Dirty Harry (character) Dirty Harry (character) Inspector Harold Francis Callahan, also known as Dirty Harry, is a fictional character in the "Dirty Harry" film series, which consists of "Dirty Harry" (1971), "Magnum Force" (1973), "The Enforcer" (1976), "Sudden Impact" (1983) and "The Dead Pool" (1988). Callahan is portrayed by Clint Eastwood in each film. From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of movie cop: an antihero who does not hesitate to cross professional and ethical boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept bureaucracy. Callahan is often considered
Clint Eastwood Power", alongside Gene Hackman (with whom he had appeared in "Unforgiven"). Eastwood played the role of a veteran thief who witnesses the Secret Service cover-up of a murder. The film received a mixed reception from critics. Later in 1997, Eastwood directed "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil", based on the novel by John Berendt and starring John Cusack, Kevin Spacey, and Jude Law. The film met with a mixed critical response. Eastwood directed and starred in "True Crime" (1999). He plays Steve Everett, a journalist and recovering alcoholic, who has to cover the execution of murderer Frank Beechum