Continuity mistake: In the early scene when Harry walks across the street to confront the wounded robber on the street ("Did he fire six shots or only five?"), the shotgun used by the robber is lying several feet from the robber's hand, but when he reaches the robber, the camera shot shows the shotgun just a few inches from the robber's left hand. (00:13:00)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Directed by: Don Siegel
Starring: Clint Eastwood, John Vernon, Andrew Robinson, Reni Santoni
Factual error: When Harry is confronting the bank robber and the robber says he has to know if Harry had any shots left, Harry cocks the hammer which rotates the cylinder. If you watch closely when he pulls the trigger the cylinder rotates again. This can happen only when the trigger is pulled in double action mode (hammer down). (00:14:00)
Continuity mistake: During the scene on the football pitch where Callahan is torturing Scorpio to force him to say where the kidnapped girl is, there are several shots as if from Callahan's viewpoint. As the camera switches between the two characters, the white painted lines on the pitch mysteriously move or even vanish underneath Scorpio. (01:06:50)
Trivia: When Harry is being run all over town by Scorpio, he passes a wall which bears the graffiti "Kyle", the name of Clint Eastwood's son.
Trivia: Clint Eastwood directed the attempted suicide/jumper sequence when director Don Siegel fell ill during production.
Trivia: Frank Sinatra was going to play Harry Callahan, but had to pull out due to illness.
Harry Callahan: I know what you're thinking."Did he fire six shots or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement I kind of lost track myself. But being as this is a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and would blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself a question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?
De Georgio: Morning, Harry.
Harry Callahan: Morning, fatso. Bressler wants to see you.
De Georgio: You're a sweet man, Harry.
Harry Callahan: What are you going to do with those?
Doctor: Going to cut your pants off.
Harry Callahan: No. I'll take them off.
Doctor: It'll hurt.
Harry Callahan: $29.50, let it hurt.
Question: Is Callahan holding the binoculars upside down when he is peering down on the apartments looking for Scorpio? He is on the rooftop with the Jesus Saves Sign. They look upside down to me. (00:38:39)
Question: When Harry delivered his famous "do you feel lucky" monologue at the start, did he know his gun was empty? And when he repeated it at the end, did he know the gun was loaded?
Answer: He certainly knew at the start, which is why he felt confident in pointing the gun at the (disarmed) robber and pulling the trigger. Harry knew he was bluffing, but passed it off so well the robber wasn't sure. At the end of the film, again, he knew he had one bullet left and wanted to bait Scorpio into attacking him, giving him an excuse to fire.
Chosen answer: That question is the entire point of the first scene. You're meant to wonder whether he knew or not. At the end of the film, you're given the impression he does know, and is hoping the killer will attack him, giving him an excuse to fire.
The way I see the scene, he knows that he still has one round, and he is giving Scorpio a chance to live. He will only fire if he has to.
Question: What happened to the kid who was fishing at the end who the guy Harry was after took hostage? I don't think Harry shot through him, but I didn't see him when the camera pans out for the credits, is he dead?
Answer: If you watch closely, you see the killer throw him to the side and then take aim at Harry, at which point Harry shoots him. Since we don't see the kid again, we can assume he ran away as soon as the killer let him go.
Not true. Actually, Harry sees the boy, and appears to be lowering his weapon, and then blasts Scorpio... and when the bullet hits him, he is still holding the boy hostage... It is only after Harry shoots him, and he falls to the ground, that we see the boy running away.
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Answer: Yes the binoculars are upside down.