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From: hasiuk@trwspp.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.movies
Subject: Is Dirty Harry Law Abiding?
Message-ID: <584@trwspp.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 24-Sep-84 16:30:00 EDT
Article-I.D.: trwspp.584
Posted: Mon Sep 24 16:30:00 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 27-Sep-84 02:41:54 EDT
Organization: T R W, Redondo Beach, CA
Lines: 24

>> 3.  Dirty Harry operates in complete contempt of the law.  He'll get
>>       the bad guys any way he can; if he has to break some laws to
>>       do it, tough luck.  Fans of these films would say he prefers
>>       justice to law.  Opponents say that what's really operating
>>       is revenge.
>
>Harry follows the letter of the law, and what he sees as the
>spirit - to protect the public.  Note that where Harry
>transgresses is against court decisions that view a trial as a
>technical exercise in detail, not a search for truth.
>
>In the first movie, Harry let the bank robber fire at him *first*
>before he fired back.  There are very few officers who would've
>given a man with a shotgun that much of an opportunity.  

How can you claim that Harry follows the letter of the law.  Do you 
remember the end of Dirty Harry?  Why was it that the city couldn't
prosecute Scorpio?  They found the murder weapon where he lived, but
they couldn't use it as evidence because Harry obtained it
_illegally_!  Harry also used torture to find out what happened to the
kidnapped girl.

Lee Hasiuk