Anatomy Of An Action Hero - Dirty Cops!
Times change, tastes change, and styles change. And while the action movie has long been with us, so it has always reflected the zeitgeist.
Name: ‘Dirty’ Harry Callahan (if he’ll do the dirty jobs nobody else will), or Frank Serpico (if his first name’s ‘Frank’ and his last name’s ‘Serpico’).
Home: A place so squalid we usually aren’t allowed to see it - a clever move that preserves the image of the maverick cop as a crime fighter who never leaves the streets in their search for justice, although we secretly know he is a sad old git who lives alone in a bedsit in a rundown district where his only companions are empty bottles of booze and those Chinese takeaway boxes you’re always seeing in ‘70s American cop movies.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to As Luck Would Have It to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.