Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?
Nearly 45 years ago, Clint Eastwood and director Don Siegel changed action cinema forever with Dirty Harry, a brutal crime drama about a take-no-prisoners cop who also gets the dirtiest jobs in his city, and the killer he’s trying to bring down. The film was a massive box office hit, divided critics with its apparent political messages, and made Eastwood into the biggest movie star in the world.
Now, if you’re feeling lucky, here are 11 facts about the iconic film … punk.
1. IT ORIGINALLY HAD A DIFFERENT TITLE.
Though it’s hard to imagine the film was not being identified so strongly by its title character now, back when Dirty Harry was just a developing screenplay by the husband and wife team of Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Fink, it was known as Dead Right.
4. AUDIE MURPHY WAS ALMOST THE VILLAIN.
Siegel made the interesting choice of approaching World War II hero-turned-actor Audie Murphy for the role of the sadistic killer known as “Scorpio.” It’s still not clear if Murphy ever considered taking the role because he died in a plane crash before filming began.
5. TERRENCE MALICK WORKED ON THE SCRIPT.
Though Eastwood and Siegel ultimately stuck close to the original script by the Finks, Dirty Harry went through several rewrites before making it to the screen. Among the screenwriters to take uncredited shots at the script was a young Terrence Malick, who had not yet had his breakthrough feature film debut with Badlands.
The post Do You Feel Lucky, Punk? appeared first on LewRockwell.
Leave a Reply