The-Dirtiest.com

The dirtiest Harry of them all.

 

Plot

 

The Enforcer

Directed by James Fargo
Produced by Robert Daley
Screenplay by Dean Riesner
and Stirling Silliphant

The Enforcer
(1976)

"You got a lot of class, Harry."

When a group of self-proclaimed revolutionaries threatens the city by the Bay, it's up to Harry to enforce the law.  The city wants to pin the threat on black militants, but Harry isn't buying it.  Unfortunately, his hunch will cost him his badge.  So, when the terrorists kidnap the Mayor, Harry will have to use every tactic at his disposal to hunt them down.   Like his newest partner, Kate Moore, providing him with inside help, and his connections on the street leading him to the final showdown at Alcatraz Island.

Trivia

 

Originally titled, Moving Target, the script was left for Eastwood at his Carmel restaurant, The Hog's Breath Inn, by two aspiring screenwriters (Gail Morgan Hickman and S.W. Schurr).  Eastwood was interested enough to turn it over to two of his favorite script doctors, Sterling Silliphant and Dean Riesner.

Moving Target primarily focused on Harry's battle with a Bay Area terrorist group, culminating with a standoff on Alcatraz island.  Eastwood was particularly intrigued with the script's inclusion of a priest that secretly aided the group.

When Sterling Silliphant came on board, he suggested giving Harry a female partner.  His idea was to focus more on the evolving relationship between the two characters.  Dean Riesner's task was to combine the action-oriented Moving Target with Silliphant's more character-driven approach.

Gail Morgan Hickman later offered Eastwood a second Dirty Harry script, Chain Reaction, but Eastwood had decided to move on from the series.

The People's Revolutionary Strike Force was inspired by Patty Hearst and the Symbionese Liberation Front.  Eastwood also had them in mind while filming the climax on his next film, The Gauntlet.

Eastwood took the title from the Humphrey Bogart film of the same name (also owned by Warner Bros.), but was taken to court in 1980 by someone accusing him of plagiarizing it.   The case was dismissed.

This film marks one of Tyne Daly's first major film roles, although she almost didn't accept it.  She initially turned the part down three times, because she thought the character would simply be used as comic relief.  Eventually, the producers convinced her to meet with Eastwood to discuss the role.  In an attempt to flesh out the character, she asked him to "let me confront one little bad guy".  Clint agreed, and Lalo's fate was sealed.

The original concept was to have Harry and Kate become romantically involved, but Eastwood and Fargo quickly decided against it.  Daly also felt the relationship should remain strictly professional.  In researching the role with real officers, she discovered:  "If you fall for your partner, you get a new partner right away.  Otherwise, you're putting yourselves in jeopardy, because you're not operating at peak efficiency."

The car Harry delivers to the liquor store is a 1974 Plymouth Satellite.  He later drives a 1974 Ford Torino.

This is the only film in the series which wasn't scored by Lalo Schifrin.  He was unavailable due to his prior commitment to Voyage of the Damned.

Rob Reiner has a cameo during the rooftop chase sequence.  (He's the guy that Henry Lee bumps into while running from Harry.)

Terence McGovern portrayed the deejay and was an actual San Francisco radio personality from station KSFO.  Among his previous film credits were American Graffiti and THX-1138 for George Lucas.  While working on the latter, he flubbed a line and exclaimed, "I think I ran over a wookie back there."  It stuck with Lucas, and later became a household name thanks to Star Wars.

Eastwood originally intended this to be the last Dirty Harry film, leaving it at a trilogy.

Quotes

 

"Remember Fessenheim."

shetland.wav
Harry:  Alright, I'm standing on the street corner and Mrs. Grey there comes up and propositions me.  She says if I come home with her, for five dollars she'll put on an exhibition with a Shetland pony.
Mrs. Grey:  If this is your idea of humor, Inspector...!
Examiner:  Alright, what are you trying to do here Callahan?
Harry:  I'm just trying to find out if anybody in this room knows what the hell law's being broken- besides cruelty to animals.

Mustapha:  Bobby Maxwell.  He's the main man.
Harry:  You know him?
Mustapha:  Stone waste of white.

Harry:  What about the punk?
Bressler:  You mean the "suspect".
Harry:  "Suspect" my ass.

Buchinski:  You're trespassing.  This is private property.
Harry:  You a lawyer?
Buchinski:  Yes, seeing you asked, yes I am.

Father John:  How dare you pull a gun in the House of God!!  Have you no belief in the sanctity of the Church?
Harry:  I don't have time to argue religion with you, boy!

Harry:  I'll tell you what you are to me, little man.  You're just a maggot who sells dirty pictures.

Kate:  Ok, I give up...what's this?
Harry:  This is the Fillmore chapter of the VFW...Very Few Whites.

DiGeorgio:  Ten to one they blow it.
Harry:  Not this time, Frank.

Cast  
 

Harry Callahan:  Clint Eastwood
Kate Moore:  Tyne Daly
Lt. Bressler:  Harry Guardino
Captain McKay:  Bradford Dillman
Frank DiGeorgio:  John Mitchum
Bobby Maxwell:  DeVeren Bookwalter
Mustapha:  Albert Popwell
The Mayor:  John Crawford
Lalo:  Michael Cavanaugh
Wanda:  Samantha Doane
Miki:  Jocelyn Jones
Henry Lee:  Tim Burrus
Karl:  Dick Durock
Tex:  Ronald Manning
Father John:  M.G. Kelly
Buchinski:  Robert F. Hoy
Mrs. Grey:  Jan Stratton
Abdul:  Kenneth Boyd
Freddie the Fainter:  Joe Bellan

Dirty Harry Magnum Force The Enforcer Sudden Impact The Dead Pool Photos Audio
 



You really are a dirty bastard,
ain't ya, Harry?

The dirtiest.

 

Homicide Records Personnel Stakeout
The Rooftop The Arcade Ballistics Missing Persons