tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post3238880736852668117..comments2024-01-31T18:37:07.424+00:00Comments on The Agitation of the Mind: PERSONAL FAVES: Dirty HarryNeil Fulwoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14686296295535235988noreply@blogger.comBlogger9125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-86291697905196792472013-08-20T15:55:05.839+01:002013-08-20T15:55:05.839+01:00Love this review and the discussions. I am a huge ...Love this review and the discussions. I am a huge Eastwood fan but as you get older you begin to look a little deeper. He has made some god awful movies and really I think The Dead Pool was probably a work of evil that Eastwood should have been hung drawn a quartered for. One thing that I think that is overlooked so much when I read blogs on Dirty Harry is Lalo Schifrins score. What an amazing piece of work! Right from the beginning the music flawlessly intertwines with the action on the screen. Even the noises from the bay, the first victims lasts gasps of air and simply the air conditioners fit in with the music ... when you watch it again keep in mind how that score is affecting you and how well it sits within the film and not separate from it ... on a par with Morricone in my opinion. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17914114350686580720noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-60164636152554034782012-07-08T23:00:57.179+01:002012-07-08T23:00:57.179+01:00I totally agree with you about Andrew Robinson'...I totally agree with you about Andrew Robinson's performance in this film. I first saw the film on a Friday night in 1988 on the day before the Seoul Olympics started (indeed Jimmy Greaves mentioned that he saw it on the following day's episode of Saint and Greavsie). I was 12 years old and to someone who considered Bond villains as the height of evil, Robinson's Scorpio killer was a revelation, simply because the character didn't give a fuck. Such a shame that his performance in this role pretty much killed his future prospects, though his turn in Charley Varrick is very good and he is also the best thing in Hellraiser.<br />As for Dirty Harry, the movie, well it's a classic in so many ways. Did you ever read the Kenneth Williams Diaries? He saw it in April 1972 and was extremely impressed. I showed it to a friend of mine a few years ago and he really liked it. After the long pull out shot from the scene at Kezar Stadium where Harry tortures Scorpio for information, he said simply "Wow!" which sums things up nicely I think.David Pascoehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03194461928476504520noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-87655633142789421512010-05-25T08:50:18.599+01:002010-05-25T08:50:18.599+01:00Hey very good review written.
PPC Advertising In...Hey very good review written.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.admaya.in" rel="nofollow"> PPC Advertising India </a>AMIThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09271598940693313554noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-1602932161088365262010-05-22T20:35:03.810+01:002010-05-22T20:35:03.810+01:00Cool review, Neil. I've been enjoying these Ea...Cool review, Neil. I've been enjoying these Eastwood reviews so much that I've been itching to watch some of his movies as soon as possible. I'm gonna try to squeeze in a re-watch of SUDDEN IMPACT and HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER this week. May as well check out GRAN TORINO since I haven't seen that one yet. As far as the DIRTY HARRY movies, I haven't seen any of them since I was a little kid and watched them with my dad. And thanks for the heads-up on that book, but I got worried for a second because I thought you were talking about a different book that just came out called "American Rebel" which I had planned on buying and reading for my book challenge.<br /><br />Keep up the great work, my friend.Aaronhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08390842606960468754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-91581299808136547162010-05-22T15:23:47.958+01:002010-05-22T15:23:47.958+01:00I agree with Scotts comments about the look of mov...I agree with Scotts comments about the look of movies from the 70s. They have this "real" look to them, and that realism has to do with the film not being over produced. I mean, nowadays Hollywood wants everything colorful, shiny, well lit, and reality just aint like that! <br /><br />I think it could also have something to do with the fact that these films were all shot on film and not on digital. Film just gives everything that crystal clear look. <br /><br />This happened to me as well while watching The French Connection. The film just looks crystal clear, a clarity and definition you cannot get on digital filmmaking.Franco Macabrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10994905312221715861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-88480514533831686292010-05-22T15:00:09.184+01:002010-05-22T15:00:09.184+01:00Thanks for the comments, gents. 'Dirty Harry&#...Thanks for the comments, gents. 'Dirty Harry' is definitely one of the archetypal 70s movies, and even though some elements of the story are larger-than-life there is - as Scott notes - a grimly realistic quality to the film.<br /><br />Another really effect aspect of the film is how Siegel suggests some telling similarities between cop and killer, such as the way Scorpio's POV shots as he peers through the sights of his rifle are mirrored by Callaghan's tendencies to voyeurism while on stakeout.Neil Fulwoodhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14686296295535235988noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-89296983569048135202010-05-22T01:16:38.425+01:002010-05-22T01:16:38.425+01:00Saw this movie for the first time a couple of year...Saw this movie for the first time a couple of years ago, when I decided to see most of Eastwoods best movies, and I kicked myself in the ass for not having seen it sooner! Its such a classic, as are most of the dirty harry movies, they are a really well produced series of movies. <br /><br />Eastwood personifies that kind of hard as balls type of guy on these movies.<br /><br />I like the way the situations are set up in the film, like that whole trick the villain pulls to make Callahan look bad.Franco Macabrohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10994905312221715861noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-87353383201605773122010-05-21T23:38:22.906+01:002010-05-21T23:38:22.906+01:00Ditto what Bryce said about the naked-14-year-old-...Ditto what Bryce said about the naked-14-year-old-being-dragged-out-of-a-sewer-grate scene. Not only would such a visual be verboten in today's action film, but there's no way they'd even let the girl be killed. Of course, Dirty Harry would swoop in, just in the nick of time, to plug Scorpio full of Magnum slugs, as the tip of his knife touched her throat.<br /><br />Seminal '70s filmmaking, though. And when I caught <i>Dirty Harry</i> on the big screen awhile back, something else struck me about this era of movies: they look and feel "real", precisely because they're so devoid of that overly glossy $60 million look you see in everything now.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14575780.post-39033146984459590962010-05-21T22:35:56.436+01:002010-05-21T22:35:56.436+01:00Great write up Neil.
Siegel wasn't the world...Great write up Neil. <br /><br />Siegel wasn't the world's most subtle director but he knew how to get in your guts. Especially as he was allowed a harshness that todays filmmakers wouldn't (I'd love to see someone try to get a naked fourteen year old getting dragged out of a sewer grate past the MPAA now). <br /><br />I don't think this movie really gets it due for the influence its had. While perhaps not as pervasive as Leone, Siegel's film has certainly had its descendants. Particularly by things that consciously ape seventies style. I've always thought Cowboy Bebop took alot from Siegel in its technique.Bryce Wilsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17040954580033470664noreply@blogger.com