| | | "You Want to Play the Game, You'd Better Know the Rules, Love. --Harry Callahan"
Clint Eastwood straps on his holster again for the fifth and final screen case for Callahan, who finds himself on a "death list" of celebrity murder victims. He and his new partner also get ensared in the nuttiest City by the Bay vehicular chase since Bullitt, outracing a bomb-carrying, radio-controlled toy car. Catch future stars Jim Carrey as an ill-fated heavy-metal musician and Liam Neeson as a power-tripping director.
"Where the previous sequels have been mostly dour gun blasts, The Dead Pool is a thriller with wit and humor and tension." Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune
"A fine Dirty Harry film that features one of the best car chases of all time." Larry Carroll, CountingDown.com
"Eastwood's strong screen presence makes all the difference." Leonard Maltin's Movie & Video Guide
"Dirty Harry exits with a flourish in the most entertaining entry of the series." Rob Vaux, Flipside Movie Emporium
"As good as the original. Smart, quick and made with real wit." Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
Editor's Note
Having made enough arrests to make him a celebrity, Dirty Harry is added to a film crew's "Dead Pool," a group of noted people the crew makes bets on as to who will die first. When a serial killer tries to expedite their demise, Harry realizes he's next. Thoughtful screenplay by vitamin champions and "Life Extensions" authors Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw.
Plot Summary
A sleazy filmmaker organizes a dead pool, where his associates can lay odds on which person from a list of local celebrities will die soon. When several people from the list wind up dead, Callahan investigates the case. The body count rises, as the cop looks for the killer before his name is rubbed out from the list.
| Features | Dirty Harry Movies Trailer Gallery | | Audio Commentary By David Valdes & Jack N. Green: The Producer & Cinematographer Recall The Challenges Of Returning To Harry's San Francisco Environs For This Final Callahan Caper | | Audio: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound | | Audio: French, Spanish Dolby Digital Stereo | | Audio: Japanese, Portuguese Dolby Digital Mono | | Dubbed: French, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese | | Interactive Menus | | New Featurette: The Craft Of Dirty Harry - Profiles The Cinematographers, Editors, Musicians, Production Designers & Other Talents Throughout The 5-Movie Series | | Scene Selection | | Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, Japanese, Portuguese |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Warner Home Video |
| Release Date: 6/3/2008 |
| Running Time: 91 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1988 | | Catalog ID: 1000019745 | | UPC: 00012569818408 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
Aspect Ratio | | Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78:1 |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | Los Angeles Times
"...Eastwood's charisma remains rock-solid, smoky-soft, a pleasure to watch. His mixture of coiled tension, brutal wisecracks, incongruously sweet gallantry, preternatural wariness and wry whispering irony is still in force..." 07/13/1988 p.C1Variety 7 of 10
Dirty Harry Callahan isn't the best and brightest of cops but you can't kill him with cannon, mace and chain. The Dead Pool isn't the best and brightest of the Dirty Harry films, either, but just as invincible. It's possible that Clint Eastwood and crew are just enjoying a bit of self-mockery with this one [the fifth in the series]...From the original on, Harry has always been a fantasty character but his stories have been involving. Here, he remains absurdly separate from reality in an exceedingly lame yarn [by Steve Sharon, Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw] that lurches from one shootout to the next...The plot has something to do with a crime lord whom Harry has dispatched to San Quentin and a psychotic film fan out to eliminate local celebrities, which includes the cop and lady friend Samantha Walker (Patricia Clarkson, in the current cliche role of the peppery newscaster). In the background is a low-budget film company boringly run by Peter (Liam Neeson), a suspect who's never remotely suspicious for a moment...There are chuckles here and there and a wildly preposterous car chase up and down the hills of Frisco. This time, though, it's a teeny little toy car in pursuit of the policemen, intending to overtake them with a bomb.
Reel.com 6 of 10
The Dead Pool, the last of the Dirty Harry quintet is also the series' least, the victim of a burnt-out character and a tired formula. Though it occasionally flickers with the violent energy that gave birth to the Dirty Harry franchise, this flaccid crime drama truly treads shallow waters...This would-be thriller isn't completely without charm. An unlikely dalliance between Neanderthal Harry and an ambitious TV reporter (Patricia Clarkson) adds a touch of romance. A car chase involving a radio-controlled car in pursuit of Callahan -- that gamely mocks Bullitt's classic chase -- graces the action with levity and a touch of whimsy...But the story is too formulaic...Worse, while Dirty Harry was always a vigilante cop, more concerned with justice than the niceties of civil rights or the law, now even his sense of right and wrong is corrupted. He doesn't merely defend himself against the hit squad sent to kill him, he shoots one of his assailants in the back as the man attempts to flee. When he corners the madman in the final reel, Callahan fires when the suspect appears as if he is about to surrender. It's a good thing this was the end of the franchise, because a sixth might have found Dirty Harry chasing himself as the same sort of rogue cop he investigated in 1973's Magnum Force. - Pam Grady
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