Dirty Harry local and federal police committing offences and overstepping their authority by entrapment and obstruction of justice. Author McGilligan, argued that America needed a hero, a winner at a time when the authorities were losing the battle against crime. The box-office success of "Dirty Harry" led to the production of four sequels. In the 2007 film "Zodiac", also set in San Francisco and inspired by the Zodiac Killer, cartoonist Robert Graysmith approaches police detective Dave Toschi at the cinema, where he is watching "Dirty Harry" with his wife. When Graysmith tells Toschi he is going to catch the Zodiac killer, Toschi
Dirty Harry (character) a film icon, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry", has entered the lexicon as slang for ruthless police officers. All of the "Dirty Harry" films feature Callahan killing criminals, mostly in gunfights. Phrases he utters in armed stand-offs, ""Go ahead, make my day"" and ""[...] you've got to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"" have become iconic. As the 1971 film was criticized for carrying fascist, or at least authoritarian, undertones, the sequels attempted to be more balanced by pitting Harry against villains from a broader ideological spectrum; notably in 1973's "Magnum