Clint Eastwood – in the role that propelled him to super stardom and remains the most iconic of his career – stars as Inspector Harry Callahan, a blunt talking detective with a disdain for the rights of criminals and even greater antipathy for the politicians who protect them. Nevertheless, when San Francisco is targeted by a sociopath with a high-powered rifle (Andrew Robinson, who has also never lived down his role as “Scorpio”), “Dirty” Harry is put on his trail.

The screenplay by Harry & Rita Fink and Dean Riesner had been in development by at least two different studios in the 1960s. It was originally intended as a Paul Newman vehicle, then tailored for Frank Sinatra, who is said to have dropped out after breaking his hand.

After at least the fifth rewrite (with uncredited work by John Milius), Eastwood accepted on condition that Don Siegel direct. The film was a career peak for Siegel, best known for hard hitting, low budget crime dramas like Riot In Cell Block 11 and The Killers.

Siegel’s direction has a lot of texture, making terrific use of the alleys and rooftops of nocturne San Francisco. He succeeds in painting a vivid street document of what the city was like in 1971. Siegel and Eastwood considered setting the movie in Seattle, believing the Bay Area had been overexposed, but San Francisco ended up providing a skyline and the counterculture extras that Seattle would not have. The foot thumping musical score by Lalo Schifrin is also a standout and adds to the atmosphere.

Dirty Harry ushered in a new kind of screen cop. Instead of the likable guy protecting the public, Eastwood’s Harry Callahan was the first of many tortured rogues going through one existential crisis or another. Combative with superiors, indignant to partners, presiding over a home in shambles, they were a far cry from Officer Friendly.

The filmmakers save their best stuff for last. Scorpio hijacks a school bus and leads the kids in a rendition of “Row Row Row Your Boat.” Callahan appears on an overpass and hops onto the top of the bus. He chases Scorpio through a cement mill before the killer grabs a kid as a shield. Callahan blasts Scorpio in the shoulder anyway before issuing his iconic “Do you feel lucky, punk?”speech. The look on Robinson’s face and his last laugh as he leaps for his pistol is worthy of a rental.

Dirty Harry spawned four sequels that would suffer from uninspired, TV-type direction, with the exception of 1983’s Sudden Impact, the sole entry officially directed by Eastwood, which recaptured at least some of the dark mood, wit and intriguing antagonism displayed here.