This article contains discussion of sexual assault.

Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry was famously uncompromising in his pursuit of justice, but there's one example of him letting a killer go free. "Dirty" Harry Callahan is arguably Eastwood's most popular character, but also one of the most controversial. The original movie was turned down by names like Paul Newman and George C Scott because they were uncomfortable playing a detective who was so willing to subvert the law to get results. Eastwood didn't have any such qualms, instead seeing Dirty Harry as a taut thriller, but while it was a major hit in 1971, many critics like Pauline Kael and Roger Ebert labeled it "fascist."

This backlash was so vocal that 1973 sequel Magnum Force attempted to soften Harry's image, and saw him pursue an actual band of vigilante police officers; the reviews weren't much better. Most of the Dirty Harry sequels...