Dirty Harry - Trivia, Questions and Fun Facts

[ken]

Andrew Robinson (the Scorpio Killer) claims to have ad-libbed the line "Hubba, hubba, hubba, pig bastard" while taunting Harry on the phone.

[tom]

When Clint Eastwood approached Don Siegel to offer him the directing job, Eastwood gave Siegel four drafts of the script, one of which was written by Terrence Malick. In Malick's script, he had altered Scorpio from being a mindless psychopath killing only because he likes it, to being a vigilante who killed wealthy criminals who had escaped justice. Siegel didn't like Malick's script, but Eastwood did, and Malick's ideas formed the basis for the sequel, Magnum Force (1973).

[miriam]

Uncredited theatrical movie debut of Richard Lawson (Homosexual).

[phyllis]

When Callahan is being run all over town by the Scorpio Killer, he passes a wall which bears the graffiti "KYLE", the name of one of Eastwood's sons, Kyle Eastwood.

[albert]

All of the blanks for Harry's gun had to be made especially for this movie, as the standard 5-in-1 blanks used in most movies do not fit a Smith & Wesson .44 Magnum chamber.

[carl]

A close-up shot was planned for Debralee Scott's appearance, in which she played the nude corpse of Ann Mary Deacon. She felt so cold in the dawn chill that she shivered uncontrollably. After several failed takes, her scene was filmed as a long shot.

[leo]

When Don Siegel was hired as director, he was considering Audie Murphy for the role of the Scorpio Killer. Siegel thought it would be a nice irony to have a genuine war hero and heroic screen icon known for playing clean-cut characters playing a psychopathic killer. Siegel offered Murphy the role, but Murphy died in a plane crash on May 28, 1971 prior to making his final decision. Three days before Clint Eastwood's birthday.

[lena]

This movie helped popularize the Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver, which experienced an upswing in sales following this movie's release.

[sara]

Burt Lancaster turned down the lead role because he strongly disagreed with the violence of the story and with what he perceived to be its "right-wing" morals.