MAGNUM FORCE: Audience Reaction 1: Harry's Appeal to Men

[mgk]

"I play a guy who's always on the verge of violence," Eastwood says. "I show the emotional high points. I may go flat on the surface, but not inside."

The characters he plays, whether they are cops or cowboys, seem to connect on a visceral level with the frustrations and fantasies of the average filmgoer in today's increasingly regimented world. "I think most people are interested in a guy alone, who exists alone," Eastwood comments. "Most people can't, in today's society. The secret of the man I play is that he's a superhero, a dream character for most men. The average guy in the audience says, 'I want to handle it just the way he's doing it on the screen.' In these days of lost individualism, in a computerized world where everyone is a number, this is appealing."

"A guy sits in the audience. He's scared stiff about his life. He wants to be that self-sufficient legend he sees in my pictures: a superhuman character who has all the answers, is doubly cool, exists without society, without anyone's help. Of course, it will never happen that way. Man is always dreaming of being an individual, but man, like other social animals, is really a flock animal."

(Clint Eastwood, from "The Most Powerful Movie Actor in the World: He'll Blow Your Head Clean Off!" by Joseph McBride, Bijou, April 1977, p. 21-22)

How do you men feel about the comments Eastwood makes in this interview? Is that how you feel about the characters Eastwood plays? Is that your reaction when you watch Eastwood's Dirty Harry character? If you could, is this a character you would like to emulate? Why? If not, then what are the reasons you enjoy revisiting the Dirty Harry films?

[Christopher]

I suppose Eastwood could be on to something there. Like most superheroes, Harry is alone and angry, and seems quite sad at times. But I also know from watching the Dirty Harry movies since I was very young, that I can't relate to the character that much on a personal level.

[Kal Varnsen]

Clint Eastwood is definitely on to something here. You know, until I saw the Dollars, I never understood what a lot of people see in superheroes (like Superman, Batman, etc.). The man with no name is a superhero. More realistic than the comic superheroes, but a superhero nevertheless. He's lightning fast and deadly accurate with a gun, he's smart, shows very little emotion, doesn't talk much, he's alone and sulf-sufficient. As a man I find those qualities appealing.

I don't see as much superhero in Harry Callahan as I do in the man with no name, but Harry does posess a lot of the same qualities.

[Matt]

Thanks to everyone for participating in this discussion. This topic is now closed, please post any additional thoughts in the Dirty Harry forum.

[The Schofield Kid]

This topic has been temporarily unlocked.  Feel free to post any additional thoughts or discussion here.