December 23, 1971: "Dirty Harry" Premieres

December 23, 1971: The film Dirty Harry premieres, directed by Don Siegel. Clint Eastwood, having already created one iconic film character with his Western hero known only as "The Man With No Name," creates another: Inspector Harry Callahan of the San Francisco Police Department.

As with SFPD Lieutenant Frank Bullitt, played by Steve McQueen in the 1968 film Bullitt, Callahan was based on Inspector Dave Toschi (1931-2018), who worked on the case of the serial killer known as the Zodiac, a case that, to this day, has never been solved.

In Dirty Harry, the killer becomes known as The Scorpio Killer. He is played by Andy Robinson. Robinson got so much hate mail from this role that he had to change his Screen Actors Guild name to Andrew J. Robinson. He is now best known for having played Elim Garak -- not a tinker, but a tailor, a soldier, and a spy -- on the TV series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

The film includes Callahan chasing Scorpio through San Francisco's trolley system, and also through Kezar Stadium, which had been the home of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers from 1946 to 1970.

Twice during the film -- once near the beginning after breaking up a robbery, and again near the end, facing Scorpio down -- Callahan delivers these lines, written by the husband-and-wife team of Harry and Rita Fink:

I know what you're thinking, punk: "Did he fire six shots, or only five?" Well, to tell you the truth, in all this excitement, I've kinda lost track myself.

But being 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 one question: "Do I feel lucky?"

Well, do ya, punk?

The first time, the robber doesn't feel lucky, and puts his gun down, but says, "Hey, I got to know." Callahan pulls the trigger, but the gun is empty. The second time, Scorpio feels lucky, and goes for his gun. As it turned out, Callahan had one bullet left, and used it. Both outcomes suggest that Callahan was lying, and that he knew exactly how many bullets were left both times.

Eastwood was 41 years old at the time, a little young to be an Inspector in a major city's police department, equivalent to the rank of Captain in the U.S. Navy and Colonel in the other branches of the U.S. armed forces. For comparison's sake: In the last episode of the TV series Barney Miller, in 1982, Barney was 52, and had been a Captain in the NYPD for at least the last 7 years, and, after having been passed over a couple of times, was promoted to Deputy Inspector.

A sequel to Dirty Harry was made in 1973, titled Magnum Force. This was followed by The Enforcer in 1976. In 1983, Sudden Impact was released. It led to Dirty Harry's other well-known quote. Callahan was no longer a 1970s-style "antihero": He was a hero for the Reagan Years. He was no longer interested in whether you felt lucky. He was giving you a direct order, punk: "Go ahead. Make my day."

In 1984, Eastwood starred as a New Orleans detective, Wes Block, in Tightrope. When asked if Block was like Dirty Harry, he said, "I don't think Dirty Harry would even like this guy."

The 5th and last Dirty Harry film came in 1988, The Dead Pool. By this point, Eastwood was 58 years old, and too old to be playing a cop running around chasing killers. But advancing age didn't stop him from playing a very active Secret Service Agent in the 1993 film In the Line of Fire.

Then again, Roger Moore last played James Bond at 58, and was mocked for being too old to do so. Eastwood last played Harry Callahan at 58, and nobody said anything. As 2022 comes to a close, Tom Cruise is 60, and filming movies in his Mission: Impossible franchise; Liam Neeson, who co-starred in The Dead Pool, is playing Raymond Chandler's private eye Philip Marlowe in Marlowe, still taking down bad guys at 70; and Harrison Ford is filming Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny at 80. Only Ford is facing mockery about his age.

Dirty Harry was released 4 days after the film version of A Clockwork Orange. How would Harry Callahan have handled Alex DeLarge?

Today, the .500 Smith & Wesson Magnum, with a bullet .06 inches wider than the .44, is considered the most powerful handgun in the world.

*

December 23, 1971 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. The NFL was in the middle of its Playoffs. There 3 were 3 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 120-117 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon. Walt Frazier scored 36 points.

* The Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Atlanta Hawks, 115-110 at the Cleveland Arena. 

* And the Chicago Bulls beat the Phoenix Suns, 117-108 in overtime at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

There were 5 games in the American Basketball Association:

* The New York Nets lost to the Pittsburgh Condors, 124-123 in overtime at the Island Garden in West Hempstead, New York. John Brisker scored 44 for the Condors.

* The Kentucky Colonels beat the Virginia Squires, 139-123 at The Scope in Norfolk, Virginia. Dan Issel matched his uniform number by scoring 44 points.

* The Miami Floridians beat the Carolina Cougars, 125-109 at the Greensboro Coliseum.

* The Utah Stars beat the Memphis Pros, 112-104 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. Willie Wise scored 32 for the Stars.

* The Indiana Pacers beat the Denver Rockets, 104-101 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds Coliseum (now the Corteva Coliseum) in Indianapolis. Ralph Simpson (not to be confused with Ralph Sampson) scored 37 points in defeat for the team that became the Denver Nuggets in 1974.

There was 1 game played in the NHL: The Boston Bruins and the Buffalo Sabres played to a tie, 4-4 at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

September 12, 1964: "A Fistful of Dollars" Premieres

September 12, 1964: The film A Fistful of Dollars premieres, beginning the age of the "Spaghetti Western."

Italian film director Sergio Leone loved American Western films, and wanted to make some of his own. He chose to film in southern Spain, because the Tabernas desert was reminiscent of the American West before "the closing of the frontier" at the turn of the 20th Century.

As a result, Spanish journalist Alfonso Sánchez, noting Italy's love of pasta, coined the phrase "Spaghetti Western." In Japan, they were called "Macaroni Westerns"; in Eastern Europe, noting the location rather than the producer, "Paella Westerns"; in Germany, simply "Italo-Westerns." Leone's success set the pattern for other Italian directors to follow: A mostly Italian technical staff, a Spanish filming location, and actors from Italy, Spain, Germany, and, of course, America.

Leone is best known for the three movies that are known as either the Dollars Trilogy, the Blood Money Trilogy, or the Man With No Name Trilogy. Clint Eastwood, who had become famous in the late 1950s after playing supporting character Rowdy Yates in the Western TV series Rawhide, had caught Leone's attention.

The 1st film is Per un pugno di dollari: "For a Fistful of Dollars," or simply A Fistful of Dollars. In this film, Eastwood's character is called "Joe" by the character Piripero, and that's how he's listed in the credits. However, that may not be his real name. He plays what would now be called an anti-hero, playing two gangs off each other for his own gain.

The film was based on Yojimbo, a samurai film by Akiro Kurosawa, starring Toshiro Mifune. Kursoawa had also made The Seven Samurai, which was turned into the Western The Magnificent Seven; The Hidden Fortress, which would later inspire George Lucas in the making of Star Wars; and Rashomon, whose multiple points of view would inspire many American productions, especially in TV situation comedies, even though Rashomon was by no means a comedy, but a murder mystery.

A Fistful of Dollars was released in Italy on September 12, 1964; in West Germany on March 5, 1965; and in Spain on September 27, 1965. The 2nd film in the series, Per qualche dollaro in più (For a Few Dollars More), was released in Italy on December 30, 1965, and in Spain on August 17, 1966. In this one, Eastwood's character is called "Manco."

The 3rd film was titled Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo -- "The Good, the Ugly, the Bad," but its English title became The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Eastwood, representing "The Good," is addressed as "Blondie." Lee Van Cleef represents "The Bad," a sadistic mercenary with the ironic nickname of "Angel Eyes." Eli Wallach, the Brooklyn-born Jewish actor who nonetheless played every ethnicity under the Sun, including the Mexican villain of The Magnificent Seven, represents "The Ugly": A Mexican bandit known as Tuco. The film was released in Italy on December 23, 1966.

By that point, none of the films had been released in America, because distributors feared being sued by Kurosawa. Finally, a deal was worked out, in which Kurosawa would get 15 percent of the American gross, and all 3 films were released in America in 1967: A Fistful of Dollars on January 18; For a Few Dollars More on May 10; and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly on December 29. They were all smash hits, and made Eastwood a legend.

Sergio Leone made Once Upon a Time in the West in 1968, and a gangster film, Once Upon a Time in America, in 1984. He died in 1989, from a heart attack. He was only 60 years old. Eastwood went on to star in many more films, including Westerns, directing many of them himself, starring in some of them as variations on his "Man With No Name" character from the Dollars Trilogy.

In 2006, the BBC produced a police series titled Life On Mars, with Sam Tyler (Jon Simm), a detective from Manchester being thrown back to 1973, where he's still a cop, but in a world of lesser technology. His boss, the very old-school Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), has a poster of The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly in his office. Sam asks him, "Which one are you?" Gene says, "All three." ABC made an American version in 2008, set in New York, and repeated the scene, with Jason O'Mara as Sam and Harvey Keitel as Gene.

Eastwood's proto-bulletproof vest was homaged in Back to the Future Part III in 1989. And a Wild West holodeck adventure gone wrong formed the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "A Fistful of Datas" in 1994.

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Clint Eastwood, against YouTuber and visual artist Mike Diva as Bruce Lee.

*

September 12, 1964 was a Saturday. These baseball games were played that day:

* The New York Yankees beat the Minnesota Twins, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Bobby Richardson singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 9th, to give Mel Stottlemyre a complete-game victory. Elston Howard hit a home run. Roger Maris went 1-for-4. Mickey Mantle did not play. Harmon Killebrew hit a home run for the Twins.

* The New York Mets lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers, 8-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Pete Richert pitched a 2-hit shutout. Frank Howard went 4-for-4 with 2 RBIs, although none of his hits, or any of the Dodgers' 13 hits, was a home run.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Kansas City Athletics, 1-0 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Jackie Brandt brought home the only run with a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning, as Frank Bertaina outpitched Bob Meyer. Brooks Robinson went 0-for-2 with a walk.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 3-2 at Fenway Park in Boston. Lou Clinton hit a 2-run home run in the top of the 10th. The Red Sox got a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the 10th, but couldn't find the tying run. Tony Conigliaro went 0-for-5. Carl Yastrzemski appeared only as a pinch-hitter, and drew a walk.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Chicago White Sox, 11-10 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Washington Senators, 6-5 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. The Tigers got home runs from Norm Cash in the 9th and Dick McAuliffe in the 10th to win it. Al Kaline went 2-for-4 with a walk.

* The Chicago Cubs beat their arch-rivals, the St. Louis Cardinals, 3-2 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. Ernie Banks and Lou Brock each went 1-for-3 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs.

* The Milwaukee Braves beat the Cincinnati Reds, 8-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron did not play. Joe Torre went 2-for-2 with 2 walks and an RBI. Frank Robinson went 0-for-3 and was hit with a pitch.

* The Houston Colt .45s beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 2-1 at Colt Stadium in Houston. Don Larsen was the winning pitcher for the Colts, who became the Astros the next season. For the Pirates, Roberto Clemente went 0-for-4, but Willie Stargell went 2-for-3 with a solo home run.

* And the San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 2-1 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco. Orlando Cepeda hit 2 home runs, and Willie Mays went 1-for-3 with a walk.

It was the opening weekend of the NFL season, and 1 game was played, before the rest of the games the next day: The football version of the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Dallas Cowboys, 16-6 at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas.

Two games were played that day in the American Football League. Playing their 1st game at their new home of Shea Stadium, the New York Jets beat the Denver Broncos, 30-6. And the San Diego Chargers beat the Houston Oilers, 27-21 at Balboa Stadium in San Diego.

There were 3 college football games played:

* UCLA beat the University of Pittsburgh, 17-12 at Pitt Stadium.

* Furman beat Mississippi College, 13-10 at Sirrine Stadium in Greenville, South Carolina.

* And the University of Houston beat Trinity University, 34-7 at Rice Stadium in Houston.

And in English soccer, Arsenal beat North-East team Sunderland, 3-1 at the Arsenal Stadium, a.k.a. Highbury, in North London.

August 30, 2012: Clint Eastwood and the Empty Chair

August 30, 2012: The Republican National Convention wraps up at the Tampa Bay Times Forum in Tampa. (UPDATE: It's now named the Benchmark International Arena) in Tampa. Mitt Romney is nominated for President. A former Governor of Massachusetts, and the son of George Romney, a Governor of Michigan who had run for President in 1968, he had finished 2nd in Delegates to Senator John McCain in the 2008 Republican race.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, Chairman of the House Budget Committee is nominated for Vice President. Born on January 29, 1970, Ryan had first been elected to Congress in 1998, and was the first member of Congress born after I was.

Neither Romney nor Ryan gave an especially good speech. Indeed, it was a dull Convention. But, for the Republicans, that's still better than having a Convention full of bigotry, as in San Francisco in 1964, Houston in 1992, Madison Square Garden in 2004, and, eventually, Cleveland in 2016.

Among the other speakers was Clint Eastwood. Known for playing Western heroes and modern-day policemen, and being absolutely uncompromising in both, he was, himself, a Republican politician: In 1986, tired of what he saw as annoying municipal regulations in his adoptive hometown of Carmel-by-the-Sea, California, he ran for Mayor, in an election that was officially non-partisan, and won. He did everything he wanted to do in his 2-year term, and didn't run for re-election.

Everyone presumed that Clint was a Republican, but he never actually said so. It's just that, given the roles he played, and his public image, he seemed like one, to the point where, in his 1984 re-election campaign, President Ronald Reagan, quoted his line from the 1983 Dirty Harry film Sudden Impact: "Go ahead, make my day!"

But, like a lot of Republicans age 65 and up, Clint had enough money that he didn't need Social Security and Medicare, so he didn't care about Democrats fighting for them and Republicans wanting to cut them. So, in 2012, at the age of 82 -- older, it should be pointed out, than any Presidential nominee has ever been -- for the 1st time, he accepted an invitation to speak at a Republican National Convention.

It was not one of his best acting performances.

He started off okay, telling the crowd, who was giving him a standing ovation, "Save a little for Mitt." Then he talked about how not everybody in Hollywood was a leftist, citing his contemporary, Jon Voight.

But then, he pointed to an empty chair next to the podium, and saidL

So, I've got Mr. Obama sitting here. And he's -- I just was going to ask him a couple of questions. But, you know, about, I remember, three-and-a-half years ago, when Mr. Obama won the election.

And though I wasn't a big supporter, I was watching that night when he was having that thing, and they were talking about hope and change and they were talking about, yes we can, and it was dark outdoors, and it was nice, and people were lighting candles. And they were saying, you know, I just thought, this is great. Everybody's crying. Oprah was crying.

I was even crying. And then finally — I haven't cried that hard since I found out that there's 23 million unemployed people in this country.

Now that is something to cry for because that is a disgrace, a national disgrace, and we haven't done enough, obviously — this administration hasn't done enough to cure that. Whatever interest they have is not strong enough, and I think possibly now it may be time for somebody else to come along and solve the problem.

If he had simply not had the chair there, and left out the first line, that would have been a fair line of criticism. But he went on acting as if Obama was sitting in that empty chair:

So, so, Mr. President, how do you, how do you handle, how do you handle promises that you've made when you were running for election and how do you handle, how do you handle it?

I mean, what do you say to people? Do you just, you know, I know, people were wondering. You don't? You don't handle it.

Well, I know even some of the people in your own party were very disappointed when you didn't close Gitmo. And I thought, well, closing Gitmo, why close that? We spent so much money on it. But, I thought maybe as an excuse.

Oh, What do you mean shut up?

OK, I thought it was just because somebody had the stupid idea of trying terrorists in downtown New York City. Maybe that was it.

And he went on like that. As I said, he was 82. Was he going senile? 

The Man With No Name became The Man With No Game, endorsing Mitt Romney, The Man With No Shame.

Here's what Eastwood should have said: "I know what you're thinkin', Paul Ryan, you punk: 'Did I tell six lies in my acceptance speech, or only five?' Well, to tell you the truth -- which would be a nice change of pace -- in all this excitement, I've forgotten myself. But seeing as how you're gonna be debating Joe Biden, one of the most powerful debaters in the world, and he can talk your ear clean off, you gotta ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?' Well, do ya, punk?"

In the 2020 Presidential election, Eastwood endorsed Michael Bloomberg, a businessman and a former Mayor of New York, who had started as a Republican, but became an independent, and had finally entered the Democratic Primaries. Eastwood said he wished he that Donald Trump would act "in a more genteel way, without tweeting and calling people names. I would personally like for him to not bring himself to that level."

In a 2012 episode of the YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History, "Epic" Lloyd Ahlquist played Clint Eastwood, against YouTuber and visual artist Mike Diva as Bruce Lee. Lee's last line was, "A man who argues with people who aren't even there is more fit to rap against this fucking chair!" And Lee kicked a chair at the camera. Eastwood shot it.

*

August 30, 2012 was a Thursday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Mets lost to the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia. Kyle Kendrick outpitched Jon Niese. Kevin Frandsen went 4-for-5 with an RBI.

* The Baltimore Orioles beat the Chicago White Sox, 5-3 at U.S. Cellular Field (now Rate Field) in Chicago.

* The Washington Nationals beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 8-1 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 2-0 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto. Carlos Villanueva allowed 5 hits over 6 innings, and 3 relievers completed the 5-hit shutout. Kelly Johnson doubled home both runs in the bottom of the 1st inning.

* The Oakland Athletics beat the Cleveland Indians, 12-7 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Chicago Cubs beat the Milwaukee Brewers, 12-11 at Wrigley Field in Chicago. The Cubs scored 3 runs in the bottom of the 9th to win it, on a double by David DeJesus, a walk by Luis Valbuena, an RBI single by Starlin Castro, and RBI double by Anthony Rizzo, and an RBI single by Alfonso Soriano.

The Cubs hit no home runs, but DeJesus and Valbuena each had 3 hits. For the Brewers, Jonathan Lucroy went 3-for-5 with a home run and 7 RBIs; Ryan Braun and Cody Ransom each went 3-for-4 with a home run, a walk, and 2 RBIs; and Rickie Weeks went 5-for-5.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-4 at Target Field in Minneapolis.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Detroit Tigers, 2-1 at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Houston Astros, 8-4 at Minute Maid Park (now Daikin Park) in Houston.

* The Los Angeles Angels beat the Boston Red Sox, 5-2 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim. Zack Greinke outpitched Jon Lester. Albert Pujols went 2-for-4 with 2 RBIs. Mike Trout went 0-for-3 with a walk. David Ortiz did not play. I guess his steroid supplier didn't make the trip to the Coast.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 2-0 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Ian Kennedy pitched 6 1/3rd innings of 2-hit shutout ball, and 3 relievers completed a 5-hit shutout, to outpitch Clayton Kershaw. Chris Young provided the only runs of the game with a 2-run home run in the top of the 4th.

* And the New York Yankees, the Atlanta Braves, the Cincinnati Reds, the Colorado Rockies, the Miami Marlins, the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers were not scheduled.

There were also 15 college football games played that night. Only 1 involved a team nationally ranked: Number 9 South Carolina beat Vanderbilt, 17-13 at Vanderbilt Stadium (now FirstBank Stadium) in Nashville.