Guide Note:

The film Dirty Harry is a 1971 crime drama starring Clint Eastwood as maverick San Francisco Inspector Harry Callahan. The film helped invent the movie sub-genre of vigilante cop films and helped establish Eastwood as a big box office draw. Dirty Harry spawned four sequels, all highly successful: Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool.

Fast Facts:

1. Release Date: December 22, 1971
2. Directed and Produced By: Don Siegel
3. Story Written By: Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink
4. Screenplay By: Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink and Dean Riesner
5. Starring: Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni, John Vernon and Andy Robinson
6. Distributed By: Warner Bros.
7. Run Time: 102 min.
8. Rated: R
9. Character and films imitated by Charles Bronson in Death Wish series

Eastwood plays the ornery, .44 Magnum-toting Harry Callahan, whose wife died in a car accident, and who is thrust into a citywide manhunt for a sniping, blackmailing serial killer who goes by the zodiacal name "Scorpio". Harry manages to corner and catch the psychopath, but after "Scorpio" is freed due to a technicality, he must prevent the killer from striking again. Strike again he does, by kidnapping a busload of children, and Harry must save the city by taking the law into his own hands.