Clint Eastwood as “Dirty Harry” Callahan in The Enforcer (1976)
Vitals
Clint Eastwood as Insp. Harry Callahan, reassigned San Francisco inspector
San Francisco, Summer 1976
Film: The Enforcer
Release Date: December 22, 1976
Director: James Fargo
Costume Designer: Glenn Wright
Background
After all the romance of Valentine’s Day, Clint Eastwood is bringing some toughness back to BAMF Style as one of his most iconic characters, “Dirty Harry” Callahan. The third film in the “Dirty Harry” series, The Enforcer, finds Harry teamed up with tough rookie detective Kate Moore (Tyne Daly) against a gang of militant revolutionaries.
Harry begins the final day of his investigation roughing up a massage parlor, noting that it’s the sort of place where “for $75, you get to make it with a rubber dolly.” A tip leads him to a gunfight in a church which ultimately leads to a gunfight at Alcatraz. (Eastwood would return to the island three years later as famous escapee Frank Morris in Escape from Alcatraz.)
What’d He Wear?
Harry’s go-to look is typically a tweed sport jacket, slacks, and a tie, but he takes a decidedly more casual approach for this sequence of The Enforcer. The staple of his off-duty look is a russet brown suede shirt jacket with dark brown leather trim, a garment that I previously described as “dated but cool” in my post about his gray windbreaker.
Worn like a jacket but styled like a shirt with its uneven hem, Harry’s shirt-jacket is a wise outerwear choice for an undercover San Francisco cop. It’s enough of an outer layer to keep him warm during a brisk summer afternoon while concealing his service revolver.
Maybe Harry should actually patronize a massage parlor so he can turn that frown upside down.
The shirt-jacket is detailed with dark brown leather piping along all edges, including the long-pointed collar, the front placket, the pocket and pocket flaps, around the armholes of the set-in sleeves, across the horizontal back yoke, and all buttonholes – five down the placket and one on each pocket flap. The inside of the collar is lined in the same dark brown leather, and all of the woven leather buttons are the same dark brown leather.
The shirt-jacket has plain cuffs and shiny brown satin lining. There are two bellows patch pockets on the chest – one on each side – and each closes with a slightly-pointed button-down flap.
That collar is something else. Welcome to 1976.
An updated version of a suede shirt-jacket in a similar shade of russet brown – but without the leather piping – is currently available from Brooks Brothers for $648.
Harry also wears a very unique brown long-sleeve pullover shirt. I’ve seen polo shirts with half-zip closure and polo shirts with button cuffs, but I’ve rarely – if ever – spotted one like Harry’s that has both. The distinctive mitred barrel cuffs have a single clear plastic button in the inside corner, best seen when Harry is “plunging” the pimp Buchinski (Robert Hoy) in the massage parlor. The shirt has a silky effect when it wrinkles, indicating the possibility of polyester or a polyester blend.
Harry never takes his jacket off while he’s on screen, but there are some production stills (like this one!) that show Harry confronting Buchinski with his jacket off, better showcasing his unique brown half-zip long-sleeve polo shirt.
Since he’s undercover, Harry sports a pair of very ’70s blue jeans, tight through the thighs, straight through the legs to the fashionably flared bottoms. They’re not bell bottoms (luckily!), but then-trendy elements like the flared bottoms, wide denim strips down the sides, and lack of back pockets tell us that Harry may be a bit more fashion-focused than the straightforward character we met in Dirty Harry would have you think…
These may be a bit more fashion-forward than classic Levi’s, but it could have been worse…
Harry wears a wide leather belt in the same light russet brown shade as his jacket with heavy dark edge stitching. The belt has a large rounded gold-toned single-prong buckle.
Harry’s belt, as well as some of the distinctive stitching on his jeans, is showcased in this close-up.
Like another San Francisco detective before him, Harry’s casual footwear of choice is a pair of brown desert boots, essentially a suede chukka boot with a heavy rubber sole. Harry’s boots have coffee brown suede uppers, three lace eyelets for his matching brown laces, and black rubber soles.
You’d think tight jeans are a hindrance to martial arts, but Harry’s here to prove us wrong.
When Harry wore them with his other casual ensemble, he also sported a pair of blue socks, and it’s very possible that his dark socks in this scene are also blue.
Harry “disguises” himself for his visit to the massage parlor by donning a black twill San Francisco Giants baseball cap with the Giants’ “SF” insignia embroidered in orange on the front of the cap’s crown. The button on the top of the hat is also orange. Similarly styled caps, albeit with the updated Giants insignia, are available for less than $12 on Amazon. (And what is it with BAMFs “disguising” themselves with just a baseball cap?)
Harry is in no mood to hear what you think about Barry Bonds using steroids.
The Movie Shop currently sells a pair of “Enforcer Eastwood Style” plastic-framed sunglasses for £12.99, undoubtedly styled after the tortoise-framed sport aviators that he wears throughout The Enforcer.
Harry swaps in a pair of trendy sport aviators after wearing his wraparound Ray-Ban Baloramas in Dirty Harry and Magnum Force.
Between shots of him roughing up Buchinski and firing a rocket launcher at Alcatraz, Harry’s stainless wristwatch gets plenty of screen time. With its dark gradient dial that fades to a white center, it’s a good-looking watch but still remains unidentified by the pros at Watches in Movies where Citizen, Orient, and Tressa have all been suggested as the manufacturer.
Just before plunging Buchinski’s face, we get a good look at both Harry’s wristwatch and shirt cuffs.
We don’t see Harry’s usual light brown leather shoulder holster, but the presence of his .44 Magnum revolver indicates that it’s almost definitely worn under his jacket, fastened beneath his left armpit for a right-handed draw.
How to Get the Look
For better or worse, Harry’s exact look is a product of 1976, but the base outfit- a brown suede shirt-jacket, darker brown long-sleeve polo shirt, blue jeans, and desert boots – is stylish, rugged, and timeless.
- Russet brown suede shirt-jacket with dark brown leather trim, long-pointed collar, five woven leather buttons on placket, bellows pockets on chest with button-down flaps, and plain cuffs
- Dark brown polyester half-zip long-sleeve polo shirt with single-button cuffs
- Blue denim jeans with belt loops, front pockets, and flared bottoms
- Light brown leather edge-stitched belt with rounded gold-toned single-prong buckle
- Brown suede 3-eyelet desert boots with heavy black soles
- Dark blue socks
- Tortoise-framed plastic sport aviator sunglasses
- Black twill San Francisco Giants baseball cap with orange-embroidered insignia and top button
- Stainless wristwatch on an expanding bracelet with a round black faded-center dial
- Light brown leather shoulder holster (RHD) for a Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver
The Gun
Plenty has been written about Harry’s iconic Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver, including by yours truly, so let’s take a look at the other piece of weaponry he uses here, the M72 LAW rocket launcher.
“Maxwell…!”
The U.S. Army instructor that briefed Harry and Kate about the weapon referred to it as a “L.A.W.S.”, but it should be noted that the LAW in the weapon’s official designation stands for Light Anti-Tank Weapon. The M72 LAW, and all of its variants, is a disposable single-shot unguided weapon that fires a 66mm HEAT rocket at a muzzle velocity of 145 m/s. At 5.5 pounds and official stated penetration of up to 8 inches of steel plate, its portable potency makes it a dangerous weapon in the hands of both Harry and his enemies.
Production of the M72 LAW began in 1963 after a few years of development, and it was quickly adopted by the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army, where it replaced the M20A1 “Super Bazooka”. The M72A1 variant seen in The Enforcer employed an improved rocket motor.
The M72 LAW extends from 24.8 inches long to 34.67 inches when armed.
Read more about the M72 LAW’s usage in The Enforcer and find more screenshots of it in action at IMFDB.
Do Yourself a Favor and…
Buy the movie or, if you’re so inclined, buy the whole Dirty Harry collection.
