Dirty Harry, he used a Winchester Model 70
Winchester Model 70
The Winchester Model 70 is a bolt action sporting rifle. It has an iconic place in American sporting culture and has been held in high regard by shooters since it was introduced in 1936, earning the moniker "The Rifleman's Rifle". The action has some design similarities to Mauser designs and it is...
bolt action rifle in .458 Winchester Magnum
.458 Winchester Magnum
The .458 Winchester Magnum is a belted, straight-taper cased, dangerous game rifle cartridge. It was introduced commercially in 1956 by Winchester and first chambered in the Winchester Model 70 African rifle. It was designed to compete against the .450 Nitro Express and the .470 Nitro Express...
for the night gunfight with the Scorpio Killer and used a switchblade
Switchblade
A switchblade is a type of knife with a folding or sliding blade contained in the handle which is opened automatically by a spring when a button, lever, or switch on the handle or bolster is activated A switchblade (also known as an automatic knife, pushbutton knife, switch, Sprenger, Springer,...
during his second encounter with Scorpio. Harry also uses a Colt Python
Colt Python
The Colt Python is a .357 Magnum caliber revolver formerly manufactured by Colt's Manufacturing Company of Hartford, Connecticut. It is sometimes referred to as a "Combat Magnum". It was first introduced in 1955, the same year as Smith & Wesson's M29 .44 Magnum. The now discontinued Colt Python...
revolver to obtain ballistics evidence in Magnum Force. Other weapons Callahan uses initially in the final climax of other films include a bomb
Bomb
A bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
, an M72 LAW
M72 LAW
The M72 LAW is a portable one-shot 66 mm unguided anti-tank weapon, designed in the United States by Paul V. Choate, Charles B. Weeks, and Frank A. Spinale et al...
rocket launcher and a harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
. In one film, Harry's partner Frank DiGiorgio, refers to Harry's gun as a "pocket-cannon".
Partners
It is a recurring theme in the Dirty Harry movies that Callahan has a high turnover of partners; most are killed or wounded while working with him. In Dirty HarryDirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan....
he mentions that of two unseen partners (Fanducci and Dietrich), one is dead and the other in hospital having been shot. His partner in Dirty Harry, Chico Gonzalez, is shot by Scorpio and though he survives, he decides to quit the police. His partner in Magnum Force
Magnum Force
Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
, "Early" Smith is killed by a bomb planted in his mailbox. Kate Moore in The Enforcer
The Enforcer (1976 film)
The Enforcer is a 1976 American film, and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.-Plot:In Marin County,...
is shot dead by terrorists (and in the process saves Harry's life). In Sudden Impact Horace King is murdered by criminals who were waiting for Harry in his hotel room. Occasional Callahan partner Frank DiGiorgio was also killed, albeit whilst working with another officer. Of all Callahan's partners seen on screen, Quan and Gonzalez are the only two to survive.
Another theme explored in several movies is Callahan being assigned a partner he would instinctively resent being paired with, Chico Gonzalez because he is a rookie
Rookie
Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of their sport or has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her first year of play of...
college graduate, and Kate Moore because she is a woman. However, they eventually earn his respect and both go on to save Harry's life.
| Partner | Movie | Portrayed By | Fate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tom Fanducci | Unseen | Unknown | Killed. |
| Fred Dietrich | Unseen | Unknown | Wounded. |
| Frank DiGiorgio | Dirty Harry Dirty Harry Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan.... , Magnum Force Magnum Force Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series... , and The Enforcer |
John Mitchum John Mitchum John Mitchum was an American actor from the 1940s in films and, later, television. Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut and the younger brother of Julie Mitchum and Robert Mitchum, he initially appeared in only unbilled and extra roles before gradually receiving bigger character parts in middle age... |
Stabbed in the back. |
| Chico Gonzalez | Dirty Harry Dirty Harry Dirty Harry is a 1971 American crime thriller produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first outing as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan.... |
Reni Santoni Reni Santoni Reni Santoni is an American film, television and voice actor.Santoni was born in New York City of French and Spanish descent.He began his career in off-Broadway theatre... |
Wounded by Scorpio and resigned. |
| Earlington "Early" Smith | Magnum Force Magnum Force Magnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series... |
Felton Perry Felton Perry Felton Perry is an American actor. He is known for his role as Inspector Early Smith in the 1973 movie Magnum Force, the second film in the Dirty Harry series. Felton's other well-known role is in the 1987 science fiction movie RoboCop as Donald Johnson, the executive at the corporation Omni... |
Killed by a mail bomb. |
| Kate Moore | The Enforcer The Enforcer (1976 film) The Enforcer is a 1976 American film, and the third in the Dirty Harry film series. Directed by James Fargo, it stars Clint Eastwood as Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, Tyne Daly as Inspector Kate Moore and DeVeren Bookwalter as terrorist leader/main antagonist Bobby Maxwell.-Plot:In Marin County,... |
Tyne Daly Tyne Daly Tyne Daly is an American stage and screen actress, widely known for her work as Detective Mary Beth Lacey in the television series Cagney & Lacey and as Maxine Gray in the television series Judging Amy. She is also known for her role as Alice Henderson in television series Christy... |
Shot with an M16 M16 M16 or M-16 may refer to:Firearms and military equipment* M16 rifle, a United States military rifle* M16 mine, a United States landmine* Grigorovich M-16, a Russian World War I-era biplane flying boat* Stahlhelm, a German World War I helmet... . |
| Horace King | Sudden Impact Sudden Impact Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood... |
Albert Popwell Albert Popwell Albert Popwell, , was an African American actor in television and films from the late 1960s. Born in New York City, Popwell started as a professional dancer before taking up a career in acting... |
Throat slit by a gang. |
| Al Quan | The Dead Pool The Dead Pool The Dead Pool is a 1988 American action thriller film about the manipulation of a "dead pool" game by a serial killer, whose efforts are foiled by a hardened detective. It is the fifth and final film in the Dirty Harry series, set in San Francisco, California and starring Clint Eastwood as... |
Evan C. Kim Evan C. Kim Evan C. Kim is an American actor. He is best known for playing Loo in the 1977 comedy The Kentucky Fried Movie's "A Fistful of Yen" segment, the interpreter Cowboy in the 1978 Vietnam War film Go Tell the Spartans, the erudite caveman Nook in the cult 1981 comedy Caveman, Suki in the 1982 B movie... |
Survived an explosion. |
Cultural recognition
Callahan is considered a film iconIcon
An icon is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity and in certain Eastern Catholic churches...
, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry," has entered the lexicon
Lexicon
In linguistics, the lexicon of a language is its vocabulary, including its words and expressions. A lexicon is also a synonym of the word thesaurus. More formally, it is a language's inventory of lexemes. Coined in English 1603, the word "lexicon" derives from the Greek "λεξικόν" , neut...
as slang for ruthless police officers. Harry Callahan was voted number 23 by Empire Magazine on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters. Callahan was voted the 17th greatest movie hero
Hero
A hero , in Greek mythology and folklore, was originally a demigod, their cult being one of the most distinctive features of ancient Greek religion...
on 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains is a list of the 100 greatest screen characters chosen by American Film Institute in June 2003. It is part of the AFI 100 Years… series. The series was first presented in a CBS special hosted by Arnold Schwarzenegger...
. He was also named one of The 20 All Time Coolest Heroes in Pop Culture by Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
. He was also ranked 42nd by Premiere
Premiere (magazine)
Premiere was an American and New York City-based film magazine published by Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., published between the years 1987 and 2007. The original version of the magazine, Première , was started in France in 1976 and is still being published there.-History:The magazine originally...
magazine on their list of the 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. The character also received recognition from the American Film Institute
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
. Callahan's trademark weapon, the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum
.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
revolver, was named the second greatest movie weapon of all time, behind the lightsaber
Lightsaber
A lightsaber is a fictional weapon in the Star Wars universe, a "laser sword." It consists of a polished metal hilt which projects a blade of light about 1.33 metres long. The lightsaber is the signature weapon of the Jedi order and their Sith counterparts, both of whom can use them for close...
from Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
.
On AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes
Part of the AFI 100 Years... series, AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes is a list of the top 100 movie quotations in American cinema. The American Film Institute revealed the list on June 21, 2005, in a three-hour television program on CBS...
, two of Dirty Harry's famous lines ranked 6th and 51st, respectively:
The former phrase was borrowed by US President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
in a March 1985 speech to the American Business Conference. Promising to veto any proposed tax rises, he challenged those who wanted them to: "Go ahead, make my day." It has also given its name to a law in several US states, the Make My Day Law, which protects homeowners who use lethal force against intruders.
Additional notes
- Callahan's SFPD badge number as briefly seen near the end of the first film is 2211 while his callsign is "Inspector 71".
- In a December 2006 interview Clint Eastwood describes Callahan as living a "retired" life, and often jokes that if he were to reprise the character, Dirty Harry would be flyfishing with the .44 Magnum.44 MagnumThe .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
by now. On Late Show with David LettermanLate Show with David LettermanLate Show with David Letterman is a U.S. late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and is produced by Letterman's production company, Worldwide Pants Incorporated. The show's music director and band-leader of the house band, the CBS Orchestra, is...
, he also joked that his character would have to chase the crooks with a walker. - In Magnum ForceMagnum ForceMagnum Force is a 1973 American police thriller film and the second to feature Clint Eastwood as maverick cop Harry Callahan after the 1971 film Dirty Harry. Ted Post, who also directed Eastwood in TV's Rawhide and the feature film Hang 'Em High, directed the second film in the Dirty Harry series...
, Harry's last name Callahan is misspelled as "Calahan" in the end credits. - In all five films combined, Harry has killed 45 criminals total.
- Eastwood good-naturedly reprises Harry's "do I feel lucky" line in a 2007 television ad promoting tourism in San Francisco, as he is seen golfing and suggests visiting tourists should feel lucky by challenging the city's golf courses.
In popular culture
- Easily the most famous parody of "Dirty Harry" Callahan is Alan SpencerAlan SpencerAlan Spencer is an American television writer and producer, known for creating the 1980s satirical police series Sledge Hammer!. He was one of the youngest people ever to join the Writers Guild of America, writing for television at the age of fifteen...
's cult TV series "Sledge Hammer!Sledge Hammer!Sledge Hammer! is an American satirical police sitcom produced by New World Television that ran for two seasons on ABC from 1986 to 1988. The series was created by Alan Spencer and stars David Rasche as Inspector Sledge Hammer, a preposterous caricature of the standard "cop on the edge" character,...
" where the character is exaggerated into a gun-worshipping buffoon. Nevertheless, as cited in a New York Times review, "Sledge Hammer!" was respectful and even "affectionate" towards the target of its satire. Indeed some of the early episodes have either a subtle nod to the Dirty Harry Series (such as John VernonJohn VernonJohn Keith Vernon was a Canadian actor. He made a career in Hollywood after achieving initial television stardom in Canada.-Early life:...
reprising his role as the Mayor of San Francisco), to full remakes (The episode "Magnum Farce" not only parodies Magnum Force by name but also in the plot). Spencer is an avowed Clint Eastwood fan. It's been indicated that Eastwood himself enjoyed "Sledge Hammer!" and cast the actor who played the title role, David RascheDavid Rasche-Early life and career:Rasche was born in St. Louis, Missouri. His father was a minister and farmer. Rasche started in theatre, but also has appeared on numerous movies and television series. He became a member of the Chicago Second City, after John Belushi moved on to Saturday Night Live...
, as a Senator in his acclaimed directorial effort, Flags of Our FathersFlags of Our Fathers (film)is a 2006 American war film directed, co-produced and scored by Clint Eastwood and written by William Broyles, Jr. and Paul Haggis. It is based on the book of the same name written by James Bradley and Ron Powers about the Battle of Iwo Jima, the five Marines and one Navy Corpsman who were involved...
. - The entire "most powerful handgun in the world" speech is parodied in Guards! Guards!Guards! Guards!Guards! Guards! is the eighth Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, first published in 1989. It is the first novel about the City Watch. The first Discworld computer game borrowed heavily from Guards! Guards! in terms of plot.-Plot:...
by Terry Pratchett, when Captain Samuel VimesSamuel VimesSamuel "Sam" Vimes is a fictional policeman from Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. As of his latest promotion, his full name and title is; "'His Grace, His Excellency, The Duke of Ankh; Commander Sir Samuel Vimes": When serving as Ambassador for Ankh-Morpork, he is also referred to simply as...
threatens a rioting mob with a swamp dragon. In addition, the motto of the Ankh-Morpork City WatchAnkh-Morpork City WatchThe Ankh-Morpork City Watch is a fictional police force within the Discworld series of books by Terry Pratchett. It is based in the city-state of Ankh-Morpork on the Discworld. The Watch was originally two units, the Day Watch and the Night Watch which were combined after the events of Men at Arms...
is dog LatinDog LatinDog Latin, Cod Latin, macaronic Latin, or mock Latin refers to the creation of a phrase or jargon in imitation of Latin, often by directly translating English words into Latin without conjugation or declension...
for "Make my day, punk." In The Art of DiscworldThe Art of DiscworldThe Art of Discworld is a descriptive book of the world of the Discworld as portrayed in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. It showcases the art of Paul Kidby with descriptions of characters and locations by Pratchett and some details of the development of the art by Kidby himself.The book...
, Pratchett notes that Paul KidbyPaul KidbyPaul Kidby is an English artist. He was born in Northolt and is currently living and working in Fordingbridge, New Forest. Many people know him best for his art based on Terry Pratchett's Discworld, which has been included as the sleeve covers since Josh Kirby died in 2001.He drew a lot during...
draws Vimes to resemble Clint Eastwood. - TV series Hunter presents the main character Rick Hunter (Fred DryerFred DryerJohn Frederick "Fred" Dryer is an American actor and former football defensive end in the National Football League . Dryer played 13 years in the NFL, playing 176 games, starting 166, and recording 104 career sacks with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams...
), a cop from Los Angeles whose inspiration is "Dirty Harry". - Callahan is acknowledged by comics writer John WagnerJohn WagnerJohn Wagner is a comics writer who was born in Pennsylvania in 1949 and moved to Scotland as a boy. Alongside Pat Mills, Wagner was responsible for revitalising British boys' comics in the 1970s, and has continued to be a leading light in British comics ever since.He is best known for his work on...
as the inspiration for the character of Judge DreddJudge DreddJudge Joseph Dredd is a comics character whose strip in the British science fiction anthology 2000 AD is the magazine's longest running . Dredd is an American law enforcement officer in a violent city of the future where uniformed Judges combine the powers of police, judge, jury and executioner...
. - Kim NewmanKim NewmanKim Newman is an English journalist, film critic, and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's Dracula at the age of eleven—and alternate fictional versions of history...
's novels set in the WarhammerWarhammer Fantasy (setting)Warhammer Fantasy is a fantasy setting, created by Games Workshop, which is used by many of the company's games. Some of the best-known games set in this world are: the table top wargame Warhammer Fantasy Battle, the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay pen-and-paper role-playing game, and the MMORPG...
role-playing universe feature a former AltdorfAltdorf (Warhammer)Altdorf was the fictional capital city of the human nation called the Empire in the Warhammer Fantasy universe. It is the capital of the Reikland province of the Empire....
watchman named "Filthy" Harald Kleindeinst, who was fired for killing the "wrong" man (a murderer who was also a nobleman) and whose trademark weapon is a "Magnin" throwing knife. - The lecture Callahan received from the mayor about a questionable shooting incident in the first film is spoofed in The Naked GunThe Naked GunThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is a 1988 American comedy film that is the first in a The Naked Gun series of films starring Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and O. J. Simpson...
. - Elements of Harry Callahan along with Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle from the The French ConnectionThe French Connection (film)This article is about the 1971 film. For the British fashion label, see French Connection .The French Connection is a 1971 American crime film directed by William Friedkin. The film was adapted and fictionalized by Ernest Tidyman from the non-fiction book by Robin Moore...
and Jack Carter from Get CarterGet CarterGet Carter is a 1971 British crime film directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine as Jack Carter, a gangster who sets out to avenge the death of his brother in a series of unrelenting and brutal killings played out against the grim background of derelict urban housing in the city of...
were a major influence upon Euston Films LtdEuston FilmsEuston Films was a British film and television production company. It was a subsidiary company of Thames Television, and operated from the 1970s to the 1990s, producing various series for Thames, which were screened nationally on the ITV network...
in the creation of the popular British television police drama series The SweeneyThe SweeneyThe Sweeney is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London...
and in particular its lead character Jack Regan played by John ThawJohn ThawJohn Edward Thaw, CBE was an English actor, who appeared in a range of television, stage and cinema roles, his most popular being police and legal dramas such as Redcap, The Sweeney, Inspector Morse and Kavanagh QC.-Early life:Thaw came from a working class background, having been born in Gorton,...
. - There are many parallels between Dirty Harry and Jack BauerJack BauerJack Bauer is the main protagonist of the American television series 24. His character has worked in various capacities on the show, often as a member of the fictional Counter Terrorist Unit based in Los Angeles, and working with the FBI in Washington, D.C...
, the lead character on the television series 2424 (TV series)24 is an American television series produced for the Fox Network and syndicated worldwide, starring Kiefer Sutherland as Counter Terrorist Unit agent Jack Bauer. Each 24-episode season covers 24 hours in the life of Bauer, using the real time method of narration...
. Like Harry, Bauer is a law enforcement officer with a strong desire to protect innocent civilians, although his actions to that end border on vigilantism as he deals with criminals (or Bauer's case, terrorists) with a "whatever it takesConsequentialismConsequentialism is the class of normative ethical theories holding that the consequences of one's conduct are the ultimate basis for any judgment about the rightness of that conduct...
" attitude and often without regard for rules or legality. As with Callahan, Bauer's actions often bring him into conflict with his superiors and he is variously demoted and sidelined. Both characters emerged at a time when there was growing concern about crime (in the 1970s) and terrorism (in the 2000s). As one critic commented, "It is not hard to imagine Jack Bauer delivering Dirty Harry Callahan’s famous line ["Go ahead, make my day"] from the 1983 film Sudden Impact". - Two of the Lee GoldbergLee GoldbergLee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
novels based on the television series MonkMonk (TV series)Monk is an American comedy-drama detective mystery television series created by Andy Breckman and starring Tony Shalhoub as the titular character, Adrian Monk. It originally ran from 2002 to 2009 and is primarily a mystery series, although it has dark and comic touches.The series debuted on July...
have tributes to Dirty Harry:- In the 2007 novel Mr. Monk and the Blue FluMr. Monk and the Blue FluMr. Monk and the Blue Flu is the third novel by writer Lee Goldberg to be based on the television series Monk. Like the previous two books, the book is narrated by Natalie Teeger, Monk's assistant.-Plot summary:From the jacket summary:...
, by Lee GoldbergLee GoldbergLee Goldberg is an American author, screenwriter and producer, known for his work on several different TV crime series, including Diagnosis: Murder, A Nero Wolfe Mystery, Hunter, Spenser: For Hire, Martial Law, She-Wolf of London, SeaQuest, 1-800-Missing, The Glades and Monk...
, Jack Wyatt (nickname "Mad Jack"), one of the detectives on the skeletal crew that is put under Adrian MonkAdrian MonkAdrian Monk is a fictional character portrayed by Tony Shalhoub and the protagonist of the USA Network television series Monk. He is a renowned former homicide detective for the San Francisco Police Department...
's charge during the SFPD police strike, bears similarities to Dirty Harry. Among other things, he is known to respond to everything from the overly dangerous to the merely annoying with swift violence and a .357 Magnum handgun (for instance, when Monk and Natalie meet Wyatt at one crime scene, they also observe a building fire nearby from a car crashing into a building. The car itself was being driven by a person mugging old women at ATMs, and Wyatt shot out his tires). He is also known to have been terminated after the city lost a number of police brutality cases against him. - Numerous nods to Dirty Harry are present in the 2009 novel Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop: Captain StottlemeyerLeland StottlemeyerCaptain Leland Francis Stottlemeyer is a fictional police officer played by Ted Levine on the American crime drama Monk. He is Captain of the San Francisco Police Department 's Homicide Detail, and a longtime friend of Adrian Monk from their days on the force together where he served as Monk's...
describes former SFPD detective Paul Braddock as a man who "will do anything to make a case, even if it means trampling over people's rights, or over the people themselves," which is just what Harry is known to do in the movies. At some points in the story, Lieutenant Disher speaks with an Eastwoodian accent, giving him the nickname "Dirty Randy". Coincidentally, after Natalie TeegerNatalie TeegerNatalie J. Teeger is a fictional character on the American crime drama Monk. She becomes Adrian Monk's personal assistant midway through the third season of the show...
holds a crooked private investigations agency CEO up at gunpoint (and threatening to shoot him), Stottlemeyer jokingly calls her "Dirty Natalie". - Likewise, in Mr. Monk in Trouble (also published in 2009), while arresting a murder suspect, Randy quotes several of Harry's more famous lines (including "Go ahead, make my day," (from Sudden Impact) "A man's got to know his limitations" (from Magnum Force) and "Do ya feel lucky?" (from Dirty Harry)).
- In the 2007 novel Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu
- In the TV series BottomBottomBottom normally means the base, or the lowest point, of an object or geographic feature. It can also refer to:* Buttocks, portions of the anatomy on the posterior of the pelvic region of apes and humans, and many other bipeds or quadrupeds...
, in the Burglary episode Eddie tells Ritchie he wishes from now on to be called "Dirty Eddie" a clear reference to Dirty Harry. - British virtual band GorillazGorillazGorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
included a track named Dirty HarryDirty Harry (song)"Dirty Harry" is a song from Gorillaz' second album Demon Days. It was the third single from the album, released 21 November 2005. It peaked at #6 in the UK. It was also released as a promo and onto iTunes earlier that year. An early version of "Dirty Harry" titled "I Need a Gun" was included on...
on their second album, Demon Days. The same band released a track named Clint EastwoodClint Eastwood (song)"Clint Eastwood" is a song by Gorillaz. It was released as the first single from their debut album in March 2001. It peaked at #4 in the UK and #57 in the US on 11 September 2001. The single has sold 480,000 copies in the UK according to the Official UK Charts Company. The song is a mix of...
on their debut album GorillazGorillaz (album)Gorillaz is the debut album by the British virtual band Gorillaz, released in March 2001. It includes the singles "Clint Eastwood", "19-2000", "Rock the House" and "Tomorrow Comes Today"...
. - In Back to the Future: The GameBack to the Future: The GameBack to the Future: The Game is a graphic adventure video game based on the Back to the Future film franchise. The game was developed by Telltale Games as part of a licensing deal with Universal Pictures. Bob Gale, co-creator, co-writer and co-producer of the film trilogy, assisted Telltale in...
, Harry Callahan is one of the three aliases Marty McFlyMarty McFlyMartin Seamus "Marty" McFly, Sr. is the protagonist in the Back to the Future film trilogy, and is portrayed by actor Michael J. Fox. Marty was also the protagonist in the animated series where he was voiced by David Kaufman...
can choose. Also during the game Marty says "Go ahead, make my day". - in Bethesda's popular Fallout 3, the player can obtain a unique weapon variant named "Callahan's Magnum" from the Add-On Pack Broken Steel. While the .44 magnums in the game are usaually mounted with a scope this weapon is not.
See also
- Dirty Harry (film series)Dirty Harry (film series)Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood...
- Dirty Harry (NES Game)Dirty Harry: The War Against DrugsDirty Harry: The War Against Drugs, also referred to as simply Dirty Harry on the game's cover and in the in-game menus, is a 1990 video game based on the Dirty Harry film franchise starring Clint Eastwood.-Story:...
- David Toschi (Former SFPD Homicide inspector known for the Zodiac Killer case)