肮脏的哈里

70年代自由主义“野蛮”扩张，制度僵化，伴随着生活水平下降，治安愈发严峻。大环境和人物设置其实很容易和同年的《法国贩毒网》联系起来。经济红利褪去，问题暴露在明面上，保守主义的孤胆英雄又被迫出现。电影也再一次承担了社会功能，用以抚平伤痛和焦虑。

意识形态分析我想从三点切入：环境&遗传；主体（自我）&他者；世俗&宗教

首先是环境&遗传：左翼所谓的环境、教育等后天诱因，并未使犯罪份子在社会改造后洗心革面，更多右翼人士相信有些人就是天生的坏种，以暴制暴成了不得已而为之的行动模式。在美国文化中，部分媒体和政府更愿意强调非普遍的犯罪行为，扩大其影响力和舆论情绪，观众的好奇心使得罪犯背后的动因进一步被浪漫化和曲解。

主体（自我）&他者：我们看到犯罪者在特写镜头下枪械的延伸直指观众，并非是把道德审判交给观众，更像是一种指责。狙击镜下的个体被扩大成种族、宗教和未来，代表着主流意识形态中WASP所定义的群体，他们也同时是需要被规训的他者。当然电影并没有进一步消费受害者，也没有给主体做自我阉割，算是削弱了所谓的性别政治。孤独的拯救者仍然是男性形象，只是这种男权社会的搬演更为隐蔽。

世俗&宗教方面：左翼份子更倾向于进步的派系，阶级分明的宗教体系自然也是被针对的对象。保守主义则给予宗教特权，哈里的审判自然带有道德仲裁的光环。其中警徽和枪既是法律神圣的化身，也是赋予哈里惩戒罪犯的合法性标志。法律的光环在哈里心中逐渐暗淡，他丢掉了象征法律的警徽，不再被其束缚，只信奉.44左轮带来的事实正义。

观众可能更乐意看到《双虎屠龙》中暴力与法制的大和解，而现实结局多是50年代《正午》和《原野奇侠》，孤胆英雄都是被划在规则之外的（当然还有《搜索者》）。在泥泞中执行正义，难免会染一身污。屠龙者还未长出鳞片，便被遗弃在荒野之中。

相关索引

法国贩毒网 (1971)

7.7

1971 / 美国 / 动作 惊悚 犯罪 / 威廉·弗莱德金 / 吉恩·哈克曼 费尔南多·雷伊

双虎屠龙 (1962)

8.2

1962 / 美国 / 剧情 爱情 西部 / 约翰·福特 / 约翰·韦恩 詹姆斯·斯图尔特

正午 (1952)

8.4

1952 / 美国 / 剧情 西部 / 弗雷德·金尼曼 / 加里·库珀 格蕾丝·凯利

原野奇侠 (1953)

7.6

1953 / 美国 / 剧情 西部 / 乔治·史蒂文斯 / 艾伦·拉德 琪恩·亚瑟

Watching the 1971 cop thriller Dirty Harry at a time when feminism and anti-racism become increasingly mainstream is indeed a nerve-racking experience. Directed by the earlier B-movie director Don Siegel, the 102-minute film, which portrays the cat-and-mouse-chase of a San Francisco police detective and a serial killer, is almost an explicit celebration of police brutality and male dominance. Although wildly politically incorrect, it is hard to ignore the movie’s immediate box office success and continued popularity.

"Do you feel lucky, punk? "

As the first instalment of the Dirty Harry series, Dirty Harry successfully introduces the main protagonist, the ‘dirty’ cop Harry Callahan, to the audience. The character is played by Clint Eastwood, who enjoys the star image of a cynical, virile, and powerful ‘man’s man’. As is expected, Callahan is almost a caricature of this iconic screen persona of Eastwood. He follows his own code of honour, and is hardly bound by any rules or social traditions. More importantly, he is always prepared to take any measures against the criminals, including torture, abuse and other forms of violence, to protect the citizens in San Francisco. As extreme as these measures seem, they are very much justified, and even encouraged in Dirty Harry, especially as the film uses an extremely perverted, evil and one-dimensional villain and an outrageously ineffective government system, in sharp contrast with Callahan’s toughness. The character’s roguish charm is even more strengthened as the film uses a nearly five-minute shot of the police officer peeping into the houses of innocent people, purely out of voyeuristic pleasure. Lalo Schifrin’s jazz score further adds to the dangerous and exotic atmosphere, giving the film a near-pornographic texture. These disturbing acts of extreme violence and female gaze are, however, normalised in the movie, and displayed as a celebration of masculinity.

The Dirty Harry Series

Dirty Harry reflects the general sentiments experienced by most conservative Americans in the 1970s. They are deeply frustrated by the liberalist movements in the 1960s, and hopes to return to traditional American values, with an unbending, strong-willed, and hyper-masculine ‘American’ hero standing up to fight against the hippy culture, corruption and moral decadence and to uphold established gender roles. These thoughts continue to stay central to the conservative political rhetoric in America even until nowadays, and form an inseparable part of the American culture, despite the growing popularity of #MeToo and Black Lives Matter movements in the country.

There are often discussions on the internet arguing that Dirty Harry should be ‘cancelled’ due to its right-wing tendencies (Delingpole, 2020). However, from my perspective, it is definitely a film worth to revisit, especially for people with liberal views like me, as it could potentially help us jump out of our comfort zones and try to understand how conservative politics works in the 1970s and even nowadays. At the very least, it demonstrates to us why pushing forward filmmaking that intentionally challenges the patriarchal privilege in society is still, and will continue to be important.

Works Cited

Delingpole, J. (2020, June 16). 7 problematic films that are yet to be cancelled. Spectator Life. Retrieved April 11, 2021, from //www.spectator.co.uk/article/7-problematic-films-that-are-yet-to-be-cancelled

Street, J. (2016). Dirty Harry's America: Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the Conservative Backlash. University Press of Florida.