Dirty Harry (character) this goes any further, with Spencer commenting 'Neither of us want to be alone tonight'. "The Dead Pool" implies a romantic relationship with news reporter Samantha Walker, and the film ends with her and Callahan walking away together. Callahan is considered a film icon, so much so that his nickname, "Dirty Harry", has entered the lexicon as slang for ruthless police officers. Harry Callahan was voted number 23 by "Empire" Magazine on their list of "The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Callahan was voted the 17th greatest movie hero on "100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains". He was also named one
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