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Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry

Action · Crime · Thriller · 1971

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.

Movie details

Dirty Harry

“Detective Harry Callahan. He doesn't break murder cases. He smashes them.”

1971 Action · Crime · Thriller 1h 42m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

7.5 / 10

Community rating

When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan – famous for his take-no-prisoners approach to law enforcement – is tasked with hunting down the psychopath.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over Dirty Harry?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Don Siegel

Written by

Rita M. Fink · Dean Riesner · Harry Julian Fink

Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Harry

Harry Guardino

Harry Guardino

Bressler

Reni Santoni

Reni Santoni

Chico

John Vernon

John Vernon

The Mayor

Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson

Killer

John Larch

John Larch

Chief

John Mitchum

John Mitchum

De Georgio

Court is in session

Put Dirty Harry on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Adrenaline Seeker

“Momentum is a formal choice.”

The velocity sharpens instinct and tension, making every beat land before self-importance can settle in.

The prosecution The Auteur Devotee

“Speed as an alibi.”

The film races past its weak spots and hopes acceleration will keep the audience from inspecting the evidence.