Amusing video, if you have about 8 or so minutes to spare, in which Tom Reimann explores the above, movies which, over the course of time, have made us re-evaluate the “heroes” of said features…
I find the notion fascinating and the examples he gives quite accurate.
Well, with one sorta/kinda exception: Dirty Harry.
While the character of Harry Callahan, introduced in the original Dirty Harry film, became a “hero” in subsequent releases, I’m not so sure his presentation in the original film was quite what it seemed.
Don’t get me wrong: There is clearly a glorification of this character who is exactly what the narrator above describes him as: A racist, nasty individual whose worldview problem solving involves using a gun…or fists…or whathaveyou.
The opening sequence involving the bank robbery is the first clue. We should be horrified by the mayhem Harry creates in that opening scene, yet the movie plays to our bloodlust.
In effect, I always felt the film wanted to push audiences to root for a fascist cop. I believe we were supposed to feel uncomfortable in his presence and uncomfortable with the things he did. Further, his methods don’t always work. He has the killer captured but because he goes above and beyond what is allowed by the law, the killer is released.
I’ll grant you the film stacks the deck in Harry’s favor but as a work it nonetheless, at least to me, is an interesting curio which presents deeper questions about our need for law and order and our feelings regarding the world being out of control…and the way a fascist longing plays to those fears.
While I enjoyed a couple of the sequels, none of those subsequent films were anywhere near as interesting as the first.
Having said that, I did think back to which films I felt my opinion of them changed over time.
I would have to say the earlier Sean Connery Bond films have aged especially poorly, in particular regarding his character’s “handling” of women. In the third Bond film, Goldfinger, which many people consider the best of the Bond films and the one that established the blueprint for subsequent films, Bond is particularly vulgar when it comes to women…
Yikes. And this wasn’t even the worst scene showing Bond’s uh… dated way of dealing with women. That would probably be this one…
The scene is, in a modern context, especially cringe worthy as Pussy Galore (yep, that was the female character’s name) is presented subtly as being a lesbian and what Bond does, effectively force himself on her -or if you prefer, rape her- he makes a “real” woman out of her.
And the way its presented in the film itself! Almost comically! Look, they flip each other while having some clever banter! Great foreplay!
As I said, it makes me cringe more than a little seeing it now. Then again, there are those who feel the character of James Bond should be looked at as a villain but, not unlike Harry Callahan, one who happens to be working on our side.