Sunday, November 7, 2010

"Dirty Harry" ain't no fan of our President - " A man's got to know his limitations "


If you are a fan of Clint Eastwood's work as both an actor & moviemaker, there are many of his films that will be discussed and reviewed for significance. The "Spaghetti Westerns", His more recent work like " Gran Torino" and " Flags of our Fathers" BUT the one group of movies that stand out are the Dirty Harry movies, where he plays San Francisco Detective Harry Callahan.

Eastwood plays a shoot-first, ask-questions-later no-nonsense Detective Harry Callahan, who became a signature character for him. The first movie, Dirty Harry, is the best, a Don Siegel film in which Harry flouts rules about police brutality to capture a serial killer and utters his famous "Do you feel lucky, punk?" speech. In Magnum Force he tracks rogue cops including one of his bosses and gives us the " A man's got to know his limitations" line. In The Enforcer he gets a female partner (future Cagney and Lacy star Tyne Daly) and shows us that Harry had a softer side. Sudden Impact featured him tracking a female serial killer and offered a new catch phrase: "Go ahead. Make my day."

His philosophy on crime and the criminals was never in doubt - here he is talking with Capt. McKay after crashing a car through the front of a liquor store where criminals were holding hostages -

Capt McKay: $14,379.
Harry Callahan: How can that be?
Capt McKay: You want an itemized account? You took out two front doors, one front window, 12 feet of counter. Plus damages to the stock, plus one city vehicle totaled. Not to mention three hostages in the hospital, all of whom will probably sue the city.
Harry Callahan: For what?
Capt McKay: Excessive use of force. For your information, Callahan, the minority community has just about had it with this kind of police work.
Harry Callahan: By the "minority community", I suppose you're talking about the hoods.


And now we find out that the former mayor of Carmel is "not a fan" of President Barack Obama.

Clint Eastwood told Katie Couric during a CBSNews.com interview that the president is doing what he can to stay in the position, but that he's not actually "governing."

The 20-minute interview posted Thursday was to push Eastwood's movie Hereafter, which opened today.

Eastwood supported Obama's Republican challenger John McCain two years ago, but the politically active actor is no right winger. He supported California Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, for example, during the recall campaign that eventually led to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger being elected.

Nevertheless, publicly coming out against Obama -- 11 days before mid-term elections, no less -- definitely puts Eastwood in the minority in famously liberal Hollywood.

Eastwood, though, is laying low compared to others in Hollywood who don't support Obama. Kelsey Grammer recently launched RightNetwork, for example, and Jon Voight has been speaking at Tea Party rallies.

Sounds like Clint Eastwood would be one to tell The President, " A man's got to know his limitations."

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