Callahan: Well, when an adult male is chasing a female with intent to commit rape, I shoot the bastard. That’s my policy.
The Mayor: Intent ? How did you establish that ?
Callahan: When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher’s knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn’t out collecting for the Red Cross !
Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) lets The Mayor of San Francisco (John Vernon) bluntly know he does whatever he likes – despite the law book.
Don Siegel’s classic shows Eastwood at the height of his macho persona, which saw the birth of ‘Dirty Harry‘.
© BRWC 2010.
