Dirty Harry (Special Edition) > Reviews > Dirty Harry faces a crazed sniper named Scorpio.

Author's product rating:   

Did you enjoy it?	Loved it
Story	Good
Characters / Performances	Good
Special Effects	Standard
Soundtrack	Good

Advantages:	Clint Eastwood at his best .
Disadvantages:	None to list .

Recommend to potential buyers:

yes

Full review

This has got to be one of my favourite films. This is a good old fashioned police detective thriller, with plenty of action.

Clint Eastwood plays Inspector Harry Callahan, nicknamed 'Dirty Harry' due to his disregard for rules. When he sets his sights on a criminal, he nails 'em.

This is the first of the Dirty Harry series, and in this film, Harry and the San Francisco police department face a lunatic sniper who names himself 'Scorpio' (Andy Robinson) . At the start of the film, Scorpio shoots dead a young woman who is taking a swim in a rooftop swimming pool. Scorpio demands a ransom of $100,000 or he will continue to kill one person per day.

Harry is given a new partner in the form of Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni). Harry's last partner is still in hospital with a bullet in his gut.

Harry and Chico's efforts to capture Scorpio fail numerous times, and Scorpio ups the stakes when he kidnaps a 14 year old girl and buries her alive. His demand is simple. Pay me $200,000 or the girl dies.

This Scorpio is a real lunatic, as throughout the film he goes on to kidnap a schoolbus of kids and threatens to kill all of them, and also pays to have himself beaten to a pulp so he can frame Harry Callahan for police brutality. It really is a pleasure to see Scorpio meet his demise.

There are some comical moments throughout the film. One is where Harry is asked to talk down a suicide jumper. Harry succeeds by winding the guy up, and then punches him. Also the Dirty Harry classic line is used twice in this film -

'I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? To tell the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But 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?'

A brilliant film with good solid performances from the cast, and classy scenic shots of San Francisco. There is some violence in the film, (critics in the past deemed this film to be too violent), but it is mild in comparison to what is shown in today's films.

This DVD is presented by the Warner Brothers 'Iconic Films' range, and is a special edition. The features presented on this DVD are as follows:

> Behind the scenes documentary 'Dirty Harry's Way'.
> Interview Gallery.
> New Documentary 'Dirty Harry The Original' (30 mins).
> Trailer.
> Scene Selection.
> Interactive Menu

I bought this DVD at Sainsbury's for £8.99, so you can get it pretty cheap if you look around. The cheapest I've found on the net is £4.99 from Blah DVD, (as of 8/05).