Harry Callahan's excessive violence demanded by the "Dirty Harry" era

Harry Callahan is a hunter

John Milius, who wrote the screenplay for Dirty Harry 2 , describes the character of Detective Harry Callahan in the Dirty Dirty Harry series as, ``He's a hunter.''

"Harry Callaghan is an Outsider. He's isolated from everyone around him. He doesn't really connect with anyone, he lives alone, and his fridge is empty. The only thing he has is beer. He doesn't have any extra things. Because he's a hunter. His life revolves around hunting, and that's enough for him. That's why Callahan carries a .44 Magnum. The .44 Magnum is a gun designed for hunting. He would go out on a 'hunt' with his police badge and gun,'' he recalled in an interview.

Rather than firing bullets like a machine gun, the .44 Magnum has the visual impact and simplicity of being able to kill in one shot. That heavy, echoing gunshot conveys a clarity similar to that of a heavyweight boxer defeating an opponent by knockout.

“Dirty Harry” (c) 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All rights reserved.

In the United States in the 1960s, social problems related to human rights became apparent. The civil rights movement, which appealed for the improvement of the social status of black people, is a representative example of this, but it was also a time when public opinion changed regarding the balance of police power over criminals. Clint Eastwood recalled in an interview that ``Detective Callahan's actions were controversial because the 1970s were a time when the position of crime victims was not considered.'' "The media at the time was loudly defending the human rights of the suspects. However, at the same time, social anxiety was increasing, and some voices were questioning the media's stance of only defending the rights of the suspects. ``Let's think about the victims more.''

``Dirty Harry'' features a serial killer who calls himself Scorpio. He is modeled after the perpetrator of the Zodiac Incident, an unsolved crime that took place between 1968 and 1974 (the subject of David Fincher's `` Zodiac '' (2007)). Scorpio indiscriminately shoots at citizens with a rifle and demands a ransom from the city police. It terrifies the citizens. In the second half of the film, Detective Callaghan, who corners Scorpio, neglects to give him a Miranda warning (reading him his rights) when he arrests him, and in a fit of anger, he commits excessive violence, such as stomping on the injured part of the gunshot wound. As a result, Scorpio is released.

"Zodiac" preview

Here, the objections to the rights of Scorpio, the suspect, rather than the side of the murdered victim, being emphasized. Detective Callahan is a man who ignores the law in order to uphold justice. Because the audience understands what is good and bad, they decide what is good and what is bad based on criteria that are closer to their own surroundings. At that moment, Callahan is "justice" for the audience. So the audience cheers for Callahan.

However, lawyers, such as judges, lawyers, and prosecutors, are people who value the law more than justice. Controversy naturally arises from views based on two different criteria. The reason why Detective Callahan's position in Dirty Harry becomes compromised after he disobeys the law is because society at the time placed great importance on the rights of suspects.

Anxiety about a society where justice is not achieved