Dirty Harry is a 1971 crime film directed by Don Siegel, the first of the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first cast as San Francisco Police Department Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan.

Dirty Harry is the name of a series of films and novels starring fictional San Francisco Police Department detective 'Dirty' Harry Callahan, portrayed by Clint Eastwood. Eastwood's character also helped popularize the .44 Magnum, as Harry Callahan is famously shown wielding his Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver.

In the year 1971, San Francisco faces the terror of a maniac known as Scorpio- who snipes at innocent victims and demands ransom through notes left at the scene of the crime. Inspector Harry Callahan (known as Dirty Harry by his peers through his reputation handling of homicidal cases) is assigned to the case along with his newest partner Inspector Chico Gonzalez to track down Scorpio and stop him. Using humiliation and cat and mouse type of games against Callahan, Scorpio is put to the test with the cop with a dirty attitude. Written by commanderblue

The downfall of societal coddling of criminals is the theme of the debut of Inspector Harry Callahan, who has no patience for criminals and less of such for revolving-door justice as well as politicians who wilt under the pressure of a deranged hippie who uses a sniper rifle to kill several innocent people, only to go free because the incrimating rifle was obtained by an "illegal" search. Harry must break societal rules to stop the madman society allows to roam free. Written by Michael Daly

The debut of SFPD Inspector Harry Callahan begins with a sociopathic rooftop sniper (Andrew Robinson of 'Cobra' and 'Hellraiser') killing a young woman in a pool, and then trying to extort $100,000 from the City. Harry is asked by his boss, Lt. Bressler (Harry Guardino) and the Mayor (John Vernon) to put a stop to this low-life. While Harry & his new partner, Chico (Reni Santori of 'Cobra') investigate, another murder occurs, followed by a kidnapping/rape of a young girl, and a subsequent attempt at extortion by the killer, who calls himself 'Scorpio'. Harry volunteers to deliver the ransom but is nearly killed by Scorpio, who is wounded & driven off by Chico and Harry. Harry follows the suspect's trail to Kezar Stadium, where he discovers the murder weapon and the suspect! The man is arrested and Harry gets the girl's location out of him. Unbeknownst to Harry, the girl is dead already, and the next morning Harry visits the D.A. to find out that the man is being freed - because of a bleeding-heart legal system and judiciary that says Harry's search was 'illegal', although there was no time - and no judge - to get a warrant from. On his release, Scorpio is up to his old tricks - this time he kidnaps a bus-load of children and demands a ransom. The Mayor foolishly goes along with Scorpio's game and orders Harry not to stop the killer. Disgusted with the weak-kneed attitude of the Mayor & his colleagues in the legal system, Harry intercepts the bus and takes on Scorpio himself to put an end to the kidnapping and the psychopath's reign of terror...for good. Written by Derek O'Cain

It's all in a day's work for Dirty Harry, a plainclothesman with the San Francisco police and for his new partner, Chico. A bank robbery and an attempted suicide form the prelude to the main event: catching a skillful sniper who is murdering the innocent while holding a city to ransom. Catching him becomes a war between good and evil - with the protagonists on both sides shown as ruthless, bitter and merciless products of a violent society. Written by Dave Cook

San Francisco is being terrorized by a sniper who calls himself Scorpio, and Scorpio kills Diana Davidson as she swims in a pool. Inspector Harry Callahan is known as Dirty Harry. Dirty Harry is a widower, his wife having been killed in an auto accident. He lives to make the existence of his superiors a miserable one, and he refuses to play by the rules. Dirty Harry doesn't wear Kevlar and he doesn't carry an arsenal of automatic weapons. All he needs is his .44 magnum. Six shots doesn't seem like much, but it's enough when you rarely miss and a single shot can knock you into the next millennium. Dirty Harry handles the search for Scorpio, and ends up stopping three men from robbing a bank. Known for bringing bad luck to his partners, Dirty Harry reluctantly accepts new partner Chico Gonzalez on the orders of Lieutenant Al Bressler. Dirty Harry even gets chewed out by the mayor. Scorpio promises to kill a black person and a priest if the city doesn't give him $100,000. Nearly caught, Scorpio doubles the ransom, kidnaps a 14-year-old girl, and buries her alive, giving the police a limited time to cough up the money before she suffocates. Dirty Harry follows Scorpio's instructions for the delivery, which results in Chico getting wounded. Dirty Harry tracks Scorpio to Kezar Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. Scorpio is running across the football field, and Dirty Harry calmly takes aim and nails him in the leg at the 50-yard line. The shot lifts him up and flips him over. Dirty Harry tortures Scorpio into revealing the girl's hiding place. She's found dead and Scorpio is released due to Dirty Harry's unorthodox procedure. Later, Scorpio takes over a school bus. And Dirty Harry is the only one who can take Scorpio down. Written by Todd Baldridge