Movies - Harry Callahan

Home > Listing Index > Movies > Harry Callahan (fictional character)

	Movies - Harry Callahan

Harry Callahan is an Irish-American San Francisco detective in the films Dirty Harry
, The Enforcer, Magnum Force
, Sudden Impact
, and The Dead Pool
. Callahan is played in all five films by Clint Eastwood.

From his debut in Dirty Harry, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: a borderline vigilante, eager to cross professional and ethical boundaries to pursue their own vision of justice. The "Dirty Harry" prototype does not shy away from killing, either; the body count in all of the Dirty Harry films are huge, and Callahan sometimes commits what could be seen as murder in other circumstances (e.g., killing the disarmed Scorpio in Dirty Harry). He justifies such conduct by saying that it "gets results" in cutting down crime. This rationale is often ineffective on his superiors, who have threatened Callahan with suspension and firing many times.

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.

While Callahan has little use for many of the official rules of police conduct, dismissing them as "red tape," he 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.

Callahan is considered a film icon, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry," has entered the lexicon as slang for unstable, unethical, or corrupt police officers, not to mention individuals who commit insubordination for a cause. In particular, he is well-known for one of the most quoted (and parodied) monologues in film history, spoken in Dirty Harry:

"Ah Ah, I know what you're thinking. 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Well, 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, along with Robert De Niro's "Are you talkin' to me?" speech in Taxi Driver
, is widely considered an icon of American male machismo.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Harry Callahan (fictional character) ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Harry Callahan (fictional character); it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.

Movies - Harry Callahan

Searches on eBay

Related searches on eBay