Elvis, starring Elvis Presley, was the title of a 1968 United States television special. Sponsored by the Singer Sewing Machine company, it aired on December 3, 1968 on the NBC television network. The special is commonly referred to as the '68 Comeback Special, because of subsequent developments in Presley's career, but the soundtrack album was released simply as NBC - TV special. It was directed by Steve Binder and produced by Binder and Bones Howe.

Presley's informal jamming in front of a small audience in the '68 Comeback Special is regarded as a forerunner of the so-called 'Unplugged' concept, later popularized by MTV.

Despite huge success in both his music and acting careers following his release from the army in 1960, Presley's career had declined steadily in the years leading up to 1968. The music scene had changed dramatically since his last U.S. No1 single in 1962, and Presley was in no doubt that bands such as The Beatles were leading "the swinging sixties".

Partly due to the repetitive scripts and laughable song choices, as well as the general feeling that he was "uncool", Presley's films had been making less money with each release and he was tiring of Hollywood. Colonel Parker, Presley's manager, had found it increasingly difficult to secure the usual $1,000,000 fee for a Presley film, and had no alternative than to take a different approach. Parker negotiated a deal with NBC for $1,250,000 to finance both a television special and a film (1969's Change of Habit).

Parker wanted the show, which was scheduled as a Christmas season broadcast, to be little more than Presley singing Christmas carols. He believed the special could simply be a TV-version of the Christmas radio show Presley had contributed to the year before. Binder argued that the special was an opportunity to re-establish the singer's reputation after years of formulaic movies and recordings of variable quality. He and Howe hired writers to script a show with specific themes: they envisaged large set designs, dance sequences and big productions of Presley's hits. However, Binder was open to any variations on this that would showcase the singer's talent, and Presley was apparently very happy to go along with this flexible approach.

The special eventually included an extravagant musical sequence featuring Gospel-style numbers, a semi-autobiographical "mini-movie" centered around the song "Guitar Man" and other re-recordings given lavish set designs. A segment set in a bordello featuring the song "Let Yourself Go" was initially passed by the network's censors, but was removed at the request of the show's primary sponsor, Singer Corporation, as it was deemed too risqué. (The first public appearance of this sequence was in the expanded video version of the 1981 documentary film This is Elvis. It was later restored for RCA's 3-DVD release in 2004.) The special ends with Presley appealing for world peace with the song "If I Can Dream."

Studio recordings for these segments were made at Western Recorders in Hollywood, California between June 20 and 23 and featured an orchestra and The Blossoms as background vocalists: Fanita James, Jean King and Darlene Love. Other musicians included drummer Hal Blaine, pianist Don Randi, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, bass player Larry Knetchel and harmonica player Tommy Morgan.

It was after rehearsals at Western Recorders that Binder took special note of how Presley and the other musicians would spontaneously unwind by improvising old blues and rock 'n' roll numbers. Binder commented: "...and that's when I really got the idea: Wouldn't it be great if I had a camera in here and they didn't know I was here?"

Presley is said to have been very apprehensive about the idea of performing live. His last live concert had been at the Bloch Arena in Pearl Harbour, Hawaii, on March 25, 1961. Binder offered a lot of support and reassurance to stop the singer from rejecting the idea of any live segments. He realized some songs already re-recorded or scheduled would need to be cut (The special was only an hour long). He quickly arranged for rehearsals to take place to capture the feel of Presley's informal studio jamming, drafting in the surviving members of Presley's original backing band - Scotty Moore and D.J. Fontana (bassist Bill Black had died in 1965).

The edited broadcast of December 3 - combining the big, choreographed numbers, lavish sets and some of the informal live sessions - was an enormous success. The show was the highest-rated television special of the year. According to Binder, it was probably the first one-man TV special to appear on commercial American television. Previously, TV specials tended to be packed with guest stars, like Frank Sinatra's Timex Special of 1960, in which Presley himself appeared with other celebrities, including Peter Lawford and Sammy Davis Jr..

At the beginning of the '68 Special project, a nervous Presley had said to the executive producer Bob Finkel: "I want everyone to know what I can really do." Critics generally agree that the broadcast did show what Elvis Presley really could do - in addition to making profitable, if generally uninspired movies and soundtracks. The '68 Special is widely credited with revitalizing his career: chart statistics for the summer of 1968 suggest that Presley's recording career was becoming all but non-existent. After the special, he began his stint in Las Vegas and toured, achieving a string of record-breaking sell-out performances across America. Chart successes returned, including a U.S. number one in 1969 ("Suspicious Minds") and a U.K. number one ("The Wonder of You", (1970)) - his first since 1965.

The live segments of the '68 Comeback Special in particular gave the audience more than a glimpse of Presley's charismatic and emotionally charged performing style that won him his first fans in the 1950s. This is arguably even more evident in the later uncut versions of the special (see below). His career had been considered by many to be artistically fallow since his return from the Army (1960), the subsequent Beatles invasion and since the new and varied musical directions forged by the likes of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and Jimi Hendrix.

Silva waves farewell to Dales:

Adele Silva will be saying goodbye to Emmerdale once again.

The 30-year-old actress, whose character Kelly Windsor has been pivotal to Jimmy King's amnesia storyline, is to leave the village within weeks, having finished filming her latest stint on the ITV soap.

A spokesperson for the soap confirmed the news, saying: "The character of Kelly was brought back specifically for the amnesia storyline which will conclude shortly. Adele therefore finished filming two weeks ago but there is every chance Kelly could return later in the year."

Adele - who is working on a new film titled Strippers Vs Werewolves - was tempted to return to the Dales last year, after leaving in 2007 to pursue other roles.

Her alter-ego Kelly made her memorable return in February, taking advantage of her ex-boyfriend's memory loss, which she caused after attacking him. Following weeks of scheming and manipulation, things are expected to head downhill for her as more of Jimmy's memories come back.

Way down on Baker Street - 1978

"Baker Street" is a ballad written and first recorded by the late Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty. Released as a single in 1978, it reached No 2 in the US, No 3 in the UK, No1 in Australia and No9 in the Netherlands. The arrangement is famous for its Saxaphone solo, played by Raphael Ravensctroft

In October 2010 the song was recognised by the BMI for surpassing 5 million performances worldwide.

Named after the famous London Street of the same name, the song was included on Rafferty's second solo album, City to City, which was Rafferty's first release after the resolution of legal problems surrounding the formal breakup of his old band, Stealers Wheel in 1975. In the intervening three years, Rafferty had been unable to release any material due to disputes about the band's remaining contractual recording obligations.

Rafferty wrote the song during a period when he was trying to extricate himself from his Stealers Wheel contracts, and was regularly travelling between his family home near Glasgow and London, where he often stayed at a friend's flat in Baker Street. As Rafferty put it, "everybody was suing each other, so I spent a lot of time on the overnight train from Glasgow to London for meetings with lawyers. I knew a guy who lived in a little flat off Baker Street. We'd sit and chat or play guitar there through the night." The resolution of his legal and financial frustrations accounted for the exhilaration of the song's last verse: "When you wake up it's a new morning/ The sun is shining, it's a new morning/ You're going, you're going home.

"Baker Street"
Single by Gerry Rafferty
from the album City to City
B-Side	"Big Change in the Weather"
Released	3 February 1978
Format	7"
Recorded	1977
Genre	Rock
Length	4:10 (single edit) 6:01 (album version) 6:34 (long version)
Label	United Artists
Writer(s)	Gerry Rafferty
Certification	BPI: Gold (400,000 sales)
Gerry Rafferty singles chronology
"Baker Street" (1978) "Night Owl" (1979)

The album City to City, including "Baker Street", was co-produced by Rafferty and Hugh Murphy. In addition to a guitar solo, played by Hugh Burns, the song featured a prominent eight-bar saxophone riff played as a break between verses, by Raphael Ravenscroft. The melody had originally intended to be sung but was then tried on guitar. Ravenscroft, a session musician, was in the studio to record a brief soprano saxaphone part and suggested that he record the now famous solo using the alto saxaphone he had in his car. The solo led to what became known as "the 'Baker Street' phenomenon", a resurgence in the sales of saxophones and their use in mainstream pop music and TV advertising.

The saxophone solo was also the subject of an urban myth in the UK, created in the 1980s by British writer and broadcaster Stuart Maconie. As one of the spoof facts invented for the regular "Would You Believe It?" section in the NME, Maconie falsely claimed that British actor and television presenter Bob Holness had played the saxophone solo on the recording. Later, the claim was widely repeated

Winding your way down on Baker Street
Light in your head and dead on your feet
Well another crazy day, youll drink the night away
And forget about everything.

This city desert makes you feel so cold
Its got so many people but its got no soul
And its taken you so long to find out you were wrong
When you thought it held everything.

You used to think that it was so easy,
You used to say that it was so easy
But youre tryin, youre tryin now.
Another year and then youd be happy
Just one more year and then youd be happy
But youre cryin, youre cryin now.

Way down the street theres a light in his place
He opens the door, hes got that look on his face
And he asks you where youve been, you tell him who youve seen
And you talk about anything.

Hes got this dream about buyin some land
Hes gonna give up the booze and the one night stands
And then hell settle down, in some quiet little town
And forget about everything.

But you know hell always keep movin
You know hes never gonna stop movin
Cause hes rollin, hes the rollin stone.
And when you wake up its a new morning
The sun is shining, its a new morning
But youre going, youre going home.

Action Man (Part Three) 2004 - GI JOE 40th Anniversary Figure

A 40th Anniversary Action Man was made available in 2004 which is very close to the original figure and includes Soldier, Marine, Sailor and Pilot.

The Anniversary box is a shoe-box style 2 piece box, the lid in full colour, and the tray a brown card, inside there is badges to apply to the figure, and a period style manual. In the picture opposite the original 1966 figure is to the left (value approx £45-£65), and the new reproduction figure (approx £15-£20).

The new figure is the closest thing yet to a reproduction of the original, only minor changes in production technology separate them. The new figure is well made well and has the feel of real durability - much better in fact than the departed 1994-2006 Action Man range! Standing a little taller, he has GI JOE dog tags 'by Hasbro' and "G.I.JOE™ ©2003 HASBRO, INC ALL RIGHTS RESERVED MADE IN CHINA' is reverse embossed diagonally across his right buttock.

A range of Anniversary period accessory cards in the first issue style, has also been launched, again stating discreetly that is is 'ANNIVERSARY EDITION'. You should take care that you identify which is which when buying - a collector will have little difficulty differentiating the new from old. Both old and new figures are both very attractive purchases, but there is obviously a great price differential between the two!

2006 - Action Man 40th Anniversary Figure

Who said nostalgia isn't what it used to be? Life truly begins at 40, or so it seems. As Action Man once more goes AWOL from our toy stores, the original Action Man reappears for duty. This time he has been carefully aimed at the growing number of action figure collectors and is as authentic as you could possibly wish. Modellers Loft, a specialist model shop chain based in the south of England has gained the production rights to recreate the original Palitoy Action Man in his 1960's guise.

The key figures, uniforms and packaging have been painstakingly recreated and on launch cost £35.00 for a figure in its original cardboard box, and a uniform tray, packaged as an irresistible bundle. Also included in some bundles are items associated with a third accessory card, which thoughtfully have been included in the set. So this time around, you can buy Action Man, and have him kitted out in just one purchase. Other uniforms are set to follow in a number of phases.

Dr Who at the Movies

Since their introduction early in the first series of the BBC's Doctor Who(1963-89; 2005-), the Daleks - warlike, metal-cased inhabitants of the planet Skaro - had captured the imagination of a public fascinated by new technology and the burgeoning space age. Dr. Who and the Daleks saw them transferred to the big screen, in colour, for the first time.

The Daleks were a merchandiser's dream. Their inhuman likeness was ubiquitous by the mid-1960s, appearing in books, comics, and newspaper cartoons; on pencils, toys, masks and bedroom slippers. Selfridges even designed a Dalek cake for Christmas 1965. Spotting a sure-fire money-spinner, producer Milton Subotsky acted quickly to secure screen rights toDoctor Who for his Amicus company. According to Amicus historian Allan Bryce, Subotsky, a shrewd negotiator, persuaded the BBC and Dalek creator Terry Nation to let his company make a film version of the first televised Dalek serial, The Daleks, with options for two projected sequels, for the knockdown price of £500. To secure funding and distribution, this family-orientated film was to be deliberately distanced from the horrific fare Amicus was generally known for, and was released under the newly created AARU production banner.

William Hartnell, the Doctor in the television series, but unknown in America, was replaced with the internationally bankable Peter Cushing. As always, Cushing approached his role with conviction, but his character, though still eccentric, was transformed from Hartnell's cantankerous, rootless, mysterious alien time traveller into a twinkle-eyed, kiddie-friendly suburban family man. The result is that Cushing's Who is distinctly sicklier and soppier than his abrasive television counterpart, and his adventures sometimes resemble a foolhardy and awkwardly protracted family outing. Terry Nation, for one, was unhappy with this dilution of the character. "He was a little too gentle... too kindly and too warm. The thing that Bill (Hartnell) had was this irascibility... he was a bad tempered, old, curmudgeonly figure... I'd like to have seen more of that in the character."

THE

MONTHLY FILM BULLETIN

Published by

THE BRITISH FILM INSTITUTE

Volume 32, No.379, August 1965, page 123

DR. WHO AND THE DALEKS (1965)

Dr. Who is showing off his latest invention, a time machine, to his granddaughters Barbara and Susan, and Barbara's boy-friend Ian, when Ian accidentally sets it in motion. They land in a petrified forest on another planet, where they discover a strange city in which they are trapped by the Daleks - mobile metal cones which apparently shield some form of life. They learn that, after the planet was ravaged by a neutron war, the Daleks built their city and cones as protection against the polluted air; another tribe, the Thals, are able to live in the forest as they possess a drug which immunises them against radioactivity. Holding the others as hostages, the Daleks send Susan to the Thals for a sample of the drug, offering food in exchange if they will come to the city. Returning with the drug (which the Daleks find has no effect on them), Susan tells her friends that the Thals are a peaceful race whom the Daleks obviously intend to destroy; they manage to escape, warn off the Thals, and persuade them to take the initiative against the Daleks, who are planning to explode a huge bomb which will make the planet uninhabitable to all outside the city. Led by their four Earth friends, the Thals successfully attack and destroy the Daleks and their city before the bomb goes off. Regretfully, Dr. Who, Barbara, Susan and Ian say goodbye to their new friends and climb aboard the time machine.

A patchy piece of juvenile science fiction. The settings are quite effective in a Christmas pantomime way, while the Daleks themselves - mobile pillar-boxes with flickering lights on top, weaving proboscises, and hesitantly guttural voices - make admirable villains. Against this, however, must be set some crude slapstick from Roy Castle, and absent-minded bumbling from Peter Cushing: these flabby attempts at humour only succeed in slowing down the action. And the Thals, looking and sounding like ballet dancers with their golden hair-dos, heavy eye-shadow and camp speech, must be the wettest tribe on record.

---

The Monthly Film Bulletin was published by the British Film Institute between 1934 and 1991. Initially aimed at distributors and exhibitors as well as filmgoers, it carried reviews and details of all UK film releases. In 1991, the Bulletin was absorbed by Sight and Sound magazine.

Frosties - They're grrrreeeaaattt!

Back in the 1970s, Tony the Tiger popped up during the commercial break

telling us that Frosties the Breakfast cereal are, Grrrrreeeeaaatttt! And they were too!

This advert dates back to August 1970 and comes from the magazine, "Boys Life."

And for 1970 Sears move from the 1960s Shimano Lark to the very 1970s Shimano Eagle. The gear lever positioning is also somewhat avant-garde.

I like the graphic design of these Sears adverts, with an almost Norman Rockwell look to the clothing and flesh and the cropping to exclude the head.

The Beattie Ads 1987 – 1991

British Telecom ran one of its most successful ad campaigns starring actress Maureen Lipman as a Jewish grandmother Beattie. Looking back many of these ads were comedy gold, with many classic moments including her ringing the shop to check if they had her size and after quizzing the poor shop assistant she comments that it’s not all the rage, resulting in the assistant throttling a nearby shop dummy, her reluctance to buy a dishwasher as it wasn’t good enough for Mrs Jones and her reassuring comments to her grandson Anthony over his exam results in this advert.

Double Diamond Works Wonders!

According to the adverts Double Diamond works wonders. Sadly Double Diamond is a Beer of the past. It was massive in the sixties and seventies and most soccer footage show one advert at the football stadium advertising the Ind Coope Beer.

Until the 1960′s beer had been regional.Then in the sixties national names emerged, namely Double Diamond, Mackeson Stout and draught and bottled Watneys Red. D

ouble Diamond, Bass Worthington and most notably Guinness, were becoming increasingly available as draught. The success of Guinness encouraged Watneys to compete with Colonel Murphy’s Stout.

Double Diamond approached television as a crucial mechanism for getting their voice heard by a wide audience. The jingle: “A Double Diamond works wonders, works wonders, works wonders. A Double Diamond works wonders, so drink some today!” was used throughout the seventies campaign.

Get well soon Betty!....

Coronation Street icon Betty Driver has been inundated with words of support as she battles pneumonia.

The 90-year-old actress who plays Weatherfield resident Betty Williams, was rushed to hospital with pneumonia earlier this week, and forums, websites and fansites have been festooned with messages wishing her the best.

Co-star Brooke Vincent, who plays Sophie Webster, tweeted: "A Special Tweet For The Amazing Betty Driver!! Stay Strong & My Thoughts Are With You ....... "

Several cast members are already believed to have visited the soap icon.

A show source told The Sun: "She's a feisty old thing and is battling like a woman half her age."

Betty was due to be filming this week, but producers have had to re-write the scenes she was set to shoot.

Some fear the star's latest health problems could see her give up her role, but the Rovers' longest-serving barmaid has insisted she loves the soap so wants to work right up until she dies.

John Cleese on Speeding Charge!....

Fawlty Towers and Monty Python actor John Cleese has been charged with speeding.

The 6ft 5in comedian's Mini Cooper was photographed exceeding a 30mph limit on the A4 at Saltford, between Bath and Bristol, on November 6 last year, Bath Magistrates' Court said. He is also charged with failing to provide the identity of the driver of the car.

A source said that Cleese, 71, who lives in Bath with his jeweller girlfriend Jennifer Wade, owned the car but was not behind the wheel when it was clocked by a static camera.

The case is due to be heard later this month, though Cleese does not have to attend in person.

The veteran comic is touring the country in his one-man show, the Alimony Tour, so-named because he says it is helping to pay the £12 million divorce settlement awarded to his third wife, psychotherapist Alice Faye Eichelberger, whom he divorced in 2008. If found guilty of the offences, he would face a possible fine and penalty points added to his licence.

Cleese's fictional character Basil Fawlty, the Torquay hotelier, is famous for having difficulty with a car. A scene from the 1975 Fawlty Towers episode Gourmet Night is consistently voted one of Britain's favourite comedy scenes. In it, Cleese's character violently attacks his Austin 1100 with a branch after it breaks down in the street as he searches for food to feed his guests.

Who on the Radio Times!

February 1964 and the first Radio Times cover featuring the first Doctor, William Hartnell.

This cover dates back to November 1964 and features the Daleks in the six part story. The Dalek invasion of earth.

February 1965 and the Doctor Who story, "The Web Planet."

Did he fire six shots or only five? Remembering Dirty Harry - 1971

Dirty Harry (1971) was a critical and commercial success and set the style for a whole genre of police films. The film was followed by four sequels: Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983 (directed by Eastwood himself), and The Dead Pool in 1988.

In 2008, Dirty Harry was selected by Empire magazine as one of The 500 Greatest Movies of All Time.

A serial killer who calls himself "Scorpio" (Andy Robinson) murders a young woman in a San Fransisco swimming pool, using a high-powered .30-06 hunting rifle from the top of 555 California Street. SFPD Police Inspector Harry Callahan (Clint Eastwood) finds a ransom message promising his next victims will be "a Catholic Priest or a nigger" if the city does not pay $100,000. The chief of police and the Mayor (John Vernon) assign the inspector to the case.

Callahan goes to a local diner for lunch, where a robbery is in progress. The inspector—alone with his .44 Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver—challenges one of the robbers, after shooting three others, who lies wounded near a loaded 12 gauge Winchester Model 1912 shotgun:

"I know what you're thinking: Did he fire six shots or only five? Well, to tell you the truth, in all of this excitement I kinda lost track myself. But being this is the 44 Magnum, the most powerful hand gun in the world and could blow your head clean off, you've got to ask yourself one question. Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya punk?"

The robber surrenders rather than taking the risk, then says "I gots to know". Callahan answers the question by pulling the trigger, while aiming at the criminal; the gun was, in fact, empty.

Callahan is assigned a rookie partner, Chico Gonzalez (Reni Santoni). The veteran officer notes that his partners always get injured or worse so he needs someone experienced, but has no choice. Scorpio kills a young black boy from another rooftop, and the police believes the killer will next pursue a Catholic priest. Callahan and Gonzalez wait for Scorpio near the Sts. Peter and Paul Church. A shootout ensues, but Scorpio escapes, killing an officer.

Scorpio kidnaps, rapes and buries alive a teenage girl (Debralee Scott), then demands twice his previous ransom before the girl's air runs out. The mayor decides to pay, and tells Callahan to deliver the money with no tricks, but the inspector wears a wire and brings a knife. Scorpio sends Callahan to various payphones throughout the city to separate the inspector from any backup, but his partner follows him. The chase ends at the enormous cross at Mount Davidson. Scorpio brutally beats Callahan; Gonzalez arrives and saves his partner, but is wounded. Callahan stabs Scorpio in the leg, but the killer escapes without the money. Gonzalez survives his wound, but decides to resign from the force.

The doctor who treated Scorpio tells Callahan and his new partner, Frank DiGiorgio (John Mitchum), that he has seen Scorpio in Kezar Stadium. running out of time, the officers search the killer's room without a warrant and Callahan shoots Scorpio in his wounded leg. When Scorpio refuses to reveal the location of the girl and instead asks for a lwayer, Callahan tortures the killer by standing on the leg. Scorpio confesses and the police exhume the dead girl.

Because Callahan broke into Scorpio's home and seized his rifle, the District Attorney decides that the killer cannot be charged. An outraged Callahan follows Scorpio on his own time. Scorpio pays a thug to give him a severe, but controlled beating, then claims that the inspector is responsible. Callahan is ordered to stop following Scorpio, despite his protest that he did not beat the killer. Meanwhile, Scorpio assaults a liquor store owner and steals his Walther P38 handgun.

Scorpio kidnaps a school bus load of children. He demands another ransom and a plane to leave the country. The mayor again insists on paying but Callahan instead pursues Scorpio without authorization, jumping onto the top of the bus from a railroad trestle. The killer flees into a nearby rock quarry, where he has a gun battle with Callahan. Scorpio retreats until he takes a young boy as a hostage.

The inspector pretends to be willing to surrender then wounds the killer. The boy runs away and Callahan stands over Scorpio, gun drawn. The inspector reprises his "Do I feel lucky?" speech. Scorpio tries his luck and lunges for his 9mm Walther P38 pistol. The inspector shoots him in the chest, propelling Scorpio into the water. As Callahan watches the dead body float on the surface, he takes out his inspector's badge, angrily hurls it into the water, and walks away.

Dirty Harry was well received by critics and is regarded as one of the best films of 1971. The film holds a 95% approval rating on the Review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. It was nominated at the Edgar Allen Poe Awards for Best Motion Picture. The film caused controversy when it was released, sparking debate over issues ranging from police brutality to victims' rights and the nature of law enforcement. Feminists in particular were outraged by the film and at the Oscars for 1971 protested outside holding up banners which read messages such as "Dirty Harry is a Rotten Pig".

Many critics expressed concern with what they saw as bigotry, with Newsweek describing the film as "a right-wing fantasy", Variety as "a specious, phony glorification of the police and police brutality with a superhero whose antics become almost satire" and a raging review by Pauline Kael of The New Yorker who accused Eastwood of a "single-minded attack against liberal values". Several people accused him of racism in the decision to cast four African-Americans as the bank robbers. Eastwood dismissed the political outrage, claiming that Callahan was just obeying a higher moral authority, and said, "some people are so politically oriented, when they see cornflakes in a bowl, they get some complex interpretation out of it".

Eastwood's iconic portrayal of the blunt, cynical, unorthodox detective who is seemingly in perpetual trouble with his incompetent bosses, set the style for a number of his later roles and, indeed, a whole genre of "loose-cannon" cop films. The film resonated with an American public that had become weary and frustrated with the increasing violent urban crime that was characteristic of the time. The film was released at a time when throughout 1970 and 1971 there were prevalent reports of local and federal police committing atrocities and overstepping their authority by entrapment and obstruction of justice. Author McGilligan, argued that America needed a hero, a winner at a time when the authorities were losing the battle against crime. The box-office success of Dirty Harry led to the production of four sequels.

The motif of a cop who cares more for justice than rules was one subsequently imitated by a number of other films. John Wayne, who like Eastwood was associated with the Western genre, starred in McQ and later Brannigan. Sylvester Stallone's Cobra and Judge Dredd shares many elements with Dirty Harry, a cop with an obsession for justice, a law system that is more concerned about the criminal than the victim, and a psychotic killer. The film is also an adaption of the novel Fair Game and was originally intended by Stallone to be the basis of Beverley Hills Cop while he was involved with the project. Stallone's own movie was plagiarised by Italian film producers for the Fred Williamson Blaxploitation film Black Cobra, which also mimicked the famous 'Do You Feel Lucky, Punk?' scene from Dirty Harry.