After immortalizing himself as a Western star in Sergio Leone’s Dollar trilogy, Clint Eastwood played perhaps his most iconic role for the first time in 1971: that of Inspector Callahan alias “Dirty Harry” in Don Siegel’s action thriller of the same name. In 1988, the 93-year-old would embody the police officer four more times using unorthodox methods, with the fourth part (“Dirty Harry Comes Back” from 1983), which he himself directed, being the commercial highlight.
But 1971 was an important year for Eastwood’s career in another way: Not only did he celebrate great success in front of the camera as “Dirty Harry”, he also ventured into the director’s chair for the first time – and so began a second career that would prove just as formative as his acting. Eastwood didn’t miss the opportunity to do some cross-promotion – by hiding a reference to his directorial debut in “Dirty Harry,” which had been released in the US just a month earlier.
If you stop the legendary police thriller after 10 minutes and 30 seconds and look at the street on the right side of the screen, you will see a cinema sign in the background that says “Play Misty For Me”. That’s the original title of Eastwood’s directorial debut, which was released in theaters here as “Sadistico” — and which actually could have been showing in some American theaters when “Dirty Harry” came out. Here’s a photo of the scene in question:
In the psychological thriller, Eastwood plays radio host Dave, who begins an affair with one of his female fans. When his girlfriend returns to him, he wants to end the relationship, but Evelyn (Jessica Walter) isn’t willing to let him go so easily…
Given its low budget, “Sadistico” was a box office success, and just two years later the filmmaker followed it up with the underrated drama “Encounter in the Morning.” Since then, Eastwood has made more than forty films, which earned him two directing Oscars (for ‘Remorseless’ and ‘Million Dollar Baby’). His likely final film, “Juror #2,” has been announced for this year.