Quick one today because I'm sick with the flu. I watched Dirty Harry last night, the original genre reviving classic starring Clint 'I get more bad ass as i get older' Eastwood. I imagine back in 1971 that this was quite the eye opener. Violence, plenty of (really bright red) blood, some nudity (including full frontal though the longest shot is of a dead girl and she's supposedly 14).
The story goes like this, crazy guy is shooting people from rooftops around the city and Dirty Harry has to stop him. Dirty Harry DOES stop him, but he does so in a way that makes all evidence inadmissible. Bollocks says Harry. The killer walks free and Harry sets out to stop him, any way he can.
As mentioned, this movie was a sensation when released and audiences were polarised between those that enjoyed the gritty new cop out to serve justice even if it meant breaking the rules, and those who didn't like the violence or 'facist' way Harry did his job. Remember, this came out when hippies were still interesting and the age of Aquarius was going to do something something. Today it all seems a little quaint when compared to the shows we see on prime time television. The new age did not usher in a world of semi-nudity on our streets, freedom from shaving your under-arms and hordes of namby pamby do-gooders who are more interested in following the rules than punishing the bad guy. Instead we just got more movies like Dirty Harry.
Where was going with this? Oh yeah, Dirty Harry is a 1970s cop film that has aged moderately well but by today's standards doesn't do anything exciting.
5/10 for not boring me completely.
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