Dirty Harry (film series) as a car chase, barroom brawl, defusing bombs and "Feel Lucky" mode. Dirty Harry (film series) Dirty Harry is an American film series featuring San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan who is notorious for being extremely violent and ruthless in his methods, and a danger for any partner assigned to him. Actor Clint Eastwood portrayed Callahan in all five of the series' films. "Dirty Harry" (1971) was directed by Don Siegel and starred Clint Eastwood as Harry Callahan. Harry tracks serial killer Scorpio (loosely based on the Zodiac killer). Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt-speaking, unorthodox
Clint Eastwood in the 1970s praised his performance as Dirty Harry, describing him as "giving his best performance so far, tense, tough, full of implicit identification with his character", the film was widely criticized because of Eastwood's portrayal of the ruthless cop. Feminists in particular were outraged by the film, and at the 1971 Oscar telecast, protested outside holding up banners which read messages such as "Dirty Harry is a Rotten Pig". Many critics expressed concern with what they saw as bigotry, with "Newsweek" describing the film as "a right-wing fantasy", "Variety" as "a specious, phony glorification of the police and police brutality with a