I’d Really Like to See…Dirty Harry 6

This originally appeared as part of Zoom In Online's weekly "I'd Really Like to See..." blog series.

Considering this is my first contribution to Zoom In, I realize this is a bold statement to make. After all, not a lot of people have been very keen on old timers revisiting signature roles from their prime, including Schwarzenegger reprising the T-800 and Stallone coming back to Rocky and Rambo. Even though he has a couple decades on both of them, Clint Eastwood is an entirely different story. In fact, when Gran Torino was announced and rumored to be a new Dirty Harry film, I thought it would be great. Of course, Eastwood immediately shot those rumors down, saying, “Dirty Harry would not be in the police department at my age.”



Certainly it’s easy to dismiss this franchise as dead considering how much it went downhill after the outstanding Dirty Harry and Magnum Force, with The Enforcer being another fair addition to round out the first three films. Sudden Impact, which was the lone entry directed by Eastwood, displayed too many signs of self-awareness and seemed to deviate from the Harry Callahan character in many ways. The Dead Pool boiled over with ridiculousness, including an early Liam Neeson role as a film auteur who just wants to finish filming his classic-in-the-making Hotel Satan, and another early, hammy role for Jim Carrey playing a drug addled rock star who acts like, well, Jim Carrey at his most over the top, but in the worst kind of way.

But we’ve come a long way in the twenty years since The Dead Pool, haven’t we now? Eastwood’s been raking in the kudos with films in years since such as Mystic River, Million Dollar Baby, Letters from Iwo Jima, and the masterpiece Unforgiven. Even this year alone, there’s plenty of award buzz floating around for Gran Torino and his other film Changeling. In fact, Eastwood shows he still has a bit of that mean streak on display in his Gran Torino performance.

While it may be safe to assume that Harry 6 wouldn’t be feted the same as the aforementioned films, remember that other Eastwood films in recent years such as Blood Work and Absolute Power are taut thrillers, and I can’t help but give props for the considerably lighter fare of Space Cowboys for being a well-crafted tale about geriatrics looking to reclaim a part of their youth. Think of what Eastwood, who has become that rare filmmaker that can consistently churn out high quality films (despite silliness such as Firefox), could do with an established character that he already knows from the inside out – especially with the right writer (maybe another team up with Brian Helgeland?). And besides, there have been rumors of a remake floating around for years. Wouldn’t we rather have Clint take the helm and reprise the role instead of another person take over Harry Callahan?