When we last checked in with the idea of men and guns in American cinema, we were in 1953, working Shane through its paces to get to the roots of the oh-so-American notion that violence is regrettable but necessary. Jumping forward eighteen years, we find ourselves still clinging to that idea and yet in a different world entirely. It's now 1971. The post-World War Two euphoria about American international and domestic triumphs has disappeared so completely it might never have existed. The intervening years seem to have brought little more than a series of dislocations, chaotic conflicts following one after another in swift succession.
Men and Guns, Part Two: "Dirty Harry"
Men and Guns, Part Two: "Dirty Harry"
Men and Guns, Part Two: "Dirty Harry"
When we last checked in with the idea of men and guns in American cinema, we were in 1953, working Shane through its paces to get to the roots of the oh-so-American notion that violence is regrettable but necessary. Jumping forward eighteen years, we find ourselves still clinging to that idea and yet in a different world entirely. It's now 1971. The post-World War Two euphoria about American international and domestic triumphs has disappeared so completely it might never have existed. The intervening years seem to have brought little more than a series of dislocations, chaotic conflicts following one after another in swift succession.