Dirty Harry's America : Clint Eastwood, Harry Callahan, and the conservative backlash / Joe Street. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Street, Joe, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Motion pictures--Political aspects--United States.

Conservatism--United States.

Dirty Harry (Fictitious character).

Eastwood, Clint, 1930-.

Physical Description:

1 online resource : illustrations (black and white)

Place of Publication:

Gainesville, FL : University Press of Florida, 2016.

Summary:

Clint Eastwood's Dirty Harry became the prototype for a new kind of movie cop-an antihero in pursuit of his own vision of justice. The Dirty Harry series helped cement Eastwood and his character, Harry Callahan, as central figures in 1970s and 1980s Hollywood cinema. In this book, Joe Street argues that the series sheds critical light on the culture and politics of the post-1960s era and locates San Francisco as the symbolic cultural battleground of the time. Street maintains that through referencing real events and political struggles, the films themselves became active participants in the culture wars, paying particular attention to the films' representation of crime, family and community, sexuality, and race.

Contents:

Introduction: Why Dirty Harry matters

Before Dirty Harry: making Clint Eastwood

The roots of Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry: San Francisco in the Nixon era

Dirty Harry's sequels and the backlash

Callahan's legacy

"Dirty" Harry Callahan in American popular culture.

Notes:

Previously issued in print: 2016.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from home page (viewed on August 5, 2016).

ISBN:

0-8130-5119-3