Dirty Harry

After decades in Hollywood, Kathy Bates still believes it's a great place ? if you're looking for somewhere to fire your shotgun. "I'm a bit disillusioned with this crazy business we're in," admits the 62-year-old actress, who once claimed the only work offered to unconventional-looking actresses was "the friend, the killer or the lesbian. " Ironically, that cynical attitude has won Bates her ideal role as Harriet "Harry" Korn on "Harry's Law," a new drama from David E. Kelley ("The Practice," "Boston Legal")

So, to paraphrase Dirty Harry, "Do you feel lucky, punk?" A couple of stories this week have put me in a philosophical state of mind, and when I start feeling that way, I think of Clint Eastwood’s Inspector Harry Callahan, one of my favorite philosophers. In fact, Harry’s famous movie line was the first thing that came to mind when I read The Times' story Monday on prostate cancer screening for men. The headlines summed it up: "PSA test for prostate cancer should be dropped, task force says."

THE MAJORITY of movie fans throughout the world would love to see Hollywood produce a new Dirty Harry movie, even though Clint Eastwood himself has ruled that out ["Revolver Revolution," June 1]. Eastwood does have his age to consider when it comes to playing a role of Harry Callahan, even though he could certainly still direct such a movie. For a modern-day Dirty Harry movie, why not try to get Hugh Jackman to play Harry Callahan?

Early in his career as one of Hollywood's top cinematographers, Bruce Surtees became known for his artful use of low-level, moody lighting in films such as Don Siegel's "The Beguiled" and "Dirty Harry" and Bob Fosse's "Lenny. " Surtees, 74, who received an Oscar nomination for his work on "Lenny" and was closely associated with Clint Eastwood on many of his films, died Feb. 23 in Carmel, Calif., of complications of diabetes, said his wife, Carol. FOR THE RECORD: Bruce Surtees: In the March 2 LATExtra section, a photo accompanying the obituary of cinematographer Bruce Surtees was described by the source, Getty Images, as showing him with Clint Eastwood during filming of "High Plains Drifter.

Another upcoming film-related album features some even more unlikely voices. The album accompanying "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," the film version of John Berendt's nonfiction bestseller about a murder in Savannah, Ga., includes singing performances by the film's star Kevin Spacey--as well as by its director, Clint Eastwood. The two, along with such professional vocalists as Paula Cole, k.d.

An 1880s-era railroad trestle that played a supporting role in the film "Dirty Harry" will be dismantled, beginning Monday, because it was damaged in a traffic accident. Larkspur officials said the trestle spanning Sir Francis Drake Boulevard was partially jolted out of place when a tractor-trailer carrying an oversized crane struck it in June.

Before Clint Eastwood became America's most famous small-town mayor, he was best known as Dirty Harry Callahan, the surly police detective who carried a pistol the size of a dachshund. Dirty Harry was unaccustomed to patiently articulating his point of view and explaining his actions. If anyone disagreed with him he could simply whip out his oversized .44-caliber pistol and blow them away.

Don Siegel, who overcame a halting start as an actor to become an Academy Award-winning film director and friend and mentor to such stars as Clint Eastwood, has died in Nipomo. Best known for such fast-moving crime and action melodramas as "Dirty Harry," the Western "Two Mules for Sister Sara" and the 1950s science fiction allegory "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," Siegel was 78 when he died Saturday of cancer at his Central California home.

"Dirty Harry" Callahan--the detective character that made Clint Eastwood a superstar-- probably wouldn't stand a chance today on the streets of San Francisco or any city. Harry used a .44 magnum six-shooter revolver, a Smith & Wesson, reminding criminals it was "the most dangerous weapon in man's history." What Eastwood fan can forget his challenge to the "punk" serial killer Scorpio: "I know what you're thinking . . . Did he fire five shots or six? Ask yourself . . . do I feel lucky?"

It promised to be a celebrity watcher's fantasy, the meeting between Pope John Paul II and Clint Eastwood--between the Vicar of Christ and the mayor of Carmel. In the end, however, the man who starred as Dirty Harry was content to play a bit role Thursday and leave the Pope as the starring attraction.

Lalo Schifrin describes himself simply as a "music maker. " "I do music by taking a baton and conducting it or by writing it or by playing the piano," said the 78-year-old composer, who perhaps is best known for his Grammy-winning, jazz infused score for the classic TV series "Mission: Impossible. " But Schifrin is being unduly modest. The Argentine-born composer helped change the sound of movie scores, earning six Oscar nominations. Among his movie scores are 1965's "The Cincinnati Kid," 1967's "Cool Hand Luke," for which he earned his first Oscar nomination, 1968's "Bullitt," 1971's "THX 1138 and "Dirty Harry," 1979's "The Amityville Horror," for which he was also Oscar-nominated and the three "Rush Hour" comedies.

After decades in Hollywood, Kathy Bates still believes it's a great place ? if you're looking for somewhere to fire your shotgun. "I'm a bit disillusioned with this crazy business we're in," admits the 62-year-old actress, who once claimed the only work offered to unconventional-looking actresses was "the friend, the killer or the lesbian. " Ironically, that cynical attitude has won Bates her ideal role as Harriet "Harry" Korn on "Harry's Law," a new drama from David E. Kelley ("The Practice," "Boston Legal")

President Nicolas Sarkozy awarded U.S. actor and director Clint Eastwood one of France's top honors on Friday, hailing him as a cinema legend and a symbol of the type of America that the French adored. It is unusual for a foreigner to be elevated to the rank of commander of the French Legion of Honor but Eastwood, who went from playing tough-guy roles like Dirty Harry to directing highly praised films, said he saw France as his second home. "My wife chastised me, saying if that was true why don't I speak French," he told friends and officials gathered at the Elysee Palace for the ceremony, promising to take lessons.

If the revenge thriller seems like an especially inflexible genre, it might be because its founding formula is basically a biblical credo: an eye for an eye. In film after film, a vigilante hero is wronged and because of the failures of the legal system must take matters into his -- or, in some cases, her -- own hands. There is no real suspense over the outcome -- payback is exacted, in due course -- but the nominal pleasures of most of these movies lie precisely in their familiarity, in their brazen appeal to our most basic instincts.

Adam West barely recognizes Gotham City these days. "Batman is so dark now," the 80-year-old actor said with a carefree chuckle. "The new films, they are grim, Gothic, full of explosions, mayhem. It's the way of things, I suppose; the whole world seems darker." Well, the world was also heaving with angst back when West wore the cape for 26 months of prime-time silliness that began in January 1966. The native of Walla Walla, Wash., became an icon of camp with his masked-man deadpan and, for much of America, his version was the definition of the Caped Crusader for decades.

DIRTY HARRY won my heart in his first few minutes on-screen, when he looked at physical objects, intuited out of his working experience that a bank robbery was in progress, got somebody to call for help and then walked up the street, gun in hand and munching on the remains of a hot dog. One of the best moments in cop movie history about that rarely favored attribute -- coolness of head and sound judgment. All done in what? Seven seconds? No preaching. But he lost me completely through those unfailingly awful Dirty Harry follow-ups.

The old train trestle where Clint Eastwood gazed menacingly at the bad guy in "Dirty Harry" is no more. It was torn down last week after a crane on a truck struck it in June. About a dozen protesters, including bicyclists and rail enthusiasts, opposed to the dismantling stood vigil last Monday night at the start of demolition. "This is part of Marin's heritage," said David Schonbrunn, a protester and president of the Transportation Solutions Defense and Education Fund in Mill Valley.

Composer Philip Glass may create theater pieces inspired by the films of Jean Cocteau, but for locally based artists Melinda Ring and Tony Abatemarco, the right-wing justice fantasies of Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry" movies offer an ideal opportunity to use dance and performance art techniques to examine some of our darkest societal obsessions.

THE MAJORITY of movie fans throughout the world would love to see Hollywood produce a new Dirty Harry movie, even though Clint Eastwood himself has ruled that out ["Revolver Revolution," June 1]. Eastwood does have his age to consider when it comes to playing a role of Harry Callahan, even though he could certainly still direct such a movie. For a modern-day Dirty Harry movie, why not try to get Hugh Jackman to play Harry Callahan?

On a recent afternoon at the Warner Bros. lot, Clint Eastwood took a break from a long day in the editing bay and strolled over to a hushed screening room. There, his armed-and-dangerous past was waiting for him, and the filmmaker winced when he looked it in the eye. "Who's that young fella?" he asked, a flicker of a smile crossing his famously craggy face. Up on the screen was Eastwood, circa 1971, staring down the barrel of a huge gun with an expression of cruel calmness.