Behind The Scenes: Clint Eastwood & Don Siegel On The Set Of 1971’s DIRTY HARRY

Director Don Siegel‘s 1971 cop thriller, Dirty Harry has now become an iconic slice of cinema and it set the template for loose cannon detective movies. Starring Clint Eastwood, the film sees SFPD Inspector ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan on the hunt for Scorpio (Andy Robinson), a killer who is stalking the streets of San Francisco. The plot was loosely inspired by the real-life Zodiac killings which took place in the San Francisco Bay area during the 1960s (check out David Fincher’s 2007 film, Zodiac for more on that). 

Dirty Harry is a great piece of film-making, with tight plotting, quotable dialogue, strong imagery and a wonderful jazz-infused score from Lalo Schifrin.

Like with many films before and after, Eastwood wasn’t the first choice to play Harry Callahan. The part was offered to a veritable who’s who of tough guy actors and everyone from John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum and Paul Newman to Steve McQueen, Burt Lancaster and George C. Scott have all been linked to the role.

John Wayne was so disappointed by the success of the 1971 pic that he went on to make a pair of cop movies in 1974 and 1975 – McQ and Brannigan. They both failed to match the success of Dirty Harry. 

Don Siegel and Clint Eastwood would make five movies together – and Siegel served as a mentor for the actor when he took on directing duties starting with Play Misty For Me. 

The screenplay for Dirty Harry is credited to Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink and Dean Riesner – but both Terence Malick and John Milius had input into the script at different stages.  

Clint Eastood’s unorthodox copy struck a nerve with audiences and Dirty Harry as a huge hit in 1971 – grossing almost $36 million at the U.S. box office.

Serving as Clint Eastwood’s signature role, the success of the film kicked off a franchise and led to the sequels Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983) and The Dead Pool (1988).