Dirty Harry (1971)

Dirty Harry (1971), the first installment in the famous action-thriller Dirty Harry series, was produced and directed by Don Siegel. The film follows SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan as he investigates a murder committed by a psychopathic sniper known as ‘Scorpio’ on a San Francisco skyscraper rooftop pool. After discovering a threatening letter left behind by Scorpio demanding $100,000 to spare more lives, Callahan teams up with the mayor and the police to track down the killer. Despite objections from Callahan, the mayor agrees to meet Scorpio’s demand as a stalling tactic. During his lunch break, Harry intervenes in a bank robbery and takes out one of the robbers while holding another at gunpoint with his iconic Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, giving him an ultimatum.

Despite surrendering, the robber insists on finding out and Harry jovially pulls the trigger, revealing the gun is empty. Assigned a rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez, against his opposition to working with yet another inexperienced police officer, Harry faces a new challenge. Meanwhile, Scorpio is spotted by a police helicopter while staking for potential victims and manages to escape. After assisting in preventing a suicide, Harry and Gonzalez uncover that Scorpio has murdered a 10-year-old African-American boy. With a lead from Scorpio’s letter, the police believe his next target will be a Catholic priest and set up a trap. As expected, Scorpio appears, engages in a shootout and fatally wounds an officer before fleeing.