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Jim McKairnes| Special to USA TODAY

Clint Eastwood's 'American tragedy'

Director Clint Eastwood discusses the need to tell the story of Richard Jewell, a man unfairly accused of planting a bomb at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta. (Nov. 21)

AP

Fifty years ago, Clint Eastwood knew what you were thinking.

Youre thinking an ultraviolent film about a rules-busting cop on the trail of a bloodthirsty serial killer can never make it as a holiday release. Arent you,punk?

Released Dec. 23,1971, "Dirty Harry" could and did, becoming one of the years biggest hits. It spawned four sequels and landed Eastwood the most iconic role of his long and Oscar-winning career.

San Francisco Police Department Inspector Dirty Harry Callahan gave R-rated new meaning in the loner-cop-with-an-attitude tale as the curtain lifted on 1970s New Hollywood. Assigned to track down a serial sniper whos terrorizing the city named the Scorpio Killer(Andrew Robinson in his film debut) Callahan makes quick work of the Fourth Amendment in his pursuit, more than living up to the movies promotional hype about a detective who doesnt break murder cases, he smashes them.It all leads to a mano-a-mano shootout between hunter and hunted at the films close, made famous by the gun-aiming inspectors taunt of the cornered Scorpio, his own gun within reach:

"I know what you're thinking, punk: Youre thinking, 'Did he fire six shots or only five?' Now to tell you the truth, I forgot myself in all this excitement. But being this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and will blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: 'Do I feel lucky?'Well, do you, punk?"

(Spoiler alert: He didand he wasnt.)

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Frequent Eastwood writer Dean Riesner and the husband-and-wife team of Harry Julian Fink and R.M. Finkcrafted the neo-noir script (original title"Dead Right"), using elements of the real-life Zodiac killingsthat unfolded in Northern California in the late 1960s and of the real-life detective, Dave Toschi, who investigated them. The script bounced around amongwriters (John Milius, Terrence Malick), directors (Sydney Pollack, Irvin Kershner) and actors (John Wayne, Frank Sinatra, Robert Mitchum, Steve McQueen), its violent content a recurring concern.It even landed at ABCfor a brief minute, as TV was beginning to show interest in original-film production. But following the 1968 assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy, network television had come to be in a crosshair of its own for depictions of violence.ABC passed.

Eastwoodgot the gig when Newman suggested it after turning down the role himself. Production got underway with director Don Siegel and marked the actors fourth pairingwith Siegel in three years, following "Coogans Bluff," "Two Mules for Sister Sara"and"The Beguiled." ("Escape from Alcatraz" in 1979 was their fifth and final film teaming.)

With "Dirty Harry," the door to the antihero coprecently breached by "Bullitt"and "The French Connection"blasted wide open. "The Seven-Ups" and "Walking Tall"followed. Eastwood's Callahan returned twice over the next six years, first in 1973s "Magnum Force," squaring off against a quartet of vigilante patrolmen, and again in 1976s "The Enforcer,"which in keeping with the era paired him, reluctantly, with a female partner (Tyne Daly). The franchise exploded all over again in 1983 with "Sudden Impact"and its own meme-before-its-time catchphrase (Go ahead, make my day), before fading with the less successful "The Dead Pool" in 1988.

Eastwood has become a Hollywood legend in the intervening years, Oscar-nominated eleven times since 1993 as either actor, producer, or director. Hes won four statues a pair each for directing and producing best picture winners "Unforgiven" in 1992 and "Million Dollar Baby" in 2004. In 1995, he received the Academys career-saluting Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award. "Cry Macho," released earlier this year, marked the 91-year-olds latest release. It may or may not be his last: No future projects have been announced.

In 2005, the American Film Institute named Dirty Harrys Do I feel lucky? speech one of the 100 best quotes in film history. (It ranked No. 51.) It was the second of two times he gave it in the film, the first coming earlier following a botched bank robbery. But its the movie-ender with The Scorpio that made history.

Do you feel lucky enough to point out the difference?Well, do you?

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'Dirty Harry' turns 50: How Clint Eastwood blew away the cop genre and forged a film classic - USA TODAY