Harry Callahan (character) - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• Easily the most famous parody of "Dirty Harry" Callahan is Alan Spencer's cult TV series "Sledge Hammer!" where the character is exaggerated into a gun-worshipping buffoon. Nevertheless, as cited in a New York Times review, "Sledge Hammer!" was respectful and even "affectionate" towards the target of its satire. Indeed some of the early episodes have either a subtle nod to the Dirty Harry Series (such as John Vernon reprising his role as the Mayor of San Francisco), to full remakes (The episode "Magnum Farce" not only parodies Magnum Force by name but also in the plot). Spencer is an avowed Clint Eastwood fan. It's been indicated that Eastwood himself enjoyed "Sledge Hammer!" and cast the actor who played the title role, David Rasche, as a Senator in his acclaimed directorial effort, Flags of Our Fathers.
• The entire "most powerful handgun in the world" speech is parodied in Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett, when Captain Samuel Vimes threatens a rioting mob with a swamp dragon. In addition, the motto of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch is dog Latin for "Make my day, punk." In The Art of Discworld, Pratchett notes that Paul Kidby draws Vimes to resemble Clint Eastwood.
• TV series Hunter presents the main character Rick Hunter (Fred Dryer), a cop from Los Angeles whose inspiration is "Dirty Harry".
• Callahan is acknowledged by comics writer John Wagner as the inspiration for the character of Judge Dredd.
• Kim Newman's novels set in the Warhammer role-playing universe feature a former Altdorf watchman named "Filthy" Harald Kleindeinst, who was fired for killing the "wrong" man (a murderer who was also a nobleman) and whose trademark weapon is a "Magnin" throwing knife.
• The lecture Callahan received from the mayor about a questionable shooting incident in the first film is spoofed in The Naked Gun.
• Elements of Harry Callahan along with Jimmy "Popeye" Doyle from the The French Connection and Jack Carter from Get Carter were a major influence upon Euston Films Ltd in the creation of the popular British television police drama series The Sweeney and in particular its lead character Jack Regan played by John Thaw.
• There are many parallels between Dirty Harry and Jack Bauer, the lead character on the television series 24. Like Harry, Bauer is a law enforcement officer with a strong desire to protect innocent civilians, although his actions to that end border on vigilantism as he deals with criminals (or Bauer's case, terrorists) with a "whatever it takes" attitude and often without regard for rules or legality. As with Callahan, Bauer's actions often bring him into conflict with his superiors and he is variously demoted and sidelined. Both characters emerged at a time when there was growing concern about crime (in the 1970s) and terrorism (in the 2000s). As one critic commented, "It is not hard to imagine Jack Bauer delivering Dirty Harry Callahan’s famous line from the 1983 film Sudden Impact".
• Two of the Lee Goldberg novels based on the television series Monk have tributes to Dirty Harry:
  • In the 2007 novel Mr. Monk and the Blue Flu, by Lee Goldberg, Jack Wyatt (nickname "Mad Jack"), one of the detectives on the skeletal crew that is put under Adrian Monk's charge during the SFPD police strike, bears similarities to Dirty Harry. Among other things, he is known to respond to everything from the overly dangerous to the merely annoying with swift violence and a .357 Magnum handgun (for instance, when Monk and Natalie meet Wyatt at one crime scene, they also observe a building fire nearby from a car crashing into a building. The car itself was being driven by a person mugging old women at ATMs, and Wyatt shot out his tires). He is also known to have been terminated after the city lost a number of police brutality cases against him.
  • Numerous nods to Dirty Harry are present in the 2009 novel Mr. Monk and the Dirty Cop: Captain Stottlemeyer describes former SFPD detective Paul Braddock as a man who "will do anything to make a case, even if it means trampling over people's rights, or over the people themselves," which is just what Harry is known to do in the movies. At some points in the story, Lieutenant Disher speaks with an Eastwoodian accent, giving him the nickname "Dirty Randy". Coincidentally, after Natalie Teeger holds a crooked private investigations agency CEO up at gunpoint (and threatening to shoot him), Stottlemeyer jokingly calls her "Dirty Natalie".
  • Likewise, in Mr. Monk in Trouble (also published in 2009), while arresting a murder suspect, Randy quotes several of Harry's more famous lines (including "Go ahead, make my day," (from Sudden Impact) "A man's got to know his limitations" (from Magnum Force) and "Do ya feel lucky?" (from Dirty Harry)).
• In the TV series Bottom, in the Burglary episode Eddie tells Ritchie he wishes from now on to be called "Dirty Eddie" a clear reference to Dirty Harry.
• British virtual band Gorillaz included a track named Dirty Harry on their second album, Demon Days. The same band released a track named Clint Eastwood on their debut album Gorillaz.
• In Back to the Future: The Game, Harry Callahan is one of the three aliases Marty McFly can choose. Also during the game Marty says "Go ahead, make my day".
• In Bethesda's popular Fallout 3, the player can obtain a unique weapon variant named "Callahan's Magnum" from the Add-On Pack Broken Steel. This .44 Magnum is not equipped with a scope.
• Dirty Harry is paid homage during the 226th episode of Dragon Ball Z, titled "Global Announcement". Super villain "Majin Buu" satisfies his appetite for sweets and candy by robbing (and heavily damaging) a local bakery. Law enforcement arrives promptly and opens fire on Buu. The policemen use firearms likely fashioned after the style of the 38. special except for one. This exception grimaces in the style of Dirty Harry while sporting stereotypical "Hollywood detective" attire such as a blazer or sports jacket and slacks. Unlike the other police officers, this character fires at Majin Buu with a much larger revolver resembling a S&W calibrated for 357.
  • the first reference to dirty harry in Dragonball Z, Vegeta while destroying one of the alien races, points his finger in the shape of a gun a says " go ahead, make my day"
• In Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto III, there is a bridge named "Callahan Bridge".
• In George Pan Cosmatos' movie Cobra, starring Sylvester Stallone, main character has an attitude similar to Callahan, story and theme are similar to '80s Dirty Harry movies and cast features two actors of original Dirty Harry movie, Andrew Robinson (Detective Monte) and Reni Santoni (Sergeant Tony Gonzales).
• In "San Francisco's Finest: Gunning for the Zodiac(2012)," a crime suspense thriller novel by Joseph Covino, Jr, its central character, retired SFPD homicide inspector, Dave Toski, is Dirty Harry Callahan in disguise.
• In the Simpsons, a television character called McGarnagle is a parody of Dirty Harry, as well as other Clint Eastwood hard-boiled cops.
• In the Mass Effect series, a commercial for a movie about a Hanar Spectre named Blasto (whose dialogue is very similar to Dirty Harry Callahan's famous quotes) is frequently heard/referenced.
• In the 1990's X-MEN: The Animated Series, during the episode "The Dark Phoenix: Part II", Wolverine puts his own spin on Callahan's famous "Do I feel lucky?" speech. He replaces Harry's .44 Magnum with his adamantium claws, describing that they "can cut like a hot knife through butter, buddy" as he slowly, intimidatingly approaches a henchman who knows the rest of the captured X-Men's whereabouts.