MINDLESS MUSINGS

Wow! What a brain twister! The mental gymnastics in this one are fantastic! Yet through brilliant storytelling sleight of hand, I think it holds, by the skin of its teeth, but it holds.

Dirty Harry is back with his trusty .44 Magnum: ready and willing to put large calibre holes into anyone foolish enough to draw on him. Remember that detail because it is important.

This time Harry has to track down a psychopathic vigilante who is gunning down bad guys in cold blood. Don’t laugh! This lunatic has elected themselves judge, jury and executioner. It’s not funny! You can’t just go around shooting known murderers because you reckon the world would be better off without them. Stop fucken laughing!

I see what has you so amused. Yes, Harry has been known to kill more than his fair share of villains. The difference is, if you watch the movie closely, Harry only ever mows down in self-defence or to save an innocent civilian. It’s a (paper) thin line, but he never crosses it. Not on camera anyway. He also never kills or maims any bystanders for that matter. It’s truly uncanny!

Harry believes in the system. He’s a cop and a cop’s job is to capture the bad guys and gather evidence. After that it’s in the hands of the justice system. It’s only a coincidence that Harry always seems to arrive while a violent crime is in progress. What else can a good cop do other than charge in? Once he’s involved it’s not Harry’s fault if a gun wielding suspect draws on him or one of his colleagues or a civilian – Blam, Blam, Blam! Problem solved.

Saves a lot of time and expense on incarceration and court proceedings. It’s just dumb luck that Harry doesn’t need to waste time going to court and all that bullshit. Harry gets to avoid the bitter frustration of someone he caught walking free. Not in this movie anyway. In this story he is much more pragmatic regarding the loopholes and flaws in the legal process.

The assassin not only kills unarmed evildoers, but they also don’t have a problem with making Swiss cheese out of anyone unfortunate enough to be hanging out with the target. An entire fucken pool party in one instance! Talk about overkill.

Harry meets a tight knit group of rookie traffic cops who take their firearms training very seriously and he is most impressed. The force needs guys who can put bullets into vital areas on hoodlums. That’s what good policing is all about.

However, soon Harry begins to surmise that these gung-ho motorcycle cops are getting a little ahead of themselves when it comes to administering the law.

There’s a great scene where the undefeated SFPD shooting competition champion Harry ends up in a tie breaker with the rookie crew’s best guy. Harry chooses ‘combat’ which involves one of those layouts with the façade buildings like a film set. Targets randomly pop out; some are armed thugs, some are civilians and some are cops. The young buck gets a perfect score. Harry is on the same track, but loses when he shoots the final target by mistake – a cop. See what they did there?

Anyway, Harry gets his proof and even uncovers some higher ups that are involved in this death squad setup. Of course, he won’t have to prove anything in a court of law because the baddies all make the fatal mistake of trying to take him out. Problem solved.

I’ve seen this movie many times since I was a kid and this latest viewing was the first time I really noticed the paradox. I find it fascinating that we all (as far as I know) accepted that Harry had the moral high ground simply because he didn’t fuck up and kill the wrong person. It would be a very different movie indeed if Harry took out a few passengers on that plane for example:

Harry walks onto a plane during an armed hostage situation and after a little subterfuge, he beats the shit out of one terrorist and uses that guys gun to shoot the other one; through a wall, mind you. Harry demonstrates his concern for bystander safety by barking “sit down!” to the annoying passengers who are panicking and not behaving properly. That seems to be the minimum duty of care for having gunfights in public places.

In this particular cinematic universe Harry’s halo holds. He saved the day and punished the wrongdoers. If the movie had Harry arrest the terrorists and then flash forward to them mocking him as they walk free from court, things obviously change. If Harry tracks them down and shoots them dead while they are eating McDonalds, we have might have a problem.

In Harry’s world though, the terrorists would undoubtably see him coming and draw their guns, maybe even take a hostage for extra tension. We are so easily duped by good storytelling.

I love movies and I love stories in general, but when you immerse yourself in any artform you cannot avoid seeing the man behind the curtain pulling the strings now and then. Funnily, it doesn’t take away from the enjoyment, in some ways it deepens my awe. It also has the added benefit of giving the next generation of storytellers a cliché that can be used as misdirection. Awesome!