Stream it now Dirty Harry Reset Status Want to Watch Already Watched Don't Want to Watch

Christ, my parents have the CMA awards on in the other room. God I hate that shit.

Also, I'm having some kind of eye problem. I think I need new glasses. When I watch a film my eyes become strained and some things become a little blurry. Tool is playing on the radio, cool. Back to what I was saying, my eyes become a little blurry. I had to get a smaller T.V. up in my room because of it. I can't afford to pay for new glasses right now, being poor and all. But I can see it good enough.
Anyway, I picked up two movies on VHS. I know, I know, but they both cost thirteen dollars together. One was the widescreen director's cut of The Wild Bunch. I will report on that tomorrow. I watched some of it, but my eyes got strained and I had to change TVs. The other film I bought is the one were about to discuss and it is one of the most influential action/thrillers of all time. Every gun loving NRA freak loves this movie, Dirty Harry.

Dirty Harry is the story of a high strung cop named Harry Callahan. Harry caries a big gun and has a penchant for torturing suspects. Harry is chasing a serial killer named Scorpio. I take offense to this as I'm a Scorpio, and to suggest we are serial killers is a blatant stereotype. A Taurus you could make that claim, but not a Scorpio.

Harry and Scorpio engage in several chases and mind games. Scorpio is a great villain because he is realistic. I could imagine a real serial killer acting somewhat like Scorpio. He is not quite the over the top villain that actors like Tommy Lee Jones and Dennis Hopper would play an action movies later on. Harry eventually catches the Scorpio, but wouldn't you know it, he violated his rights. Granted, the bastard only raped and kidnapped a little girl and knows where she was, but that was a mute point at that time. Damn Liberals.

I won't give away the ending and what happens, but since there were 4 sequels, you can probably guess who won in the end.

I like Dirty Harry. I give it a very high recommendation. The action scenes were very good. Don Siegel knows how to shoot a scene. He uses lots of shadows and dark city streets to create a gritty atmosphere. This movie has some noir elements in it visually because of this. San Francisco is also used as a major character in the film. Siegel uses the city as a backdrop for several chases and shootouts that populate the film. I had one minor complaint involving Scorpio getting intentionally getting his ass kicked and then blaming it on Callahan. This really did not seem go anywhere or effect the plot that much, but that is a minor point in an otherwise fine film.

"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you got to ask yourself one question...

Do I feel lucky.

Well, do ya punk?"

I think that might be the most badass monologue of all time. Clint Eastwood is the definiton of badass. Every cop should be like Harry Callahan. And Scorpio; great villain. Great becuase he was so despicaly annoying that I wanted to kill him. And the end was totally gratifying, from the stop of the school bus on. Probably one of the best police thrillers of all time.

Last night I began watching the nice little horde of DVD's I recieved for Christmas. I've come to beleive that a DVD is a perfect gift. It's cheap, there are hundreds out there, and you can't ever have enough movies.

So far, I've watched League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, and Dirty Harry, the first of my full Dirty Harry boxed set. So nice.

LXG was nowhere near as bad as the critics said it to be. Which makes my loathing for critics all the more vile. Which is ironic, since I run a videogame review site, and review games. Go figure. My passion for that is quickly dwindling, but that is another story. Anyway, I've never read the comic, but I am a sucker for superhero/comic based movies, so I put LXG on my list. Was it the best movie I've ever seen? No. But it was two hours of harmless fun. I thought the characters were interesting, the locations varied and overall, quite ejoyed it. It actually reminded me of older movies, before the CGI took over. I didn't think Hyde looked all that bad either. I am glad to have it in my collection.

Dirty Harry. Possibly the best cop series ever made. I've been on a big Clint Eastwood binge lately, so asking for any of his movies (besides those stupid orangatang ones, and Madison County) was a no brainer. I was quite pleased to find the Dirty Harry boxed set and a Western box set waiting for me on Christmast Day.

Dirty Harry may have been made in 1971, but it still holds up well today. Very few cop movies have ever captured the spirit that the DH series did, and that, other than being great movies, is why the series holds up so well. Sure, the acting was a bit over the top, and the writing occasionally stilted, but it's all about attitude and atmosphere, baby. I can't wait to watch the next four. The transfer was quite nice (compared to what you catch on late night TV) and they did a decent job with the audio. I did find the center channel a bit to quiet, and ended up playing with the volume a bit during the quieter scenes. But again - 1971. People wore plaid pants, for godssake.

So that is my introductory to the Vine. Feel free to comment on whatever I've written, if it so strikes you to.

What can I say? Clint Eastwood is THE man; his tough guy ready-to-kick-ass image is most pleasing to watch.

And of course, who could forget the famous line? :

"I know what you're thinking. Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kind of lost track myself. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question. 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

:) :fresh: :cool: :up:

On Deadly Ground is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The best part was when Billy Bob Thornton was talking about killing Seagal. He should have.

DIRTY HARRY (Don Siegel, 1971) - 4.5 / con
If I tried to see it as a no-brainer I have to admit that it works as an entertaining action flick. Parts of the plot are nonsense, but that doesn't hurt the film too much. The moral the film delivers is inexcusable though. A despicable film based on a screwed world view!

THE TROUBLE WITH HARRY (Alfred Hitchcock, 1955) - 6.5 / pro
The film is amusing and interesting as it goes into different directions all the time, but in the end I couldn't help thinking: "So what!" Nothing special, but worthwhile!

COlOR OF POMEGRANATES (Sergei Parajanow, 1968) - NR
The film is beautifully to look at and visually one of the most impressive films I have ever seen. Unfortunately their is no narrative structure and the film depicts episodes from the life of an Armenian poet. If you are not familiar with that (and who is?) there is absolutely no way behind those wonderful images. This film needs a guide, because it's beautiful, but boring to watch.

This movie made me want to sleep. Thanks for the suggestion guys, you wasted too many hours of my life.

Meetin' my first RT'er tomorrow. And his family. I'm bringing some holy water & garlic just in case. My pet chainsaw too. Mainly because it doesn't like to be alone at home, buuut...it has other useful functions as well.


I deem all your weekends to be...lovely. *deems*

And fun. *deems*

And uh...splendiferous! *deems*

Indiginous & cornicopious? Eh. *deems*

Balsamic! With a touch of black pepper! *deems*

A cruising altitude of 31,000 feet and no turbulence! *deems*

Deem-worthy! *deems*


Alright alright. I deem this entry...complete.

*deems*

Dirty Harry is one taut action thriller that benefits from its charismatic lead and the simple, yet convincingly scary, villain. I found the final third to be the best as it put a nice spin on the whole "cop chases bad guy" plot.

Anyway, if you like this one I recommend you see the following X-files episodes: Squeeze & Tooms. Their structure is pretty similar to that of this one.

8.7/10

What ultimately fails in El Topo is the lack of values or themes to carry the movie and its plethora of sexual and religious references. The end result is a movie with mixed visuals, interesting characters, bad editing (the quick cuts are just awful) and tons of phallic references. I was told that Jodorowsky never took any drugs, which surprises me since the film feels like a bad LSD trip (which is what Jodorowsky was trying to emulate as I've read in an interview). Now, if Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter was deeply anchered in sub-culture, El Topo is even more anchored in hippy-culture, which I hate even more.