Dirty Harry

The Lalo Schifrin score for Dirty Harry is so very sweet, and I think it must have influenced my young brain. The last time this movie was playing on a screen in front of me, it was on brand new VHS technology and I was barely in my teens.

But I was writing about Schifrin, not the early 80's. You can look at Rollergirl's page for tales of that decade. I'm here to praise an acid jazz soundtrack many years ahead of its time.

From the opening piano riff, the score of Dirty Harry is unique. Classical music, blues, jazz and psychedelic rock woof and weave through the music, accompanying images of Clint Eastwood blowing away criminals with a hand cannon. To be honest, I was more interested in the music.

Filmed in San Francisco at the cusp of the seventies, the frenetic bass lines are perfect. The urban chaos of Harry pursuing a Zodiac-style killer is heightened by Schifrin's score, recorded in gritty mono that sounds glorious at high volume. Watch out, though: when Harry fires that Magnum revolver -"the most powerful handgun in the world"- there's enough reverb to blow out your fishtank.

The music carries on at a hot tempo, burning up the speakers and sounding fresh and timeless. In 1971 it must have sounded like it was from outer space.



Dirty Harry follows a basic template: misunderstood cop will stop at nothing to carry out his idea of justice, and Clint Eastwood plays a character that by now is quite familiar. When told that criminals have rights, Harry pithily responds, "Then the law is crazy." It's little wonder that activists called Eastwood a fascist at the time.

Many aspects of the film are controversial. It was made at a time when militant groups were in open rebellion and serial killers reaped fear across the US. Does this justify torturing criminals? The question haunts us as much now as it did then. Dirty Harry provokes by showing what one determined cop can accomplish by ignoring the rule of law. Whether or not he accomplishes anything of lasting value is up to viewers to decide.

Personally I zoned out halfway through. Many of the early scenes are entertaining, while later ones plod along to a predictable finish. Still, we kept the volume turned up to hear that sweet, sweet Lalo Schifrin score.