Dirty Harry novels Dirty Harry novels "Dirty Harry" novels include film novelizations and original tie-ins based on the "Dirty Harry" film franchise. Like the films, the novels portray Inspector "Dirty Harry" Callahan as he ruthlessly fights criminals. Novelizations of the first four films, "Dirty Harry", "Magnum Force", "The Enforcer", and "Sudden Impact", were published between 1971 and 1983. Additionally, after star Clint Eastwood announced he would make no further "Dirty Harry" films after "The Enforcer", Warner Books published twelve new novels attributed to Dane Hartman, a collective pen name used by at least three authors, between 1981 and 1983. Warner Bros. licensed novelizations
Clint Eastwood in the 1970s presented with a script called "Moving Target" which had potential but needed a major rewrite. In the end it was decided to make a third "Dirty Harry" film. The script, devised by Stirling Silliphant had Harry up against a San Francisco Bay area Symbionese Liberation Army type group, which in real life had terrorized the area in 1974 with ruthless kidnappings and violence, and the film would end in a shoot out at the gang's hideout on Alcatraz island. Eastwood met Silliphant in a restaurant in Tiburon and instantly took a liking to the script, particularly the shoot out and