Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Harry Blu-Ray!
This is a great movie, in 2008 for some it may seem politically incorrect; but that's what makes it so good!

Usually the first is the best in a series
And that is the case here although the 4 sequels are all pretty good. The movie is not a bloodbath filled with constant violence- it's more a suspense tale of the chase for a serial killer.
The writers, producers, and dircetor are trying to advance a point of view here and very successfully. They set their story in San Fransisco, probably the most liberal city in the US. The San Fran's DA consults the Univ. of CA at Berklee for legal advice- another icon of liberalism. The film asks if the criminals follow no laws, aren't we handcuffing our police to follow laws in their fight with these criminals? Like the "Death Wish" series, the "Dirty Harry" series not only enertains but got America to think about serious issues. Moreso than almost every other film, these movies helped shape the political and legal debate for years to come. 4.5 Stars.

Wow
Plenty of people here have summarized what the film is about, so I won't. I'll try to add something original to the mix, so forgive me if I don't confine myself to describing the film's plot. The popularity of this film cannot be explained without a wider understanding of cultural conditions and sentiments at the time of its release. Dirty Harry, like Death Wish, was a bombshell, as it gave voice to how hundreds of thousands of people were feeling, sentiments people felt and may not have publicly expressed for fear of backlash from the PC movement. In a few sentences, the cultural circumstance referred to was a growing discontent with what was growingly considered to be misguided attempts to solve society's "problems." In the sixties the government gave itself the responsibility to "fix" many problems, from teenage pregnancy to poverty to drug use to discrimination to crime, with social "programs," judicial activism and new legislation. Ironically, ALL of these problems were already rapidly decreasing in the early sixties. Crime was HALF what it was in 1930, even if you don't control for the increase in the population!! Poverty was lessening each and every year. What happened after the social programs of the late sixties and the generation of the welfare state? Well, the crime rate literally exploded. So did teenage pregnancy. Poverty quadrupled. Another thing that happened was the rewriting of law to lessen the punishment of criminals to the result that even the criminals that were arrested and successfully prosecuted often ended right back out on the street in a matter of months to commit even more crimes. People were sick and tired of this crap. Some filmmakers new it, and tapped into this sentiment with wildly popular films like Death Wish, The Stone Killer, and Dirty Harry. An entire genre of "vendetta/revenge/let's take out the human garbage" films was born. Whatever happened to America's real roots, the cowboy? Well here he is, in 1970s San Fran. Harry Callihan is more than a character, he's a representation of a return to common sense, of someone flipping the bird to the higher than thou premption of common sense by lofty third party surrogate policy makers. He is the symbol of a public outcry to give me a break and cut the high minded BS.