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Of course, by now, the cop-with-a-dead-wife routine has been worn pretty thin, but it’s important to establish that despite his bad attitude Harry really is a decent guy. But from scene one there’s never any doubt that the primary cause of Harry’s permanent sneer is a system that he feels is wired the wrong way, too often turning murderers into martyrs and victims into statistics. Eventually, Callahan questions his commitment to the Department and the Department questions their commitment to Callahan, but there’s little doubt where the audience’s sympathies are meant to be. In a day and age when a monster like the Zodiac could seemingly kill at will and get away with it, Scorpio wasn’t bound to win a lot of hearts and minds.

Hearts and minds were won by Dirty Harry, though; the film’s success was immediate. Audiences thrilled to the idea of a cynical cop fighting the system to bring down a twisted killer who was ripped right from the day’s headlines. Today the movie holds up quite well, despite a few uncomfortable moments of political incorrectness, and that annoying '70s-era fake blood that looks more like it belongs on a hot dog than a bullet wound. Dirty Harry remains a fast paced, engaging drama and at its conclusion, we’re left wondering whether we’ve seen the last of Inspector Callahan. In retrospect, it might have been better if we had.

The next four installments of the franchise were their own worst enemies as they attempted to recreate key moments from the first film, right down to fashioning a pithy new catch phrase for Harry to spit at his adversaries each time. Even composer Lalo Shifrin’s haunting, jazzy score became something became a gag when two years later Magnum Force spent its opening minutes unintentionally lampooning it. But for one brief, shining moment in the winter of 1971, audiences were introduced to a new kind of hero. He was tough and determined, but already as cynical as the rest of us would become as the new decade dragged on. And though his main objective was to provide us with a diversionary thrill, Harry Callahan managed to do something that few action heroes ever do – get us to think, if only for a little while. And in this case, it was about how much society should be willing to sacrifice to avenge the loss of innocent life and bring a terrifying madman to justice. Dirty Harry isn’t the movie you remember – it’s much better than the movie you remember.

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