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Topic: Possible plot for Dirty Harry 6

Peter Berrett
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Victoria, Australia
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-15-2002 10:36 PM

During the week I had the following idea for a Dirty Harry sequel

Title: Washington Vacation

Synopsis: A psychopathic killer is loose in Washington. Using a high powered rifle he targets innocent civilians in open areas (eg gas stations) and kills them with a single shot. Harry is called out of retirement to join a San Francisco squad sent to assist in tracking down the killer.

Possible one-liners

"If you want to shoot innocent people you had better be prepared to pay the license fee"

"It's dinner time and you're eating lead"

"You might think you're a Goliath but my gun thinks its a sling and it's got 6 rocks with your name on them."

Too far fetched?

cheers Peter

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Darryl Spicer
Film God

Posts: 3250
From: Lexington, KY, USA
Registered: Dec 2000

posted 10-16-2002 12:12 AM

and if you think this wheel chair is going to prevent me from catching your ass....well go ahead punk..........make my day.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-16-2002 12:40 AM

It is not a good treatment. A loose cannon like Dirty Harry would be no help in catching someone who is as vicious and cunning as this extremely sick and cowardly murderer. He will be caught either by coincidence or by means of psychological profiling.
Michael

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Peter Berrett
Jedi Master Film Handler

Posts: 602
From: Victoria, Australia
Registered: Nov 2000

posted 10-16-2002 03:26 AM

You are quite correct

Indeed I'm sure the combined skills of the various police forces should be able to track this guy down. That and somebody out there must know something that might assist the police.

But I recall that the original Dirty Harry movie was based on a real life serial killer. Who is to say that any new DH movie wouldn't be inspired by a similar real life example?

cheers Peter

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-16-2002 07:40 PM

Fox may delay the release of "Phone Booth" because of the DC Area Sniper. I don't think any movie studio will green light any kind of new sniper oriented movie with this horrible crisis currently under investigation.

My father wrote a military non-fiction biography called "Marine Sniper" back in 1986. The book is about Marine Corps shooting legend Carlos Hathcock, and is one of the most popular books read by servicemen. My father suspects this ongoing sniper attack to be the work of either an Al-Qaeida shooting team or an American sniper team with military experience working for a political extremist group. Certainly most of the shootings are consistent with the tactics of sniper warfare, particularly the one-shot one-kill sneak-in and sneak-out bit.

Serial killers will typically have some kind of up close and personal involvment with their victims. They want to exert their power or hatred. The sniper attacks seem to have a colder, more methodical, if not military, kind of feel to them. They are random and impersonal. The terrible thing is if the police don't get some truly solid leads quickly, this sniper could go on killing twice as many people if not more before he is caught or killed. We all want justice to be served without mercy on this matter. And the really terrible thing is if this sniper quits killing and just goes back to his daily life, he may never get caught.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-16-2002 11:41 PM

Being something of an expert profiler myself

, I can only say that this is definitely not the work of Arabian terrorists. It is much too - for lack of a better word - subtle. Arabian terrorists like crashing planes, blowing up houses, destroying what they see as symbols of western capitalism and arrogance. They prefer spectacular and dramatic action, often involving suicide so they can be martyrs.

Serial killers often have no personal connection to the victims. But it is true that their interaction with the victim is often very intensive, to put it in a mild way, because they want to live out the feeling of being in control. This series of killings is very unusual indeed for its clinical coldness and precision. It can only be the work of a very sick but in a way intelligent and planning person.
A friend also had the theory that this must be a group of people. He said that a single person could not strike and then get away so quickly. I don`t know enough about sniper technique to form an opinion, but wouldn`t it be possible for one person in a van to do the shooting from inside the van, then simply drive off without losing time to disassemble the weapon?
Lastly, if this was a group of right wing terrorists, why are there no political statements but rather the melodramatic tarot card?
Michael

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Steve Kraus
Film God

Posts: 4094
From: Chicago, IL, USA
Registered: May 2000

posted 10-16-2002 11:42 PM

Well now...not to be morbid but this has office pool written all over it. Or are the boys in Vegas taking bets?

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-17-2002 01:06 AM

The D.C. Sniper case may very well indeed be the work of a single, serial killer. But some of the shooting incidents do suggest a military type of precision involved. And in such cases, real military snipers usually work in a pair. You have one fellow working as a spotter, picking out targets and the other doing the shooting. In this manner, it would be much easier for a separate driver and shooter to get in and get out quietly.

Sure, terrorists like big bombs and explosions. However, Muslim fundamentalist terrorists do a lot of sniping as well. The problem is the sniping pot shots don't generate as much press. American troops have encountered snipers in Beirut, Afghanistan and even in Kuwait in recent days. Considering the sniper attacks are taking place in and around Washington, D.C., the nation's capital, it is not too great a leap to attach some kind of political or military motivation to this string of murders. Anyone who has an insane beef against the American government could conceivably use sniper warfare as a means of disrupting life in America's captial.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-25-2002 07:11 AM

It seems, Bobby, you were right after all about the sniper being really a team with military background. While the suspect had received no actual sniper training in the army, he must have had plenty of opportunity to learn about tactics as shown in the planned execution of the crimes.
It should be noted, however, that this crime is not related to Arab fundamentalist terrorism at all. Even if the suspect changed his name to Muhammed and declared sympathy for Muslim causes, he is really just a criminal with no political or religious motives. It seems that he was solely driven by greed and a wish to be feared and notorious. His Muslim affections seem to be adopted in an attempt to find a cause to adhere to in order to strengthen his twisted persinality. So I was just a little bit right too...

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Bobby Henderson
"Ask me about Trajan."

Posts: 10973
From: Lawton, OK, USA
Registered: Apr 2001

posted 10-25-2002 06:10 PM

I guess I'm not too surprised by the identity of the killer in the DC shooter case. And I have to say my opinion about the events came from a little bit of an educated point of view. My father, Charles Henderson, wrote "Marine Sniper" in the mid 1980's, a biography of Marine Corps marksman legend Carlos Hathcock. While the murder rampage was still going, he wrote this article for UPI and the Washington Times: here
The article takes issue with the press calling the DC Sniper a "sniper" instead of something more deserving like "cold blooded murderer."

Monday afternoon he was interviewed via satellite from Denver on Fox News' "The Big Story" with John Gibson about the ongoing crisis. here

In the end, I am really thankful the police and alert citizens were able to capture the two suspects. The crisis is over, at least for now. I hate to put a damper on things, but it does not take a rocket scientist to figure out the suspects got themselves caught. In the need for seeking glory, phone calls and notes gave investigators the clues they needed to zero in on these two scumbags.

The fear I had early on was that the shooting attacks could have been part of some kind of covert-style operation conducted in a totally sterile manner. What I fear ahead is would-be copycats not making the same mistakes as Malvo and Muhammad did. If the two had not called into the tip lines at all and started leaving notes to screw around with the police, they could have potentially killed many more people. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that tidbit. And that makes it all the more necessary for law enforcement agencies to come up with better methods of protecting the public from such a menace.

I know the NRA is firmly against a nationalized gun ballistics registration system. Such a system does not penalize honest gun owners. It only puts a hardship on people who want to use a gun illegally. If such a network had been in place, the shooters may have taken out only a couple people before getting caught. They would have at least been on the trail of the weapon.

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Michael Schaffer
"Where is the
Boardwalk Hotel?"

Posts: 4143
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Apr 2002

posted 10-25-2002 06:57 PM

Fortunately - if that is the right expression when referring to such terrible crimes -, it seems to be such a vital component for such sick people to be able to brag about their crimes and bath in their notoriety, that many of them get themselves caught sooner or later by such "mistakes" as calling the police and taunting them. I mean, how stupid do you have to be to call the police and say "hey, look what I did in Alabama" or leave samples of handwriting on tarot cards?!?
It is interesting to see that many criminals plan their crimes very carefully and cleverly, but their cleverness abandons them when it comes to that and it is exactly the same deficiencies in their personalities which on the one hand lead them to commit violent crimes in order to compensate for their shortcomings and which on the other get them caught.

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