The members of Guns N' Roses have brief cameos:
First, as guests during the funeral scene, and later, as actors on Swan's set.
(They shoot the harpoon
off of the boat.) After their song ("Welcome to the Jungle") was
offered by Warner to the film's production, the band personally asked to
appear in the film. They were huge fans of both the series and
Dirty Harry character.
Watch for Jim Carrey as rock star Johnny
Squares. Carrey auditioned for the
role by submitting a videotape of a comedy routine called, "Post-Nuclear
Elvis Lounge Act". He can briefly be seen performing this routine
in Eastwood's subsequent film, Pink Cadillac.
The film was co-written by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw,
authors of the Life Extension books. It was their story idea and urging which
prompted Eastwood's return to the character. Durk Pearson also has a
brief cameo in the film. (He can be glimpsed standing beside Axl
Rose during the funeral scene.)
The toy car sequence sparked fond memories of the chase
from Bullitt for many critics, and was also one of Eastwood's
favorite sequences of the entire film.
Eastwood's older Callahan in this film is actually
closer to the age Dirty Harry was originally intended to be, a fact that Eastwood often
joked about on the set. One of the aspects he liked about playing Harry again was
the chance to revisit the character to see how he was getting along "at this stage of
his life".
This is the only other film in the series that makes
reference to Scorpio from
Dirty
Harry.
The dead pool lists included numerous crew members who
had worked with Eastwood, (such as cinematographer Jack Green; assistant film editor
Michael Cipriano; script supervisor Lloyd Nelson; and costume supervisor Glenn Wright).
Director Buddy Van Horn previously appeared in front
of the Dirty Harry camera as the suicide jumper in
Dirty Harry.
Harry's newest vehicle is a 1985
Oldsmobile 98 Regency.
When Al shows Harry the dead pool list in the
restaurant, he reads off the names "Tony Engelhart...Michael Cipriano...Harry
Callahan." The name on the list is Tony Engedal.
The highlights shown of Swan's films are actually
Time After Time, Cujo, and It's Alive
III: Island of the Alive.
