Expanding My Horizons

This weekend, I saw Dirty Harry for the first time, and I was completely blown away by my friend’s observation that Clint Eastwood’s character, Harry Callahan, bears a striking resemblance to Spike Spiegal from Cowboy Bebop. They don’t just dress similarly, but the characters also share certain idosyncracies in the way they carry themselves and address the people around them. While watching Clint Eastwood’s performance, I could see little things that more than likely inspired Spike’s character, especially when it came to one-liners and stand-offs with the villian.

Uncanny, isn't it?

The correlation between these two characters probably isn’t surprising to people who are well-informed fans of Cowboy Bebop, but it was to me. I even searched out an LA Times article from 2003 that shows Cowboy Bebop director Shinichiro Watanabe making a direct correlation between the two. So why do I think this is interesting? For one thing, I absolutely love Cowboy Bebop, but I would never have watched Dirty Harry if not for the fact that it just happened to be on TV while we were waiting for our Chinese take-out to arrive. While I enjoyed seeing where some of the inspiration for Spike’s dress and attitude came from, I did find parts of the movie campy; but that has to do with the fact that I’m accustomed to a production value that movies of the 70s can’t really deliver. In any case, Cowboy Bebop has it’s share of camp as well, but I love it anyway.

Before this weekend, I wouldn’t have given a movie like Dirty Harry a chance because I would have assumed that it wasn’t my type of film. How many films, shows, books, etc. do we pass over because we think we aren’t interested in them? Dirty Harry embodies a lot of the elements of Cowboy Bebop that I enjoy a great deal—such as Spike’s cavalier attitude towards his chosen profession even though he genuinely believes in what he’s doing—but I might never have known that it was a movie I would like even though it’s so highly acclaimed.

So I’m taking this as a challenge to myself to go back to the things I enjoy, figure out where the creators found their inspiration, and maybe discover a few “new” things to love. If you find yourself with a dearth of entertainment, this could be a good way to get rid of your boredom without resorting to reality television.