The Dirty Harry Series

Sporting the tagline "Dirty Turns 30" and--more importantly--all new digital transfers backed by Dolby Digital 5.1 sound, The Dirty Harry Series contains all five of the films made between 1971 and 1988 starring Clint Eastwood as the laconic ("marvelous," "swell," "make my day") homicide inspector Harry Callahan, whose approach to easing the overburdened court system was to blow away bad guys with powerful handguns. Opening with--in my opinion--the best of the lot by far, Don Siegel's 1971 Dirty Harry pitted Callahan against the larger-than-life serial killer Scorpio (Andy Robinson)--based on the Zodiac killer--in a nail-biting suspenser that managed to be cinematically artistic, a helluva popcorn flick, and a reasonably smart critique of the post-Miranda crime environment. In successive efforts, Magnum Force (1973) found Harry squaring off against vigilante motorcycle cops; The Enforcer (1976)--the series nadir--teamed up our man Callahan with a female partner (Tyne Daly) to combat an ill-defined and unintentionally comic group of domestic revolutionaries; Sudden Impact (1983), the second-best entry, and only one directed by Eastwood (channeling Hitchcock), featured Harry on the trail of a rape victim (former Eastwood love Sondra Locke) who is routinely putting one slug to the jewels and one to the forehead of her former attackers; and, finally (some would say mercifully), the embarrassing last installment, The Dead Pool (1988) finds a very tired Harry battling a stolen-straight-from-a-million-slasher-flicks plot revolving around a vengeful fan whose victims are murdered in film-inspired ways. After the first film, Harry would never again face a worthy nemesis nor say "halt!" before firing--the thugs would continue to get blander while the tough cop would gradually shade into an outright executioner. On the special features front, only Dirty Harry includes notable extras, with a new documentary "Dirty Harry: The Original," hosted by Robert Urich, and additional interview segments, as well as an original "making of." Magnum Force and The Enforcer each include an original brief "making of," while Sudden Impact and The Dead Pool feature zilch. While only the first film is truly great, each of the others have their moments, and all feature an iconic character on the American cinematic landscape who spawned a near-two-decade franchise for Warner. Recommended. [Note: also available from Warner, Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows, a solid career retrospective that originally aired on the American Masters series, priced at $19.98.] (R. Pitman)[Blu-ray Review—July 8, 2008—Warner, 5 discs, 530 min., R, $129.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, Dirty Harry: Ultimate Collector's Edition compiles 1971's Dirty Harry, 1973's Magnum Force, 1976's The Enforcer, 1983's Sudden Impact, and 1988's The Dead Pool, which all boast great-looking new remastered transfers and TrueHD 5.1 soundtracks. DVD extras on Dirty Harry include audio commentary by critic Richard Schickel, the 87-minute documentary “Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows,” “Dirty Harry: The Original” half-hour retrospective featurette, “The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry” production featurette (26 min.), “Dirty Harry's Way” (7 min.), an interview gallery with Eastwood and series costars, crew, and fans (including Patricia Clarkson, Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Evan Kim, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Robert Urich), the hour-shy 1993 TV special “Clint Eastwood: The Man From Malpaso,” and trailers. DVD extras on Magnum Force include audio commentary by writer John Milius, “A Moral Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry” featurette (24 min.), “The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today” (8 min.), and trailers. DVD extras on The Enforcer include audio commentary by director James Fargo, the half-hour featurette “The Business End: Violence in Cinema,” the six-minute “Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films” character featurette, and trailers. DVD extras on Sudden Impact include audio commentary by Schickel, the 26-minute “The Evolution of Clint Eastwood” featurette, and trailers. DVD extras on The Dead Pool include audio commentary by producer David Valdes and cinematographer Jack N. Green, and a 22-minute featurette on “The Craft of Dirty Harry.” In addition, the boxed set features a 40-page hardcover book (with rare behind-the-scenes photos), a wallet with a replica of Harry Callahan's inspector's badge and ID card, a “Scorpio: Portrait of a Killer” poster and map, six collectible art cards, and never-before-seen production letters. Bottom line: a deluxe edition of a popular series, this extras-laden set is definitely recommended.]