Dirty Harry - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[discussimdb]

Fan of Dirty Harry or just want to share your movie knowledge? This topic is dedicated to all trivia and questions related to Dirty Harry

[gerald]

For the iconic final shot when Dirty Harry tosses away his badge, Don Siegel was dismayed to discover that they had only brought one badge to the location shoot, so Clint Eastwood had to throw it perfectly in just one take.

[kristina]

Steve McQueen turned down the role of "Dirty" Harry Callahan because he didn't want to make any more cop movies after Bullitt (1968).

[bernard]

Clint Eastwood and Don Siegel locked horns over the end sequence where Harry Callahan throws his badge away. Siegel always saw Callahan as a borderline vigilante, but Eastwood already had a sequel in mind and didn't want the character to quit, so refused to show up to work for most of the day to film it. Eventually, Eastwood caved in and agreed to it.

[addison]

The gun the Scorpio Killer stole from the liquor store owner was a 9mm Walther P38. During his rooftop shoot-out, he used a German MP40 submachine gun. The sniper rifle he used was a 7.7mm Japanese Arisaka Type 02 Paratrooper Takedown rifle (rechambered in .30-06 Springfield) fitted with a suppressor. This particular rifle was sporterized. All of the Scorpio Killer's weapons were World War II-era infantry weapons used by the Axis forces. Harry's guns, a Smith & Wesson .44 caliber Magnum and a Winchester rifle were, by contrast, wholly American.

[sara]

Theatrical movie debut of Josef Sommer (District Attorney William T. Rothko)

[jamie]

Lee Marvin turned down the lead role.

[tammy]

Critics initially disliked this movie as they objected to Police brutality.

[cameron]

The police helicopter was a Bell 206.

[ella]

This movie's most famous line is often misquoted. A lot of people mistakenly quote the line as "Do you feel lucky, punk?", while the actual line is "You've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

[stephanie]

The idea of a car chase was dropped as another cop thriller set in San Francisco, California, Bullitt (1968), had already set the bar for that. The car chase was used in the subsequent Dirty Harry sequels Magnum Force (1973), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988).

[steve]

First of two Dirty Harry movies where a "Novena" was mentioned. In this movie, while making plans to leave a rooftop open to catch the Scorpio Killer (Andrew Robinson), it was mentioned about having access to a Priest, who performs novenas. In The Enforcer (1976), after Harry (Clint Eastwood) foils the plans of the heart attack victim to get free food, when he gets in the car, Inspector Frank De Giorgio (John Mitchum) can be heard saying he promised his wife he would be home early for supper to attend a novena.

[jamie]

Oprah Winfrey visited Clint Eastwood in 1997. Oprah interviewed Eastwood's family, she asked his mother Ruth Wood, (then eighty-eight at the time), what her favorite of her son's movies is, she replied, "Dirty Harry (1971)". Oprah's reaction was, "Really?!"

[lonnie]

The short-lived Boston punk band Klover titled their 1995 debut album "Feel Lucky, Punk?"

[kristina]

The opening sniper scenes were shot from atop San Francisco's Bank of America Building located at 555 California Street. The sniper's target is a girl swimming in the pool on the roof of the then-Holiday Inn Chinatown, located at 750 Kearny Street, and since about 1995, renamed Hilton San Francisco Financial District. 750 Kearny Street is located on a straight line five blocks north (about one thousand six hundred to one thousand seven hundred feet) of the Bank of America Tower. Since the Bank of America Tower is considerably taller than the hotel, the vantage point is looking down at the rooftop pool at the hotel, and would be a relatively easy shot for a trained marksman. Since the Hilton take-over of the hotel, the pool is no longer open or operable.

[norma]

The Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum used in this movie is now owned by Prop Master and Weapons Specialist Bill Davis, who bought it off of the production company several years before this movie became popular. The revolver is still in use as part of his catalogue.

[bryan]

When the Scorpio Killer is running away from Callahan at the end of this movie, he spots a young boy sitting near a pond, and grabs him as a hostage. The kid was played by Andrew Robinson's real-life stepson Stephen Zacks.

[norma]

During the sidewalk scene, Harry passed near a movie theatre playing Play Misty for Me (1971).

[jim]

Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Robert Urich cited the character of Harry Callahan as being one of the biggest influences on their careers. Schwarzenegger said watching this movie inspired him to seek out action roles with wisecracking heroes who were a law unto themselves. Urich based his portrayal of Dan Tanna in Vega$ (1978) on Clint Eastwood's performance in this movie, especially his tendency never to get angry or raise his voice. According to Urich, when shooting the pilot, he was very consciously doing an impression of Eastwood, having worked with him in Magnum Force (1973).

[willard]

This movie ranked number forty-one on The American Film Institute's list of The 100 Greatest Thrillers of All-Time, announced in 2000.