The lines have been ingrained in our conscience over time, recited in Clint Eastwood’s gritty rasp. “”Go ahead, make my day,”” or, “”Do you feel lucky, punk? Well, do you?””But taken out of context, these throwaway snippets of dialogue may distract from the bigger picture that is Don Siegel’s “”Dirty Harry,”” one of the finest examples of its genre from a time (the ’70s) that produced some genre-busting classics.
Even better, “”Dirty Harry”” crosses multiple genres, constructing a gritty urban police drama in the confines of a lawless Western, exactly the type of movies Eastwood had just finished making in 1971. Siegel’s San Francisco, a beautiful city by the Bay, could’ve just as easily been a one-horse town in Colorado during the gold rush, with a determinedsheriff policing his own town by his own rules. Eastwood’s badge is even shaped in the classic sheriff star, and a sequence showing Harry preventing a bank robbery ends with a shootout in the streets that just needs stagecoaches, horses and one character shouting, “”Draw!””””Harry”” follows Eastwood’s SFPD Lieutenant Harry Callahan, a loner we learn very little about but we seem to know almost immediately. For reasons unknown, a killer calling himself Scorpio (Andy Robinson) initiates a cat-and-mouse game, demanding money from the city’s government or he’ll continue to kill civilians at random. Callahan is assigned to the case, but the deeper he digs, the more obstacles hinder his investigation. When hefinally gets Scorpio behind bars, the system lets him go because of Harry’s brutal tactics, and the rules of the game change … for good.Practically every cop movie you’ve enjoyed for the past two decades owes something to “”Harry.”” A repeat viewing of this classic reminds us where Richard Donner (“”Lethal Weapon””) and John McTiernan (“”Die Hard With A Vengeance””) drew their inspirations. And the film’s multiple sequels (four, and counting), attest to the success of the characters and formula.The trick is Eastwood, transitioning ever so gently from being the archetypal cowboy by introducing a number of elements of that character to this new landscape. Like most cowboys, Harry operates outside the letter of the law, and his final act of disobedience speaks volumes of his respect for the badge he wears. Siegel cloaks the majority of hisaction in shadows, setting the proper mood that’s occasionally shaken awake by Lalo Schifrin’s soundtrack, a porno-sexy track that would make John Shaft jealous. And Robinson’s deranged killer, a faceless, nameless villain with no apparent motive, personifies the paranoia and fear plaguing the nation when “”Harry”” shot across the screen in 1971.Grade: A- THE EXTRASCommemorating the 30th anniversary of Siegel’s film, Warner Bros. has packaged “”Dirty Harry”” into a collector’s edition DVD. The picture appears crisp, enjoying a recent digital transfer, and the boom of Callahan’s prized .44 Magnum will rattle the woofers in your speakers.Eastwood sits down for a number of updated conversations on “”Harry,”” which can be found in the disc’s Interview Gallery. Robinson, Hal Holbrook, Evan Kim and actors Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Ulrich also give their thoughts on Eastwood, “”Harry”” and films from the Seventies.The “”Dirty Harry”” DVD also boasts two featurettes, an original, dated piece entitled “”Dirty Harry’s Way”” that promoted the film, and a modern featurette entitled “”Dirty Harry: The Original”” that spans the Dirty Harry franchise and explains why it earned a place in the annals of cinematic history.Grade: B+OVERALL GRADE: A- Just having the original “”Dirty Harry”” on DVD should make any collector’s day, but the informative extras add to this disc’s value.