Warner Home Video has announced the details of recent releases of all five Dirty Harry movies with modern special features. They’ll all be in their modern widescreen formats only.
Buy,Download, Or Stream Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition! Click Here
They will be available on standard DVD in this 7-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition, or separately in Special or Deluxe editions. (”Special” is better than “deluxe” here–only Dirty Harry gets a 2-disc Special Edition, the others will all be on single discs, but all will have unique special features.) Links for the separate DVDs are below.
They’ll also be on Blu-ray in a 5-disc Ultimate Collector’s Edition. Only the Dirty Harry Special Edition will be available separately on Blu-ray. The other four movies will only be available on Blu-ray as section of the complete site. (They won’t be available in HD, which Warner officially discontinues at the ruin of May.)
Buy,Download, Or Stream Dirty Harry Ultimate Collector’s Edition! Click Here
Assuming the transfers are fine (update: everyone says the transfers are proper, better than the musty ones), this looks like an first-rate space. Whether those with older DVD releases will want to upgrade will be a matter of personal preference, but I personally gain the unusual commentaries and features very shapely.
Here’s a bit about each film and the special features, contained in both the separate releases and the sets. The Ultimate Editions will also include some additional features, listed further below.
Dirty Harry Special Edition
Dirty Harry is generally regarded as a classic, the beginning of a second larger-than-life persona for Clint Eastwood (after The Man with No Name) . It’s the source of the eminent “Do you feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? ” (The true quote is “… you’ve got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk? ” but the recent doesn’t quote as well out of context.)
Tough cop “Dirty” Harry Callahan has his bear simple, commonsense rules for dealing with crime, based on a strong sense of lawful and bad and an impatience with needless details and constraints. The latter gets him into continual grief with the system which, as portrayed in the movie, is more about politics and bureaucracy than doing what needs to be done. This reflected well the frustrations and fears of Americans in the ’70s that criminals were taking over the streets and that the law was powerless to finish them because the “criminal-coddling” courts were holding them help. I personally value the Fourth Amendment and other such niceties and shiver to assume of some of the political and suitable ramifications of this movie (some of which are unexcited very powerful with us), but whatever one’s politics, Dirty Harry is very effective as a police-action thriller, largely because of Eastwood’s recent persona. It’s hard not to adore and root for him even if you mediate he’s not always correct. There are also the standard gunfights and car chases, and high suspense, all well done.
In the films that followed in the series, Harry became a somewhat more balanced, complex or confusing character, depending on your point of thought, coming down clearly on the side of the law against rogue vigilante cops, for example, and learning to savor a female cop as a partner, but the basic conception of Harry standing strong despite the deplorable, wimpy system remained.
I’m elated to examine that some of the fresh special features in the spot deal with the “issues” raised by the Dirty Harry films. I sight forward to seeing what others design of them.
The special features:
– recent commentary by filmmaker and Eastwood associate/biographer Richard Schickel
– novel featurette “The Long Shadow of Dirty Harry,” on the influence and legacy of Dirty Harry
– “Dirty Harry: The Novel,” with Clint Eastwood and the film’s creators looking attend at the creation of the Dirty Harry character
– “Dirty Harry’s Diagram,” a promotional short focusing on the toughness of the movie’s main character
– interview gallery, with Patricia Clarkson, Joel Cox, Clint Eastwood, Hal Holbrook, Evan Kim, John Milius, Ted Post, Andy Robinson, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Robert Urich
– “Clint Eastwood: The Man from Malpaso,” a 1993 TV program on his life and career, including scenes from his work and interviews with friends, fellow actors and crew members
– trailer gallery: Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact and The Tiresome Pool
Magnum Force Deluxe Edition
As the sequel to a classic film, it suffers some from the let-downs typical of sequels, but it’s aloof Clint Eastwood being a tough guy, which is enough to carry the merely average space and script and execute it obedient entertainment for Eastwood fans. I’d say that applies to all four sequels.
In this installment, Harry, the cop frustrated by the rules that beget him help, shows he has his limits when he goes up against snide vigilante cops killing criminals without any due process. As in the first movie, there’s plenty of action, a car hasten, suspense, people getting shot, etc.
Special features:
– recent commentary by director and Magnum Force screenwriter John Milius (”in this gritty, moving commentary, legendary Hollywood screenwriter Milius discusses Eastwood, the world of Dirty Harry and the rugged resilience of crime drama in American cinema”)
– fresh featurette “A Fair Right: The Politics of Dirty Harry,” with filmmakers, social scientists and authors on the politics and ethics of the Dirty Harry films
– “The Hero Cop: Yesterday and Today”
– trailer gallery
The Enforcer Deluxe Edition
In this installment, Harry, the renegade cop with some musty attitudes and no desire to be tied up with a partner, gets stuck with a female partner, well played by Tyne Daly. Surprise surprise, he learns to respect and rely on her as they fabricate hamburger of a group of domestic terrorists. As in the first two movies, there’s plenty of action, suspense, people getting shot, etc., but with a scuttle on foot in residence of the usual car amble.
Special features:
– unique commentary by Enforcer director James Fargo
– fresh featurette “The Business End: Violence in Cinema”
– “Harry Callahan/Clint Eastwood: Something Special in Films”
– trailer gallery
Sudden Impact Deluxe Edition
Sudden Impact inspires very mixed reactions, but it’s peaceful Clint Eastwood in a classic role, this time with Sondra Locke, his partner in several films and off-screen. Some people despise Locke, but I assume she’s satisfactory with Eastwood. (I liked them even more in the Dirty Harryish Gauntlet and the very un-Dirty-Harry Bronco Billy.)
Harry is on forced leave for being his usual trouble-making self while getting the abominable guys, but composed finds himself in the middle of a string of murders that he undertakes to terminate. As in a couple of the others in the series, this movie includes a account line where extralegal justice is an boom, as Locke’s damaged rape victim seeks revenge. With the usual action, shootings, and a high level of violence, with women getting their part.
This one is the source of the noted quote, “Go ahead, originate my day.” It was directed by Eastwood.
– current commentary by filmmaker and Eastwood associate/biographer Richard Schickel
– fresh featurette “The Evolution of Clint Eastwood,” on the film in the context of Eastwood’s career as a director
– trailer gallery
The Boring Pool Deluxe Edition
The Dull Pool was aesthetic well received, considering its space in the series. It has a convoluted situation about a game in which bets are taken on the deaths of celebrities, including Harry, with young Liam Neeson playing a questionable film director who’s playing the game. Issues of the celebrity-enslaved press are mixed with romance as Harry dates a reporter. As always, there’s plenty of action, suspense, gun play, and, this time, a modern and hilarious car shuffle with a very cramped but risky car.
– original commentary by Plain Pool producer David Valdes and Boring Pool cinematographer Jack N. Green
– novel Featurette “The Craft of Dirty Harry,” including the cinematography, editing, music, and production acquire of the Dirty Harry films
– trailer gallery
The Ultimate editions will own all of the above features, plus some:
– the feature-length documentary Clint Eastwood: Out of the Shadows (which has been and is available separately)
– 40+ page hardcover book
– wallet with metal badge and removable ID card
– five 5″ x 7″ lobby poster reproduction cards and an strange Ultimate Collector’s Edition card
– “Scorpio: Portrait of a Killer” 19″ x 27″ procedure of San Francisco detailing Harry’s hunt for the killer in the first film
– never-before-seen production correspondence
The Out of the Shadows documentary is a large bonus (87 minutes) for the Ultimate edition. You can catch it separately handsome cheap weak, though. There’s an Amazon page for it, with reviews, here.
WB have proven they know how to release classic titles with their exceptional multi-disc offerings from Astaire/Rogers and the Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind and FORD/WAYNE etc etc…and now they have brought that same pleasurable packaging and extras to a considerable more unusual series DIRTY HARRY.
All the movies notice remarkable better than ever before …maybe even better than they did in movie theatres. Previous extras are included …so no need to maintain dilapidated editions and each movie has exciting and posthaste absorbing featurettes of approximately a half hour that do add considerably to the enjoyment factor. I’ve only listened to a couple of the commentaries…they all have modern ones. Professional Eastwood brown nose…er biographer Richard “windbag” Schickel doesn’t add noteworthy to Dirty Harry…but John Milius as insane as ever is a hoot on Magnum Force. I’m hoping the commentary on The Enforcer is edifying as its by the director…we have the aforementioned Schickel serve kissing butt on Sudden Impact so I’m not expecting enlightenment there.
Should you engage this box instead of the individual movies? …its a miniature better imprint to engage them this scheme but the individual movies have such icy graphics and packaging. There is a untrue badge in this residence AND an exceptional documentary on Clint Eastwood “Out of the Shadows” that all upright Clint fans owned already but IS included here…as well as mini theatre one sheets and a very nice letter from Clint about the series…
tough call…oh and a nice book with photos and brief notes…so the whole package takes up about the same plot as the individual DVDs for those wondering about shelf state.
THe movies themselves are discontinuance to the heart of baby boomers like myself who may have liked John Wayne when we were kids but as we became high schoolers and grew up Clint was/is OUR guy. There is a cramped decline in quality from movie to movie during the series as Clint ages and the writing has to gain more cute lines for him to toss off …but I enjoyed them all and aloof do …with the possible exception of the Lifeless Pool…which is now more of a curiosity to me.
Bottom line…if you like Clint/Harry …you will be glad with the quality of prints, extras and packaging. In fact its so fine I’m getting tempted to upgrade to blu-ray and glean the station in that format!
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