“Because he’s the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now.
So we’ll hunt him. Because he can take it. Because he’s not our hero.
He’s a silent guardian, a watchful protector.
A Dark Knight”
I’m not the first to compare Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight (2008) with Don Siegel’s Dirty Harry (1971), but I thought the world needed an edit to put it to the test.
Obviously, they are not identical films, with The Dark Knight having many more characters and plot lines threading throughout, in addition to some of the best action sequences ever filmed. Dirty Harry is more down to earth, in that respect, but this doesn’t take away from some of those core similarities, in addition to specific scenes or shots that are remarkably similar. Whether by design or by accident, there are clear parallels with these two films.
We all know Nolan has mentioned Mann’s HEAT (1995) as a distinct influence on The Dark Knight, that is felt in the tonal execution, the cinematography, and of course the opening bank heist by The Joker, (and William Fichtner). I can also see how Nolan took the idea of sharing a film between two leads and how De Niro’s Neil McCauley and Pacino’s Vincent Hannah get ported over to Ledger’s Joker and Bale’s Batman (or even Eckhart’s Dent).
Coming back to Dirty Harry, the themes of police corruption, morality, vigilantism, escalation and a psychopathic antagonist terrorising a city are shared between the two.
Escalation is a theme that continues more deeply into Dirty Harry’s sequel, Magnum Force (1973), where a rogue police unit, seemingly inspired by Harry Callahan’s perceived approach to take the law into his own hands, decide to gun down any criminal (or cop) who’s inconvenient to their world view. Escalation is mentioned by Gary Oldman’s Lieutenant Gordon at the end of Batman Begins (2005), the fact that Batman exists almost gives birth to the Joker, much like how Scorpio is a reflection of Dirty Harry’s existence.
It was so fun to edit two of my favourites, and each discovery of a parallel or similarity just made me love them more. So many shots couldn’t squeeze into 68 seconds, so I’ll upload some ‘deleted scenes’ as GIFs to my site.
“You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”
Extra Scenes
