Clint Eastwood’s ‘Dirty Harry’ Is Based on This Unsettling True Story
Do you feel lucky, punk?
It’s 1971, Clint Eastwood introduces the world to one of his and Hollywood’s most iconic characters, Inspector “Dirty” Harry Callahan in Don Siegel‘s action thriller Dirty Harry. Callahan is the definition of a loose cannon; a tough and cynical police officer who is not above pushing the limits of the law to bring in San Francisco’s criminal element. Armed with a steely demeanor and a .44 Magnum, Callahan is on the hunt for a serial killer. In the real world, the SFPD is on the hunt for a serial killer as well: the infamous Zodiac Killer. Coincidence? Not in the least. Dirty Harry is, indeed, based on the true story of the SFPD’s hunt for the elusive murderer.
Who Was the Zodiac Killer That ‘Dirty Harry’ Is Based on?
From 1969 to 1974, a man known only as the Zodiac Killer had the San Francisco populace living in fear. His reign of terror began on December 20, 1968, when 17-year-old David Faraday and his girlfriend, 16-year-old Betty Lou Jensen, were found outside Vallejo, California. Both had been shot to death, seemingly at random. The Zodiac Killer would strike again on July 5, 1969, when a couple, 22-year-old Darlene Ferrin and 19-year-old Mike Mageau, were approached by a man while in their car. The Zodiac Killer fired a volley of shots at the pair, seriously wounding Mageau and killing Ferrin.
In September 1969, Cecelia Shepard and Bryan Hartnell were attacked by a man wearing a hood and a shirt with a circle-cross symbol on the shore of Lake Berryessa. They were tied up, and then mercilessly stabbed. Both barely survived the attack, but sadly Shepard would die shortly after due to her extensive injuries. The last murder directly attributed to the Zodiac Killer occurred shortly afterward, when a 29-year-old taxi driver, Paul Stine, was shot in San Francisco’s Presidio Heights neighborhood. Five murders in all, but the count may be as many as 37, as claimed by the Zodiac Killer himself.
What was most unsettling wasn’t necessarily the randomness of the murders, but the killer’s bravado. He taunted the public and the police through a series of letters and phone calls, fearlessly disclosing locations and claiming responsibility for his murders. The letters would begin with “this is the Zodiac speaking” and be signed with a drawing that resembled crosshairs. Four of the letters were cryptograms, with one decoded within days that included, “I like killing people because it is so much fun.” Another cipher, that began, “I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me,” wasn’t decoded until 2020 by a trio of amateur code breakers. Also unsettling was the fact that, despite fingerprints, descriptions, tips, and leads, the Zodiac Killer was never found, and could very well still be at large.
‘Dirty Harry’ Takes On the Zodiac Killer, More or Less
A woman is shot dead while swimming in a rooftop pool in San Francisco. The killer, referred to as ‘Scorpio’ (Andy Robinson), leaves behind a letter demanding $100,000, or else he will kill more people. The note is found by Inspector Harry Callahan of the SFPD, aka “Dirty” Harry, who is frustrated when the mayor caves into Scorpio’s demands. Out on a lunch break, Callahan comes across a bank robbery. He shoots one robber dead, and holds another at gunpoint, giving him an ultimatum to surrender (the legendary “Do I feel lucky?” monologue). Now working with a partner, Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni), they attempt to capture Scorpio after a police helicopter spotted him, to no avail.
The next day, another Scorpio letter comes in, in which he claims to have kidnapped a teenager and will kill her if he isn’t given $200,000. Callahan is to deliver the money, and Scorpio has him chase payphone calls around the city before finally sending him to Mount Davidson Cross. Scorpio gets the jump on Callahan, intent on killing him and letting the teen die. Callahan escapes by stabbing Scorpio in the leg, but Scorpio escapes again. Callahan ends up tracking him to Kezar Stadium, shoots him in the leg, and steps on the wound, torturing Scorpio into divulging where the teen is being held.
The bad news is the teen is already dead. Worse, the evidence Callahan gathered is inadmissible due to his treatment of him. Scorpio is a free man, but Callahan follows him everywhere. When Callahan is forced to stop tracking Scorpio, Scorpio steals a gun from a store, hijacks a school bus, and demands a ransom that includes a flight out of the city. Callahan tracks the bus down and jumps on the roof. The bus crashes into a dirt mound near a quarry, prompting Scorpio to take a hostage. Callahan stares him down after freeing the hostage by wounding Scorpio. He repeats the ultimatum he gave the bank robber earlier. Scorpio, feeling lucky, reaches for his gun. SPOILER – he isn’t lucky, killed by Callahan’s last bullet. Callahan then takes his police badge and throws it into a pool of water.
The most obvious parallel between Dirty Harry and the real-life Zodiac Killer case is the name of the killer, Scorpio. Like the Zodiac, Scorpio taunts the police through letters and phone calls, although much more straightforward than what the Zodiac Killer was sending out (nothing kills an action thriller quicker than watching guys try to decode a letter on screen). At one point in the film, Scorpio is seen wearing a mask, something that the Zodiac Killer was known for doing.
In one letter the Zodiac Killer sent, he threatened to hijack a school bus. Although that never came to fruition, the climax of the film plays the scenario out. Another aspect of the film inspired by real life is Callahan himself, based on police detective Dave Toschi, who was working on the case at the time. The detective was, like Callahan, an unconventional, no-nonsense loose cannon (not quite as loose, though), and not only did he inspire “Dirty” Harry Callahan, but Steve McQueen in Bullitt as well (Toschi admitted that he liked McQueen and his portrayal, but walked out of a screening of Dirty Harry because it skewed so close to the Zodiac Killer investigation).
‘Dirty Harry’ Succeeded Where the Real-Life SFPD Failed
The success of Dirty Harry lies in its delivery of something that the SFPD couldn’t: an end to the serial killer. In that regard, Dirty Harry becomes a fantasy of sorts, presenting a dogged agent of vengeance tracking down and killing the serial killer who has paralyzed the city in fear. Callahan didn’t play by the rules and wasn’t above resorting to whatever it took to save the city and the people in it. The SFPD did play by the rules, even Toschi, and, unfairly or not, the public wanted results, not fair play. The ending of the film speaks to that. When Callahan takes out Scorpio, the .44 Magnum forcefully sends the killer backward, it became a catharsis for the people, a sense that justice had been served. If not in the real world, at least somewhere. And when Callahan throws his police badge away, he’s visually acknowledging that even he doesn’t see the SFPD doing what it should be.
Not everyone took pleasure in seeing “Dirty” Harry exact justice. The film was controversial on release, with many citing that the perceived positive take on vigilantism decried the defendant’s rights. Nevertheless, Dirty Harry was a hit that spawned four sequels: Magnum Force, The Enforcer, Sudden Impact, and The Dead Pool. Of the five, only Dirty Harry had a connection to real-life events and a timely one at that. And disturbingly, it’s very likely that the Zodiac Killer sat in a movie theater in the city he terrorized, delighting in the fictitious account of what he had wrought.
