Eastwood hadn't planned on doing a sequel to
Dirty Harry,
but, the studio received so much fan mail requesting one, it was inevitable that Dirty
Harry would return.
The film began production under the working title, Vigilance.
Eastwood wanted Don Siegel to return, but Universal was unwilling to
'lend him out' for a second time.
The script developed out of John Milius' interest in the Brazilian
death squads which had been making headlines at the time. He
pitched the idea to Eastwood as a way of exploring the "other side of
the coin"- with Harry now in the position of having to play by the
rules.
Milius was offered the chance to direct one of his other scripts,
Dillinger, prior to finishing work on Magnum Force.
Eastwood then asked Michael Cimino- who had been developing
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot for him- to take over. Cimino was
responsible for much of the character-driven moments- such as Harry's
scenes with Carol and Sunny.
After Dirty Harry, Eastwood received a great deal of feedback
from women that wanted to see Harry romantically involved. But they
didn't want Harry to start hitting on women- they wanted to see women
trying to seduce him. This is why both Carol McCoy and Sunny make
passes at Harry.
The "Do I Feel Lucky?" speech from Dirty Harry is one of the
most misquoted lines in popular cinema. This film marks the only
time that Harry actually says the line, "Do you feel lucky?"-
as the speech is recycled at the end of the opening credits.
The script had the rookie cop killing everyone at the pool party via
a military satchel charge. This method blew everyone away, without
the need for an additional machinegun assault. Somehow, the military
charge was transformed into an ordinary satchel with a smoke bomb inside
it. This is why the rookie cop employs such an odd- and
somewhat unnecessary- tactic in the film.
The scene where the prostitute is killed by having Drano poured down
her throat was never meant to be seen. Instead, Milius intended it
to be a crime that was related only through dialogue. His
reasoning was that hearing about it would be far more grisly than
actually seeing it.
The film features early performances by David Soul, Tim Matheson, and
Robert Urich as the rookie cops. Aaron Spelling reportedly cast
David Soul in "Starsky and Hutch" after seeing his performance in this
film.
After confronting Harry in the parking garage, the
rookie cops start their motorcycles and drive away. During the
actual take, the actors drove off camera and promptly crashed into each
other. The film shows Eastwood witnessing the incident, but he
remained in character for the scene. Once they cut, he joked,
"I've just been threatened by the Keystone Cops."
During the pool party scene, watch for Suzanne Sommers as the pool girl
who gets a ring.
Harry's name is listed as "Calahan" in the credits and all promotional items
for the film. It is also the German title of the film.
Frank DiGeorgio's name changes in every film. In
Dirty
Harry it is listed as DeGeorgio, here it is DiGorgio, and in
The
Enforcer it becomes DiGeorgio.
Beginning in October 1973, a series of random attacks threatened San Francisco,
eventually leaving 14 slain and 7 wounded. These "Zebra Killings", (named
for their suspected racial motivations), prompted the graffiti, "Dirty Harry, where
are you now that we need you?"
Harry drives a 1972 Ford LTD and a 1972 Ford Galaxie
500.
Harry is still on the force, despite having thrown his badge away in the
first film. When asked about this fact, Eastwood simply grinned and said,
"Maybe
there was a bit of elastic attached to the badge. It sprang right back into his hand
after the movie finished."
