Dirty Harry
Dirty Harry is a 1971 film from the USA, directed by Don Siegel, running 102 minutes. reelscum files it under vigilante.
- Year
- 1971 · 1970s films
- Country
- USA
- Runtime
- 102 min
- Director
- Don Siegel
- Updated
- 10 Aug 2026
- Obscurity
- canon (2/100)
Defined in the glossary: Vigilante
The vigilante with a badge. Pauline Kael called it fascist and was not wrong.
The vigilante fantasy given a badge. Clint Eastwood's San Francisco detective, contemptuous of a system he sees as coddling a serial killer, pursues the sniper Scorpio outside the rules, and the film's fury at due process made it a lightning rod. Pauline Kael called it fascist, and she was not simply wrong.
It is also superbly made, Don Siegel directing Eastwood at his most iconic, and the moral discomfort is baked in whether or not the film intends it. The killer is frightening. The famous monologue entered the language.
Reactionary, brilliant, and impossible to dismiss.
Trailer
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Where to watch
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