Oct 12, 2009
Dirty Harry
The opening sequence and credits to Don Siegel's "Dirty Harry" plays long, mean...and breathless? Cream-pie cool Clint Eastwood susses death and a devil atop skyscrapers to a tough Lalo Schifrin score. The soaring set piece sets your teeth on edge, the soft howl of wind an uncomfortable music, the framing tight and majestic. As the camera teeters on the executive producer credit you put your left arm around someone a little too tightly.
DETAILS
The best! This reminds me of the The Conversation….I love these long openings.
I showed this one just a couple weeks ago to a film studies class at University of Houston. It still holds up quite impressively.
The music really makes it great: Those three upward arpeggios when Callahan appears are one of the best character intros ever.