Dirty Harry: The Ultimate Collection (1971-1988)

Includes all five Dirty Harry films: all special features on the Dirty Harry Special Edition and Deluxe Editions, plus additional special features and contents specific to the Ultimate Collector's Edition. This box set includes 'Dirty Harry', 'Magnum Force', 'The Enforcer', 'Sudden Impact' and 'The Dead Pool'.
Everybody has turning points. For Clint Eastwood, TV's "Rawhide" gained him recognition, "The Man With No Name" Spaghetti Westerns made him a star, and the "Dirty Harry" films established him as an icon. To promote the latter series, the folks at Warner Home Video released all five of the "Dirty Harry" movies to DVD several years ago, and now they have remastered them yet again, making them available in the Blu-ray "Ultimate Collector's Edition" box set reviewed here (also available in standard-definition DVD), or on separate discs in standard definition, or in the case of the original "Dirty Harry" on a separate Blu-ray disc as well. While the "Dirty Harry" films may not appeal to all viewers, for their legions of devoted fans these new editions and their new extra features are surely attractive.


Harry struck a chord with audiences of the day fed up with what they perceived as the leniency of the law. What they wanted was a tough cop who shot first and asked questions later, a modern-day Wyatt Earp who wasn't afraid to clean up a town. Maybe it was a conservative backlash against in the early seventies against the peace-and-love movement, against Vietnam War protesters, against rising crime, or whatever. Or maybe viewers have always relished the sight of good guys blowing away bad guys, which existed in films since "The Great Train Robbery" in 1903. Who knows. In any case, the films worked, and Harry, for good or bad, became a legend.

Believe it or not, Eastwood was not the first choice to play San Francisco Police Inspector Harry Callahan. Frank Sinatra, Paul Newman, Steve McQueen, and even John Wayne were among the top contenders, but they all turned down the role. Nor did the filmmakers even spell the name of the main character with two l's in the first movie. The closing credits for "Dirty Harry" list Eastwood's character simply as "Harry." The second movie lists him as "Harry Calahan," and from the third movie on he was "Callahan" with two l's. The fact is, when they were making the first movie, nobody was thinking of sequels, so I suppose the name didn't matter. By the time the third, fourth, and fifth installments rolled around, the filmmakers probably figured they ought to settle on a single spelling.



A serial killer who calls himself "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) murders a young woman in a San Francisco rooftop swimming pool, using a high-powered, silencer-equipped .30-06 hunting rifle from the top of 555 California Street. SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) is called in to investigate, and while examining the rooftop, discovers a shell casing and a ransom message from Scorpio promising his next victim will be either "a Catholic priest or a nigger" if the city does not pay $100,000. The chief of police and the Mayor (John Vernon) assign the inspector to the case

IMDB Rating 7.8/10

Callahan goes to a local diner for his hot dog lunch. He asks the cook if the car that is parked in front of the bank still has its engine running (exhaust fumes are being emitted from the tailpipe). The cook confirms this, and Harry tells the cook to call the police because the bank is being robbed. However, before backup arrives, the bank alarm goes off, as well as gunshots. Callahan exits the diner, still eating his hot dog, and takes out his .44 Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver. After killing two of the bank robbers, Harry walks up to one he wounded (Albert Popwell), who lies wounded near a loaded 12 gauge Winchester Model 1912 shotgun and challenges him to pick the gun up, saying:

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“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?”

The robber surrenders rather than take the risk, then says "I gots to know." Callahan answers the question by aiming at the criminal and pulling the trigger. The bank robber hears the click as the hammer falls on an empty chamber and Harry smiles at him. The gun had, in fact, no unspent shells left inside.

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After getting patched up at a local hospital for buckshot wounds to his leg from the shootout, Harry heads back to Police Headquarters, where he is assigned a new rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni). The veteran officer notes that his partners always get injured or killed, so he needs someone experienced, but has no choice. Later that day, helicopter patrols are set up to canvass the rooftops of the city in search of Scorpio. Scorpio is soon spotted by a chopper on a rooftop across from Washington Square. Scared off the rooftop, Scorpio gets away. That night, while canvassing the area where Scorpio was last seen, Gonzalez spots a man with a brown suitcase, the same that Scorpio carried his rifle in.

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Callahan and Gonzalez park and follow the man up an alleyway, and discover that it was a false alarm. After peering through the man's window, Callahan is attacked by a few neighborhood residents, who have mistaken him for a peeping tom, but they are halted by a shot from Gonzalez's pistol. Callahan lets them go and tells them to beat it. Later on, a call comes in for a man on a rooftop, suspected to be Scorpio. When the two arrive, they find that it's another false alarm, and this time, is a suicide attempt. Callahan is asked to take the man down and successfully achieves it from a fire truck bucket. Once down on the ground, Callahan tells Gonzalez:

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“ Now you know why they call me "Dirty Harry": every dirty job that comes along. ”

The next morning, Scorpio shoots and kills a young black boy and the police suspect that he will next target a Catholic priest since he succeeded in killing a negro. That night, Callahan and Gonzalez stake out the rooftops near the Sts. Peter and Paul Church. They see Scorpio with a machine gun, and Callahan attempts to shoot him with a high-powered rifle as a shootout ensues between Callahan and Scorpio. As Scorpio escapes the shootout, down on the ground, Callahan and Gonzalez discovered that Scorpio has just killed a police officer as they and several other police officers seal off the area to pursue Scorpio.

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.
Dirty Harry was a critical and commercial success and set the style for a whole genre of police films. The film was followed by four sequels: Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983 (directed by Eastwood himself), and The Dead Pool in 1988.

In 2008, Dirty Harry was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

Extras:
On Blu-ray "Dirty Harry" comes in a special-edition disc that contains everything on the standard-definition two-disc set and more. First, there is a new commentary by film critic and Eastwood biographer Richard Schickel. Next, there's the 2008 documentary "The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry," twenty-five minutes long and again featuring comments from practically everybody in his "Harry" films. After that is the documentary "Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows," an eighty-six-minute biography of Eastwood covering his life from childhood through the year 2000, when Rhapsody Films, American Masters, and BBC Arena made it. The film is in widescreen and includes twenty-three chapters and again features comments from just about everybody the man has ever worked with. In addition, there's the 1993 documentary, "Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso," fifty-eight minutes long, and the featurette "Dirty Harry: The Original" (2001), thirty minutes long and including interviews with the filmmakers of many of the "Harry" movies, like Eastwood, John Milius, Hal Holbrook, Ted Post and even Arnold Schwarzenegger commenting on how Eastwood's character was one of his inspirations. Then, there's the promotional short "Dirty Harry's Way," seven minutes.

In 1972, mobster Carmine Ricca (Richard Devon) drives away from court after being acquitted for the killing of a labor union leader on a technicality.
Elsewhere, an SFPD motorcycle cop sees a bulletin about the acquittal on the news. He turns off his TV, puts on his uniform, helmet, and a pair of sunglasses, and gets on his motorcycle. He intercepts Ricca's limo on the highway and pulls him over for a traffic violation. Suddenly, he pulls out his .357 Magnum Colt Python handgun, shoots and kills all four men in the car at point-blank range, reholsters the gun, then walks back to his motorcycle and speeds off.

IMDB Rating 7.0/10

Harry and his partner Early Smith visit the crime scene, but are asked to leave by Harry's newest adversary on the force, the hot-tempered Lt. Neil Briggs (Hal Holbrook), who had Harry "loaned" from Homicide to Stakeout because he despises his methods, including his handling of the Scorpio matters. The loathing is mutual: Harry detests Lt. Briggs because of Briggs' hands-off, bleeding-heart law enforcement methods.
Harry and Early leave and find lunch at a San Francisco International Airport snack shop run by Bill McKenzie, a former buddy of Harry's from the force. Early, a comparatively wet-behind-the-ears youngster on the force, is grossed out when McKenzie talks about the Ricca killing and a case he worked on involving a gruesome axe murder, all the while Harry chows down on his burger as though nothing is untoward.

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But a code signal for trouble comes, and Harry notices a group of concerned airport officials gathering on the other side of the room. Harry investigates and finds that airport security is sweating out an aircraft hijacking; Harry flashes his badge and learns the hijackers want an overseas pilot, so Harry volunteers.

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Harry gets aboard the plane and begins taxiing for takeoff, but when the copilot asks if he knows how to fly, he says that he doesn't… which shocks the gunmen enough for Harry to disarm one and kill the other, and gives him opportunity to show up Briggs when he arrives at the scene. The dislike between Callahan and Briggs escalates, with Callahan mocking Briggs with the words "A man's got to know his limitations".

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Later, he arrives at a target range near Oakland and encounters an old friend, traffic officer Charlie McCoy (Mitchell Ryan). McCoy has recently left his wife Carol, though it is clear he still holds her close to his heart, and is bitter over how his life has changed. Harry, concerned, suggests Charlie retire, but Charlie vows never to do so and instead "go out fighting."

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In the target range Harry encounters Philip Sweet (Tim Matheson), John Davis (David Soul), "Red" Astrachan (Kip Niven), and Michael Grimes (Robert Urich), four of the rookie traffic cops, as they make target practice. They practice incessantly and are inseparable partners from their days in the army. Harry chats with them for a few minutes and even lets Sweet try his gun; he is impressed by Sweet's dexterity with the heavy revolver and with the four young policemen overall.

Extras:
As for bonus items, there are fewer on the next four BD discs than on the fully-loaded "Dirty Harry" disc. On "Magnum Force" we find a new audio commentary by writer John Milius, quite illuminating in that Milius is not always complimentary to the film; a new, 2008 featurette, "A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry," twenty-four minutes; an eight-minute behind-the-scenes promo, "The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today," that works with old newsreels and the present film; and the same trailer gallery of all five "Harry" films found on the other discs. In addition, we get thirty-six scene selections; English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Castilian, and Portuguese spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Norsk, and Swedish subtitles; and English, German, and Italian captions for the hearing impaired.

Two gas company men are lured by a scantily-clad woman to a remote spot and killed by Bobby Maxwell. Maxwell's gang, the People's Revolutionary Strike Force (PRSF), plans to use the gas men's uniforms and van as part of an ambitious series of crimes that will make them rich.

IMDB Rating 6.6/10

SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan and his newly-acquired former partner, Inspector Frank DiGeorgio arrive at a liquor store holdup where robbers armed with shotguns and revolvers have taken hostages. The robbers demand a car and insult Callahan; the inspector provides one by driving his squad car into the store and shooting the robbers with his famed .44 Magnum revolver.

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His superior Captain McKay reprimands Callahan for "excessive use of force", injuring the hostages, and causing more than $14,000 of damage to the store, and temporarily transfers him out of the Homicide Division. While assigned to Personnel, Callahan participates in the interview process for promotions, and learns that three of the new inspectors will be female including Officer Kate Moore, despite her very limited field experience.

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The PRSF uses the gas company van to steal M72 LAW rockets, M16 rifles and AR-18 rifles from a warehouse, killing DiGeorgio during the robbery. To Callahan's distress, Moore is his new partner; she claims to understand the risk, noting that—besides DiGeorgio—two other partners of his have died in the line of duty. They visit the Hall of Justice for an autopsy where a bomb explodes. Callahan and Moore chase and capture the PRSF bomber and meet "Big" Ed Mustapha, leader of a black militant group the bomber formerly belonged to.

Although Callahan makes a deal with Mustapha for information, McKay arrests the militants for the PRSF's crimes. Callahan angrily refuses to participate in a televised press conference in which the publicity-seeking Mayor would commend him and Moore for solving the case, and McKay suspends him from duty. Moore supports Callahan and gains his respect.

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The PRSF boldly kidnaps the Mayor after a Giants game and demands a $5 million ransom. With Mustapha's help, Callahan and Moore locate the gang's headquarters at Alcatraz Island, abandoned at the time. The two arrive on the island by way of the San Francisco Fire Department's Fireboat Phoenix, where they attack and kill numerous PRSF members with it's powerful water cannons.

They engage in a shootout with the kidnappers to rescue the mayor, who is being held in an old prison cell. Moore frees the Mayor after killing one of the kidnappers, but Maxwell kills her with an M16 as she saves Callahan's life. He avenges Moore by killing Maxwell, perched atop an abandoned tower, with a LAW rocket. The inspector is uninterested in the Mayor's gratitude, returning to his partner's corpse as McKay and others arrive by helicopter by prior agreement to meet the PRSF's demands, without knowledge Callahan and Moore already killed them all and rescued the mayor.

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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.

Extras:
The major extras for "The Enforcer" start with a new commentary by director James Fargo. It's among the best of the lot as Fargo seems genuinely to enjoy talking about this movie. After that is a new, thirty-minute featurette "The Business End: Violence in Cinema," that briefly looks at a history of violence in motion pictures and its effects on audiences. After that is the five-minute featurette "Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films," a vintage promo that is, unfortunately, not very special; and, again, a trailer gallery. Things wrap up with thirty scene selections; English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Castilian, and Portuguese spoken languages; English, French, Spanish, German, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Norsk, and Swedish subtitles; and English, German, and Italian captions for the hearing impaired.

Artist Jennifer Spencer and her sister were raped by a group of young men 10 years ago, after being betrayed by a female friend, Ray Parkins. The brutal rape left the sister permanently catatonic. Spencer seeks revenge, and begins by killing George Wilburn with two bullets from a .38 snubnosed revolver, one in the groin. She leaves San Francisco for the town of San Paulo because of the police investigation, and begins restoring its boardwalk's historic carousel near the beach where the rapes occurred. Meanwhile, San Francisco Police Department Homicide Inspector Harry Callahan is frustrated when a judge yet again dismisses a case due to his use of unreasonable search and seizure. At his favorite diner, the inspector interrupts a robbery and kills most of the criminals. When the surviving robber takes a hostage, Callahan challenges him with "Go ahead, make my day"; the criminal surrenders.

IMDB Rating 6.4/10

Callahan accuses the powerful crime lord Threlkis at his granddaughter's wedding party of killing a hooker; Threlkis suffers a heart attack. Callahan's angry superior officers Lieutenant Donnelly and others cannot fire or suspend the notorious inspector because, as the police commissioner admits, his "unconventional methods…get results", albeit with tremendous physical destruction and bad publicity for the department. They order him to take a vacation, which Callahan spends by target shooting with his .44 AutoMag.

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Four of Threlkis's hitmen attack the inspector; only one escapes alive. The suspect from the dismissed case and his friends also attack, throwing two Molotov cocktails into Callahan's car. He uses one of the bombs to cause them to drive into the bay, killing them. Donnelly sends the inspector to San Paulo to investigate the murder of the man Spencer killed. While the victim is from there, it is also to protect both Callahan and civilians; as Donnelly notes, "people have a nasty habit of getting dead around you."

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In San Paulo, Callahan stops a robbery in progress and saves the life of young Officer Bennett. The inspector receives a bulldog as a gift from a police friend, Horace King, whom he nicknames Meathead. While jogging with the dog, he meets Spencer. Callahan is hunted by the surviving Threlkis hitman, but kills him after being warned by Meathead. Meanwhile, Spencer kills a second rapist, Kruger, at the beach; although Callahan recognizes the modus operandi, police chief Lester Jannings refuses to work with the famous "big city hotshot" inspector. Callahan realizes that the victims and Parkins are friends of Jannings' son, Alby. He asks Bennett for information on them, while Parkins realizes that the rapists are being targeted and warns two others, Tyrone and Mick. After fighting Kruger's uncooperative brothers-in-law Eddie and Carl, Callahan meets Spencer again at a restaurant and learns that she shares his emphasis on results over methods when seeking justice, although the inspector adds the caveat "'til it breaks the law."

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Callahan visits Tyrone's home and finds him dead, another victim of Spencer. Parkins and Mick are staying at her home to protect themselves. When the inspector visits them for questioning, Mick attacks him. Soon after Callahan takes Mick to the police station, Spencer kills Parkins. Callahan and Spencer meet again and sleep together, but he realizes that she had also visited Parkins' home and finds the body there.

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Sudden Impact is a 1983 American crime thriller and the fourth film in the Dirty Harry series, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only Dirty Harry film to be directed by Eastwood himself). The film is probably best remembered for Harry's catch phrase, "Go ahead, make my day," often incorrectly attributed to the original film in the series.

Extras:
On "Sudden Impact" we get a new commentary by Richard Schickel and a new documentary, "The Evolution of Clint Eastwood." The latter is twenty-five minutes long and traces the growth of Eastwood from actor to director. There are also a healthy thirty-seven scene selections, and spoken languages and subtitles in all of the various languages cited above.

Fame finally catches up with Harry Callahan. His testimony against crime kingpin Lou Janero puts the mobster in prison and Callahan ends up on the cover of a San Francisco magazine as the city's ace crime fighter. Callahan is attacked by Janero's men at a turnoff near the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge while driving. He knocks down one with his car and shoots the remaining men dead. Callahan and his new Asian-American, martial arts-skilled partner Al Quan are then assigned to investigate the death of rock singer Johnny Squares.

IMDB Rating 6.0/10

After slasher film director Peter Swan's producer is killed in a Chinatown restaurant robbery which Callahan foils, Harry discovers that he, together with Johnny Squares, has become part of a "dead pool" game in which participants try to predict celebrity deaths, either by natural causes or for those who work in dangerous professions. In a turn of events, two celebrities from Swan's list are killed.

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Callahan is asked to co-operate with the media (particularly reporter and later love interest Samantha Walker) to balance their interference with the investigation. Walker proposes to do an in-depth profile on Callahan for her news report, while he wants to simply perform his job and stay out of the limelight. After dinner, they narrowly escape being killed by Janero's men, leading the reporter to reconsider the plight of police officers versus the public's right to know.

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Callahan drives to the prison where Janero is serving his sentence. He promises a huge, chain-smoking inmate named Butcher Hicks a carton of cigarettes for his help in convincing Janero that if anything bad happens to Callahan, the vicious Butcher will pay Janero a visit. This results in Janero telling his men to stay away from Callahan while he is on duty.

Callahan resolves a situation where a man named Gus Wheeler, rumored to be responsible for the murders, tries to get on the TV news. In the end, it turns out that the real killer is a deranged fan of Swan. He is Harlan Rook, who thinks his ideas and work have been stolen by Swan.

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Rook next kills another person on the list, this time innovatively using a radio control car and running it under the vehicle the victim gets into and detonating it. The method used is undetected by Callahan at the crime scene, although he does find a wheel of the radio control car, but thinks nothing of it until later when he spots Rook attempting to eliminate him in the same way. Callahan and Quan are pursued in their unmarked car through San Francisco's hilly streets by another radio control car, that is rigged with a bomb built by Rook. Eventually Callahan and Al Quan come to a dead end and the bomb explodes, nearly killing Quan, who survives thanks to his bulletproof vest and the fact that Callahan reversed away a split second before the bomb exploded.

Rook, disguised as Swan, calls Walker at the television station and invites her to Swan's film studio for an interview, which is actually a trap. Police raid Rook's home, where torn posters of Swan's films are found and large quantities of explosives.

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Callahan hurries to Swan's studio, where Walker is held captive by Rook. Harry reluctantly surrenders his .44 Magnum revolver after Rook nearly slits her throat. Callahan lures him to a pier after a chase. Rook, who has run out of bullets, is shot by Callahan with a harpoon, killing him instantly. Callahan leaves with Walker while the police arrive at the scene.

The Dead Pool is a 1988 American 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 Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. It co-stars Liam Neeson, Jim Carrey, and Patricia Clarkson, each of whom went on to greater film fame. At 91 minutes, it is the shortest of the five Dirty Harry films. This is also Carrey's first non-comedy related movie.

Extras:
"The Dead Pool" includes a new commentary by producer David Valdes and cinematographer Jack N. Green; plus a new, twenty-one-minute featurette, "The Craft of Dirty Harry," which gives us more information on the filmmakers who supported Eastwood. Finally, there's a "Dirty Harry" trailer gallery; thirty scene selections; and the usual assortment of spoken languages, subtitles, and captions for the hearing impaired.