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.

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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.

December 20, 1968: The Zodiac Killings Begin

December 20, 1968: The Zodiac killings begin in the San Francisco Bay Area. Murders claimed over the next year: 37. Confirmed by the San Francisco Police Department: 5. The killer: Officially, still unknown.

The Zodiac's known attacks took place in the City and County of San Francisco proper (the City and the County are contiguous); Benicia and Vallejo, in the East Bay region; and unincorporated Napa County, to the north of the city. He attacked three young couples and a lone male cab driver. Two of these victims survived.

The Zodiac coined his name in a series of taunting messages that he mailed to regional newspapers, in which he threatened killing sprees and bombings if they were not printed. He also said that he was collecting his victims as slaves for the afterlife. He included four cryptograms or ciphers in his correspondence. Two were solved in 1969 and 2020, and two remain unsolved.

In 1974, the Zodiac claimed 37 victims in his last confirmed letter. This tally included victims in Southern California, such as Cheri Jo Bates, who was murdered in Riverside in 1966. Despite many theories about the Zodiac's identity, the only suspect authorities ever named was Arthur Leigh Allen, a former elementary school teacher and convicted sex offender, who died in 1992.

Detective Dave Toschi, the lead investigator on the case, told Mark Ruffalo, who played him in the 2007 film Zodiac, about Allen, "As soon as that guy walked in the door, I knew it was him." Ruffalo told an interviewer, "He was sure he had him, but he never had a solid piece of evidence. So he had to keep investigating every other lead." And the evidence against Allen was only circumstantial. But the letters did stop after Allen was convicted and sent to prison on a separate charge.

Toschi served as the model for 2 fictional San Francisco lawmen: Steve McQueen as Lieutenant Frank Bullitt in the 1968 film Bullitt; and Clint Eastwood as Inspector Harry Callahan, starting in the 1971 film Dirty Harry. In that film, Callahan faces a serial killer who calls himself "Scorpio," one of the signs of the zodiac. The real Toschi died in 2018.

The unusual nature of the case led to international interest that has been sustained throughout the years. The SFPD marked the case "inactive" in 2004 but re-opened it prior to 2007. The case also remains open in the California Department of Justice, the FBI, the City of Vallejo, as well as in Napa County and Solano County.

The last message the killer sent to the police and the newspapers was in 1974. He may even still be alive.

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December 20, 1968 was a Thursday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 5 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Detroit Pistons, 135-87 at Cobo Hall (now Huntington Place) in Detroit.

* The Baltimore Bullets beat the Chicago Bulls, 125-102 at the Baltimore Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena).

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 100-92 at the Milwaukee Exposition & Convention Center Arena, a.k.a. The MECCA. (It's now the UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena.)

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 116-109 at the San Diego Sports Arena (now the Pechanga Arena).

* And the Los Angeles Lakers beat the San Francisco Warriors, 133-101 at The Forum outside Los Angeles in Inglewood, California.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Minnesota Pipers beat the Houston Mavericks, 123-103 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston. Connie Hawkins of the Pipers led all scorers in both leagues on the day, with 35 points.

There was 1 game in the NHL: The St. Louis Blues beat the Oakland Seals, 1-0 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena. Tim Ecclestone scored the only goal, with 2:43 left in the 2nd period.