Saturday 30 January 2016

Dirty Harry (1971 Don Siegel & prod)

Well, it's been a while - good to see in its proper Panavision ratio (unlike the ITV broadcasts).

I was surprised at how much Lethal Weapon takes after it.

The distinctive scene in which Harry tortures the psycho (Andy Robinson - rather good) and the camera pulls away and up into the sky (helicopter?) isn't nearly as powerful as it was, though the moment 'Scorpio' pays for himself to be beaten up is still quite nasty.

It was Bruce Surtees' third film - after The Beguiled and Play Misty - dad was busy with Bogdanovich on Last Picture Show. I always noticed his blue skies. There's some cool deep focus going on here in sniper scenes.

That jazzy score is by Lalo Schifrin.

The way John Vernon is credited as "the mayor" is really corny.

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