Clint Eastwood 'stole' A Dirty Harry Scene From A Classic James Cagney Movie

United Artists

We may receive a commission on purchases made from links.

Clint Eastwood is a one-of-a-kind screen legend but even he has his cinematic heroes. Specifically one: the great James Cagney. Eastwood was even able to acknowledge his idol on-screen in a famous scene from "Dirty Harry." In this moment, Eastwood borrowed a performance quirk involving chowing down on some food from Cagney's portrayal of a ruthless mob boss in 1949's "White Heat." 

From the beginning of his acting career, Eastwood was determined to be as original as possible in his performances. The actor once told journalist Paul Nelson (via "Conversations with Clint"), "To me, one performance doesn't deserve imitating like that. It's degrading to imitate somebody." Well, it turns out that philosophy wasn't entirely inflexible because at various points throughout his career Eastwood did allow himself the odd moment of imitation. Heck, "A Fistful of Dollars" was a remake of "Yojimbo" and this was the film that began the actor's ascent to Western movie stardom.

Eastwood also borrowed a small-but-impactful element of "Psycho" for his directorial debut "Play Misty for Me," which arrived in 1971 — the same year as his debut as "Dirty" Harry Callahan. And wouldn't you know, "Dirty Harry" also contained a brief moment of imitation during one of the most memorable scenes in the movie.

Warner Bros.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Clint Eastwood explained how his favorite actor growing up was James Cagney, and cited his 1949 noir "White Heat" as providing inspiration for a scene in "Dirty Harry." Easily one of the best noir movies ever made, "White Heat" saw Cagney portray psychopathic crime boss Arthur "Cody" Jarrett who's sent to prison after taking the fall for a crime in order to avoid jail time for an even more serious offense. 

Eventually, Cody escapes alongside several other inmates, including Paul Guilfoyle's Roy Parker, who Cody takes hostage and crams into the trunk of a car. When Parker complains about the trunk being "stuffy," Cody offers to give him "a little air," before pulling out a pistol and sending several bullets through the chassis. All the while, Cody casually munches on a chicken leg as if the callous murder means absolutely nothing.

Evidently, this moment struck a chord with Eastwood, who told EW that he stole it for "Dirty Harry." "When he comes out in 'White Heat' eating a chicken leg and blasting a guy in the trunk of a car," he said, "You go, 'Yeah, that's offsetting, but in a nice way.' The scene in 'Dirty Harry' where I'm eating a hot dog in that shootout, that's a steal." That legendary scene sees Harry Callahan visit a diner on his lunch break when a gang robs a bank nearby, interrupting Harry's meal. As he marches outside and opens fire on the getaway car, Harry chews his hotdog and seems as perturbed by the chaos as Cody was by killing a man in cold blood. The scene ends with the now legendary "Do I feel lucky?" monologue, where unlike Cody, Harry actually spares his victim.

Warner Bros.

It's interesting to note that "Dirty Harry" was a controversial film upon its release, coming under fire for supposedly representing an apologia for police violence. But Clint Eastwood has defended the movie as having no political agenda, despite the fact he and director Don Siegel appear to have been influenced by the socio-political climate at the time. Nevertheless, in Eastwood's eyes, "Dirty Harry" is simply about a member of law enforcement who adheres to his own sense of morality rather than rigidly following the law. As he told interviewer Ric Gentry back in 1989, "Harry asks the authorities, How come you let the guy go? And they say, Because that's the law. And Harry answers, Then the law is wrong."

It's certainly a choice on Eastwood's part to imitate James Cagney's performance as a merciless, unhinged killer in his portrayal of a man who, as he put it to author Patrick McGilligan for the book "Clint: The Life and Legend," is serving a "higher morality." But perhaps the actor simply couldn't help himself. After all, Eastwood considers himself a fan of just one specific actor, that actor being Cagney. For someone who claimed to have otherwise disdained imitation, it must have been a bit of thrill to mimic Cagney regardless of whether it meant drawing a parallel between this slave to "higher morality" and a psychopath. That said, Eastwood made his name playing anti-heroes, and bringing a touch of Cagney's crime boss into his portrayal of Harry Callahan was arguably an entirely appropriate choice that gave Eastwood's maverick cop exactly the edge he needed.