Dirty Harry Callahan has brought so much joy into my life. I remember when I was in 5th Grade in 1983, the hot phrase was “Go ahead. Make my day.” You heard that phrase everywhere. It may have been said by Dirty Harry in the 4th Harry Callahan adventure, SUDDEN IMPACT, but it transcended the movie and became a cultural phenomenon. Somewhere between 1983 and 1988, I was able to watch all of the Dirty Harry films, DIRTY HARRY, MAGNUM FORCE, THE ENFORCER and SUDDEN IMPACT. I just loved Harry. He was always sticking it to his superiors, and then doing whatever it took to take out the bad guys. That was an amazing combination for me. I was 14 years old when the 5th and final Dirty Harry film, THE DEAD POOL, was released into the theaters in July of 1988. This was the first Dirty Harry film to be released after our family got our VCR in the mid 80’s. I couldn’t wait to rent it.
In THE DEAD POOL, Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds himself the target of crime boss Lou Janero, as Harry was crucial in his arrest and subsequent conviction. This high profile news story has caught the attention of the horror film director, Peter Swan (Liam Neeson). It’s seems Swan and some of his friends are playing a twisted game called “the dead pool” where they predict the deaths of certain celebrities based on various factors going on in their lives. Harry Callahan is a local celebrity and Swan includes him on his list due to his role in the Janero conviction. This “dead pool” game is leaked to reporter Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson) after the murder of Johnny Squares (Jim Carrey), who’s on Peter Swan’s list. As celebrities who are on Swan’s list continue to die, Harry and his partner Al Kwan (Evan C. Kim) try to figure out if Swan is behind the killings, or if someone else is trying to frame him, all while trying to keep themselves alive!
There are so many cool and interesting things about THE DEAD POOL. First, there has never been a character any more awesome than Harry Callahan, as played by Clint Eastwood. He will do whatever it takes to get the bad guys, regardless of what his superiors think. As a rule follower, I absolutely love Harry’s approach to life and live vicariously through him. Only vigilante Paul Kersey, played by Charles Bronson in the DEATH WISH films, rivals Callahan in his willingness to fight for justice, everyone else be damned! Second, future superstar actor Jim Carrey has the role of Johnny Squares, the drug-addicted rocker whose death kicks off the public’s knowledge of the dead pool. In hindsight, it’s fun seeing Carrey as a working actor in 1988, while also knowing that he’d become one of the biggest stars in the world over the next decade. It’s also pretty cool seeing a pre-superstar Liam Neeson as horror director Peter Swan. Third, in the late 80’s, I loved the rock group Guns N Roses. The group members are in this film in two places. They’re in the sequence where a harpoon stunt goes wrong, as well as at the funeral of Johnny Squares. Hell, guitarist Slash gets to fire the harpoon! Their hit song “Welcome to the Jungle” also has a prominent part in the film. I loved their other hits “Sweet Child of Mine,” and “Paradise City,” when I was a teenager. Fourth, I always love Harry’s catchphrases from the films. Each Dirty Harry film has its own catchphrase, including examples like “Do you feel lucky?” and “Go ahead. Make my day.” In THE DEAD POOL, various bad guys get “you’re shit out of luck.” Shit is a favorite curse word of my family, so I like this one. Fifth, THE DEAD POOL has a crazy car chase sequence. In this sequence, Harry and his partner Al Kwan find themselves chased by a remote-controlled car packing a bomb. It makes for some interesting visuals as the tiny car chases them through those familiar streets of San Francisco. It’s not often that filmmakers can come up with a new way to present a car chase, but they do a great job here. Finally, I enjoy seeing the media getting skewered in THE DEAD POOL. Patricia Clarkson’s reporter character has a solid arc as she goes from someone at the beginning of the movie who will do anything to get an exclusive story, to someone who is even willing to forego the exclusive if it’s the “right thing to do.” Our media is a hopeless mess these days where opinion is treated as facts, and actual facts are treated as an option. Where’s Dirty Harry to clean this up in 2024?
I’m a fan of THE DEAD POOL, and I probably watch it every year or two. If you haven’t ever seen it, or if it’s been a while, I’d definitely recommend it!
Through the Shattered Lens 
O q eu não entendo é o DESSA VEZ…ofilme não muda; na semana retrasada era o Máximo agora Mild. Bro, sempre foi infanto-juvenil, colorido e cartoonish….
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I have the box set of all five films and while the first is certainly the greatest of them all, I can watch Harry Callahan in all of these and love them all…did you know that the first film was one of THREE he made in a single year, including his directorial debut, and all involved Director Don. Siegel? https://johnrieber.com/2023/03/18/clint-eastwoods-triple-play-of-classic-films-in-one-year-1971s-dirty-harry-play-misty-for-me-the-beguiled/
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I love Dirty Harry and Play Misty for Me from 1971. I have to admit I’ve never watched The Beguiled, although I do own it on DVD. The story never really appealed to me, but as an Eastwood completist, I really should give it a spin. Do you like it, John? And I love Don Siegel. I put up my review on his only film with Bronson, TELEFON, earlier in the week. He’s a legend in my book!
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The Beguiled is a moody slow burn to be sure but I do like it…and what a year for that duo! I also shared that I ate at the restaurant used to film “Play Misty For Me!” https://biteeatrepeat.com/2024/11/04/biting-down-on-movie-history-at-the-sardine-factory-food-good-enough-for-clint-eastwood/
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Now’s the time to give it a spin. It’s hard to believe I’ve never watched it. And now I’m hungry and wanting to have lunch with Don Siegel!!
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Thanks for this review, Brad. Clint had a symbiotic relationship with his stunt-double, like Hal Needham and Burt Reynolds, and Clint gave Buddy Van Horn the opportunity to Direct this fifth-and-last Dirty Harry movie. Liam Neeson’s character in ‘The Dead Pool’ represents Peter Yates, British director of “Bullitt” (another legendary Frisco Detective, Frank Bullitt.) The radio-controlled car in Dead Pool was a replica of Frank Bullitt’s Mustang, and the route in the car chase was roughly the same as Bullitt, especially the car getting airborne and hairpin turns on Lombard Street, and power-sliding into a curb. As Neeson’s character says, “it’s not a rip-off! It’s an homage!” Side note: in the original Bullitt, Robert Duvall plays a cab driver. And, yes, I know Neeson is not British but Irish. Let us call that ‘a distinction, without a difference!”
Clint was approached to make ‘The Beguiled’ by Warner Brothers (who owned the novel rights, a great book where McBurney is 21 while Clint plays him at 40) and he agreed if the Director could be Don Siegel. In exchange, the studio agreed to a small budget for Eastwood to make and direct Play Misty For Me. ‘Misty’ is not just some scary slasher movie, it has basis on ‘Madame Butterly’ and the theme involves both parties hooking up under false pretenses. Many layers!
Eastwood directed it for free, established his credit and ability to deliver a movie on-time and on-budget. Siegel was friendly and familiar with Clint Eastwood from their work together. Don Seigel wanted to do a cameo in ‘Play Misty For Me’ so the first day of shooting he played the jazz club bartender, Murphy. Clint Eastwood did 11 takes, then told the cameraman, “okay, this time put film in the camera!” Clint is also very funny. A fellow comedian, John Kreng (also a stuntman and author of Fight Choreography: The Art of Non-Verbal Dialogue) saw ‘Dirty Harry’ when Kreng was an adolescent, and wrote Eastwood a letter saying that he wanted to grow up and kill bad guys like him. Eastwood broke policy and took the time to write him back, explaining that it was only pretend and a movie and that police didn’t break the law in real life. Kreng ran into Clint at a film festival years later, told him the story and Clint said, “I remember that letter! What are you doing now?” Kreng replied that he was a comedian, and Clint said, “well, I guess you’re killing them now in your own way.”
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Very good information, John C.! Clint is truly one of a kind. His sense of humor is one of the things that I appreciate the most about him.
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Great review and photos of you and your wife and aunt and uncle! You all really know how to live well. There is a California joke you must know, “Santa Barbara is where old people go to visit their parents, and Carmel is where grandparents go to visit their money!” My wife and I had a honeymoon lunch at ‘The Hog’s Breath’ and got married at Stonepine. Your review of Play Misty and Fatal Attraction are wonderful, thanks!
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That’s hilarious!
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