Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Script review - "Dirty Harry" from 1970

An early draft of the famous film, when it was to star Frank Sinatra and be directed by Irvin Kershner. The plot is still a random man is shooting people from rooftops and rough as guts Harry takes the law into his own hands to save the day; after a long sequence where Harry plays cat and mouse with the killer, he arrests the killer, but Harry's enthusiastic disregard for human right sees the killer released. Harry stalks him and gets him. In this early version the killer is a vigilante, only shooting criminals, not kidnapping anyone - way different from the psycho in the film, and making Harry a lot more sympathetic (though the idea was used later for the baddies in Magnum Force). Also, here is partner is an Anglo Saxon and he and Harry snap at each other more of the way. And at the end the killer is genuinely being stalked by Harry, he isn't up to anything bad. The main feature though is the strength of the Dirty Harry character. The script is credited to the Finks, John Milius and Terence Mallick - there are a few odes to the joys of guns that are pure Milius.

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