Arka Mukhopadhyay
To the lovers of the police procedural genre, the ‘Dirty Harry’ series is one of the holy grails, owing much to the gritty portrayal of the titular character by the legendary Clint Eastwood. From 1971 to 1988, the San Francisco detective appears in no less than five movies. All the five movies revolve around Harry Callahan, an SFPD cop who gets the job done but whose questionable means of reaching ends often lead him into odd jobs in his squad.
The inspector has earned him recognition as one of the most iconic characters in cinema history, despite being overshadowed by Clintwood’s other roles, including The Man with No Name in Sergio Leone’s ‘Dollars’ trilogy. However, you may wonder if the movies and the character hold any real-life inspiration. In that case, let us investigate further.
Is Dirty Harry A Real Person?
No, Harry Callahan AKA Dirty Harry is a fictional character whom the writers — Harry Julian Fink and R. M. Fink — created after the iconic screen cop John Wayne. But the movies were so famous that the people started using the name “Dirty Harry” as slang for police officers who used questionable means to reach their conclusion. While the sequels and spin-offs were of some merit, most people get attached to the first movie. Probing further unfolds that the character may have resembled an honest badass cop.
The first movie’s story seemingly borrows inspiration from the Zodiac killings that unfolded in San Francisco between 1968 and 1969. The first installment came out in 1971, where the Zodiac killer became the Scorpio killer. The resemblances of the narrative to the real-life case are uncanny. Taking this route, we would know that the character was based on the San Francisco Police Detective Dave Toschi, who was adamant about hunting down the real-life serial killer.
Clint Eastwood drew on the real-life SFPD cop for his portrayal, whose influence in popular culture remains strong. Other than Eastwood, Michael Douglas and Steve McQueen drew inspiration from Toschi for their on-screen police portrayals. Around the time of the movie’s release, the Zodiac killer investigation was in full swing. Dave Toschi also headed to the cinema, but he wasn’t super impressed with Clint Eastwood’s character and reportedly walked out of the hall.
Mark Ruffalo, who spent time with Dave Toschi to portray the legendary policeman in the 2007 David Fincher movie ‘Zodiac,’ attested that Toschi walked out of ‘Dirty Harry.’ Ruffalo said, speaking with Collider, “He couldn’t take it. It was so simplified.” Simplification maybe, but the perfectly quotable and impressionable dirty cop has earned a special place in popular culture. In the Empire Magazine’s list of “The 100 Greatest Movie Characters,” Harry Callahan comes in 23rd place. Furthermore, the character has been parodied to excess, from the TV show ‘Sledge Hammer!’ to Terry Pratchett’s novel ‘Guards! Guards!’
Are Dirty Harry Movies Based on True Stories?
No, ‘Dirty Harry’ movies are not based on true stories. However, the first movie borrows plot points from the Zodiac killing incidents that unfolded in 1968 and 1969. Harry Julian Fink and his writing partner and wife Rita. M. Fink would come up with the character in the late ’60s in a screenplay entitled ‘Dead Right.’ The screenplay was about this NYC cop in his late 50s, who is facing burnout but has made it his life’s pursuit to hunt down a serial killer named Travis.
In the initial versions, he did not even catch the bad guy. The writers went through several rewrites before reaching a draft they could work on. The role naturally went first to John Wayne since they had worked with Wayne in the television Western ‘Have Gun – Will Travel.’ But John Wayne thought that the script glorified violence and declined to play the part. However, John Wayne, the arguable grandfather of police procedurals, was a model for the role was incentive enough for Universal Studios to option the screenplay.
After going through a production limbo for some time, the project went out of Universal’s hands. Finks’ production cohort Jennings Lang even got in touch with ABC Television to spin the idea into a TV Movie. However, television had its tonal restrictions, and ABC thought they would not be able to do justice to the screenplay. Warner Bros. entered the equation, and the first person they considered for the role, believe it or not, was Frank Sinatra.
The casting department also considered Marlon Brando, Robert Mitchum, and Burt Lancaster. Steve McQueen and Paul Newman were also in the talks before the producers had the ingenious vision of offering Clint Eastwood the part (an idea Universal had toyed with before). After Eastwood came on board, he concluded that the revisions ruined the original script, and he would only work on the original.
Eastwood also brought Don Siegel along and suggested renaming the serial killer “Scorpio killer.” He would have a staunch control over the production comparable only to Harry Fink. Despite not being the first choice, would star in one of his most iconic roles. After all the years and amassed controversies, Harry Callahan and the ‘Dirty Harry’ movies continue to inspire numerous screen cops.
Read More: Where Was Dirty Harry (1971) Filmed?
