The Correct Order To Watch The Dirty Harry Movies

The Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona came down in 1966, and served as a crackdown on sloppy or abusive police interrogations. Miranda noted that suspects, when being arrested, had certain rights afforded them, including the right to remain silent while in custody, and the right to have a state-appointed attorney to defend them. Thanks to its use in an endless stream of cop shows and "Law & Order" reruns, most Americans can recite the Miranda warning by heart. We all now know that, upon arrest, we have the right to remain silent.

Not everyone was pleased about the Miranda decision, however, and many conservative pundits at the time felt that it only hamstrung police officers. There was a fear that truly evil criminals would exploit the system to their benefit, keeping silent and protected, while street cops — knowing them to be guilty — would be helpless to, say, beat a confession out of them.

The latter view is expressed explicitly in Don Siegel's 1971 thriller "Dirty Harry." In the film, Clint Eastwood plays Harry Callahan, a grizzled San Francisco cop on the trail of a Zodiac-like serial killer called Scorpio (Andrew Robinson). Callahan has a reputation for treating suspects roughly, hence his nickname, but finds his job becoming increasingly difficult when Scorpio flouts the new Miranda rules to his advantage. "Dirty Harry" is an assertively conservative movie.

Not only was "Dirty Harry" a big hit, but it solidified a new cinematic archetype in the pop consciousness. Clint Eastwood's scowl-'n'-growl became shorthand for any devil-may-hero antihero, and his .44 Magnum became the go-to vigilante gun for clownish weapons enthusiasts.

"Dirty Harry" spawned four sequels through 1988 before Eastwood retired the character. Here is their proper release/viewing order.

The five Dirty Harry movies in order of their release run thus: 

• Don Siegel's "Dirty Harry" (1971)
• Ted Post's "Magnum Force" (1973)
• James Fargo's "The Enforcer" (1976)
• Clint Eastwood's "Sudden Impact" (1983)
• Buddy Van Horn's "The Dead Pool" (1988)

Note that the fifth Dirty Harry movie, "The Dead Pool," came out three years before the debut of the Marvel Comics character Deadpool. The release of the film no doubt put the phrase "dead pool" into the heads of creators Fabian Niecieza and Ron Liefeld, perhaps vaguely influencing them. The character, however, has nothing to do with Dirty Harry directly.

The first three films were massive hits, each one making about $200 million at the box office. In 1983, however, attitudes began to change, and the "grizzled cop" shtick became a little old. "Sudden Impact" only made about $183 million (still a huge hit), although "Pool" only made about $83 million. By the late 1980s, blockbuster entertainments shifted toward effects-based fantasies or cop stories with an action/comedy bent; think of "48 Hrs." or "Lethal Weapon." Dirty Harry felt like old news. It didn't help that Eastwood had aged out of the part.

Weirdly, the anti-Miranda, pro-cop messaging of the Dirty Harry movies would have fit squarely into the conservative entertainments of the Reagan era. Perhaps the only think stopping Eastwood from making more sequels throughout the decade was his prolific output otherwise. Eastwood made his directorial debut in 1982 with "Firefox" and directed five addition films in the remainder of the decade. His career shifted, and Dirty Harry wasn't foremost on his mind. He's been a prolific filmmaker ever since, having directed 26 films since 1988.

At age 94, Eastwood is currently directing a legal thriller called "Juror No. 2."