Harry Callahan (character)
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| Inspector Harry Callahan | |
|---|---|
 Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry |
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| First appearance | Dirty Harry |
| Last appearance | The Dead Pool |
| Created by | Harry Julian Fink R.M. Fink |
| Portrayed by | Clint Eastwood (All movies) |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Dirty Harry, Cold-Bold Callahan |
| Aliases | Larry Dickman |
| Gender | Male |
| Date of birth | August 3, 1930(1930-08-03) San Francisco, California, United States |
| Occupation | Police officer |
| Title | Inspector |
| Spouse(s) | Mrs. Callahan (deceased) |
Harold Francis "Dirty Harry" Callahan is a fictional San Francisco Police Department inspector in the films Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). Clint Eastwood plays Callahan in all five films.
From his debut in Dirty Harry, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: someone who doesn't hesitate when crossing professional and ethical boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice. The "Dirty Harry" archetype does not shy away from killing, either; all of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals. He justifies such conduct by saying that it "gets results" in cutting down crime. This rationale rarely impresses his superiors, who have threatened Callahan with suspension and firing many times.
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Weapons
Callahan's signature weapon is a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver, which he uses in all of the films. The gun's prominence in the films instantly popularized it. He said he shot .44 Special loads, because it gave him "better accuracy and control in a gun this size". Additionally, in Sudden Impact, Callahan used a .44 AutoMag (pistol). Contrary to popular belief, it was not an AMT firearm, but an original AMP Auto Mag built specifically for that film.[1]
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".
Character
In Dirty Harry, Callahan explains the origins of his nickname: he gets stuck with "every dirty job that comes along." Callahan has little use for many of the official rules of police conduct, dismissing them as "red tape" and loathes the court system that lets the criminals get away with their crimes. For Callahan, everything is black and white: there are good guys and there are bad guys, and the bad guys must be punished. This creates a conflict between Callahan and the court systems, which frequently causes a vicious cycle: he catches bad guys, the courts release them because he did not comply with procedure, he must catch them again.
Callahan adheres absolutely to his own code of ethics. He is completely incorruptible, is devoted to protecting and avenging the victims of violent crime and when pursuing criminals, tries to minimize the danger for innocent bystanders as much as possible. Even so, his fight against criminals is ferocious and merciless and he shows no hesitation or remorse at killing them. He is routinely depicted in virtually all of the films as being a superb marksman and formidable hand-to-hand combatant.
What is more, he's ready to oppose his own brethren when necessary. For example, in Magnum Force he resolves to bring to justice a renegade cabal of police officers who act as a self-appointed death squad. It might be noted, however, that at first Callahan does not appear to disapprove of the renegades' methods. When a superior shows him a morgue full of dead bodies, tells him the crimes the victims committed and the fact that someone is "putting the courts out of business", Callahan answers: "So far you've said nothing wrong". He only appears to go against them when his friend Charlie McCoy is killed by one of them who was anxious not to have a witness to his crimes.
Personal life
There is little revealed about Callahan's personal background except in the first film, in which the detective mentions he was once married but that his wife was killed by a drunk driver, she briefly appears in a sequel only within an old photograph that Harry usually turns around. With regards to his origin, the doctor tending to him after the first film's bank robbery intimates that "us Potrero Hill boys gotta stick together." In the film's novelization, it is explained that Callahan grew up in this neighborhood and mentions a hostile relationship between the police and the residents of the neighborhood: Callahan mentions once throwing a brick at a cop, who picked it up and threw it back at him. Through the following sequel afterwards, it's revealed that Harry does live within the city in a small studio apartment, possibly near Chinatown or Nob Hill. It is also revealed in "Magnum Force" that Harry served in the military, when his friend Charlie McCoy said that "We should have done our 20 in the Marines", meaning that instead of becoming cops, they should have stayed in the Marine Corps and retired at 20 years, indicating that they served together. There is further evidence of Harry's service in the Marine Corps in The Dead Pool. A coffee mug on Harry's desk at the police station bears the United States Marine Corps logo.
Legacy
Harry Callahan was voted the 17th greatest movie hero ever in American Film Institute's AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains list.[2]
Callahan is considered a film icon, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry," has entered the lexicon as slang for ruthless police officers. In particular, he is well-known for one of the most quoted (and parodied) speeches in film history, from Dirty Harry:
| “ | I know what you're thinking: 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' But to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I've kinda lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk? | ” |
This monologue has been referenced countless times in pop culture.
Another iconic Dirty Harry line came from Sudden Impact, when Callahan stood down a robber holding an innocent woman hostage:
| “ | Go ahead, make my day. | ” |
, as if to suggest that killing a bad guy was exactly what he needed to feel better. This quote ranked #6 on AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes. The "Do I feel lucky?" quote came in at #51.
Partners
- Tom Fanducci
- Fred Dietzik
- Frank DiGiorgio (Dirty Harry and The Enforcer)
- Chico Gonzalez (Dirty Harry)
- Earlington "Early" Smith (Magnum Force)
- Kate Moore (The Enforcer)
- Horace King (Sudden Impact)
- Al Quan (The Dead Pool)
In the first and last films, Dirty Harry and The Dead Pool, Callahan states that almost all of his partners either end up dead or in the hospital. This is in fact true, as Al Quan and Chico Gonzalez are the only of Harry's partners to end up in the hospital while everyone else is killed. Fred Dietrich is also as mentioned as being in the hospital with a bullet wound. DiGiorgio is the only of Harry's partners to not have been killed as a direct nor indirect result of his partnership.
Dietrich and Fanducci are the only of Harry's partners never to appear on screen other than just be mentioned by him in the first film.
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 by now. On Late Show with David Letterman, he also joked that his character would have to chase the crooks with a walker.
- In Magnum Force, Harry's last name Callahan is misspelled as "Calahan" in the end credits.
- In all five films combined, Harry has killed 43 criminals total.
- Eastwood good-naturally reprises Harry's "do you 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 Phillip Rock's novelization to Dirty Harry, Harry's middle name is Francis. It is also mentioned that Harry once had a detective partner nicknamed "Lucky Sam" Fleming.
Parodies
- Easily the most famous parody of "Dirty Harry" Callahan is Alan Spencer's cult TV series "Sledge Hammer!" 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. 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 Rasche, as a Senator in his acclaimed directorial effort "Flags of Our Fathers (film)".
- In the movie Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, the main character Borat Sagdiev (Sacha Baron Cohen) goes to a gun store to get protection from Jews. He asks the store manager what is the best gun to defend against Jews, and the manager ironically gives him a Desert Eagle pistol, which is an Israeli made handgun (and used by Mack Bolan, not Dirty Harry). Borat goes on to say, "I feel like movie star Dirty Harold. Come on, make my day, Jew."
- The television character of "McGarnagle" on The Simpsons is an obvious parody of Harry Callahan. McGarnagle has little concern for the safety of others, refuses orders from his own chief, and even sounds like Harry. One of the best examples of this is when he is informed of a young boy being killed violently, to which he simply replied "Hey, I'm trying to eat lunch here!"
- In the movie Bruce Almighty, the character portrayed by Jim Carey when he first discovers his powers he pulls out a .44 Magnum and keys the phrase ".44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world," with a Dirty Harry like look to him.
- In Recess, the character Mr. E had the characteristics and physical appearance of Dirty Harry in the episode "The Subtitute."
- In Miss Congeniality, the heroine is referred to as "Dirty Harriet" when she first meets the beauty consultant, played by Michael Caine.
- One of Callahan's memorable quotes from the film Dirty Harry is parodied in The Naked Gun.
- Callahan's "Do you feel lucky" quote from the film Dirty Harry is parodied in The Mask.
- In Big Trouble in Little China, the main character is given a 44 Magnum and the man who gave it to him says, "Use this. It will make you feel like Dirty Harry."
- The entire "most powerful handgun in the world" speech is parodied in Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, when Captain Samuel Vimes threatens a rioting mob with a swamp dragon. In addition, the motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is dog Latin for "Make my day, punk." In The Art of Discworld, Pratchett notes that Paul Kidby draws Vimes to resemble Clint Eastwood.
- In the video game World of Warcraft, one of the NPCs in Shattrath City is named Dirty Larry.
- The Warhammer novel Beasts In Velvet by Jack Yeovil (Kim Newman) stars "Filthy" Harald Kleindeinst, a former captain in the Altdorf Dock Watch who is forced into retirement for killing the "wrong" man (i.e., the Prince's murderous son).
- Callahan is acknowledged by comics writer John Wagner as the inspiration for the character of Judge Dredd.
- In the film Raw Justice, made in 1994, David Keith plays Mace, another maverick, hard-nosed cop who is always at odds with his colleagues and the system; however, he is made to look a bit ridiculous, such as in scenes where he is dressed in drag. A man he is supposed to protect and who has spent most of the film as a fearful coward (Robert Hays) turns out to be a skilled martial artist; and it is he and not Mace who gets the girl, Pamela Anderson.
- In 2005, World Wrestling Entertainment produced a series of parody film trailers for the event Wrestlemania 21 whose theme was "WrestleMania goes Hollywood". In the one based on Dirty Harry, pro wrestler The Undertaker portrayed Callahan, doing a recreation of his famous "Do I Feel Lucky" speech.
See also
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
References
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