Dirty Harry (character)

Harry Callahan
Dirty Harry character
Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan in Dirty Harry
First appearanceDirty Harry (1971)
Last appearanceThe Dead Pool (1988)
Created byHarry Julian Fink
R. M. Fink
Portrayed byClint Eastwood
In-universe information
Full nameHarold Francis Callahan
NicknameDirty Harry
TitleInspector
OccupationPolice officer
U.S. Marine (formerly)
SpouseUnnamed woman (deceased)
NationalityIrish-American
BornOctober 3, 1930
A 1993 photograph of Clint Eastwood This article is part of
a series about
Clint Eastwood

Inspector "Dirty Harry" Harold Francis Callahan (born October 3, 1930) is a fictional character and protagonist of the Dirty Harry film series, which consists of Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). Callahan is portrayed by Clint Eastwood in each film.

From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of film cop: an antihero who does not hesitate to cross professional boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept, incompetent bureaucracy.

All of the Dirty Harry films feature Callahan killing criminals, mostly in gunfights. Phrases he utters in armed stand-offs, "Go ahead, make my day" and "[...] you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?" have become iconic. As the 1971 film was criticized for carrying authoritarian undertones, the sequels attempted to be more balanced by pitting Harry against villains from a broader ideological spectrum, notably in 1973's Magnum Force, in which Harry is shown fighting vigilantism after it goes too far.[1]

  1. ^ Paul Smith, "The Opposite of Fascism", in Clint Eastwood: A Cultural Production, U of Minnesota Press, 1993, 101–108.