Dirty Harry

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Year:	1971
Country of origin:	USA
Director:	Don Siegel
Genre:	Übercop thriller
Starring:	Clint Eastwood, Reni Santoni, Andrew Robinson
Rating:	5/5
IMDB link:	http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066999/
Tagline:	You don't assign him to murder cases, You just turn him loose.
Favourite line:	"When a naked man is chasing a woman through an alley with a butcher's knife and a hard-on, I figure he isn't out collecting for the Red Cross..."

The iconic Dirty Harry's first appearance on cinema screens is a taut, razor-edged affair.
Clint oozes menace and masculinity as the cop with attitude, and he is ably supported by the rest of the cast, most notably Andrew Robinson as the deranged killer Scorpio, Robinson being an all time favourite in this household even before seeing this for his roles as both Garak in Deep Space Nine, and Larry in Hellraiser.
The plot is straight-forward enough, focusing on Scoprio's efforts to claim a ransom for people he has kidnapped, taunting the San Francisco police as they struggle to bring him to justice.
What shines here is Siegel's direction, depicting San Francisco circa 1971 as a chaotic, frighteningly claustrophobic place. For a movie that is set almost entirely outdoors, this feels very cramped and threatening, with dizzying camera angles and fast zooms and arcs all aimed at unsettling the viewer.
It's got a terrific soundtrack too, mixing up brash, almost industrial noises with more orchestrated sections and, though the music does date it somewhat, it only adds to its charm. Impressive stuff.