Oh, THAT'S why he's called Dirty Harry! Cool! Never knew that. Anyway, clearly the tail end of the 60s and the tail beginning of the 70s were the Finks' heyday. They were on top of the world, hunkered over a smoldering Underwood, cigarette dangling from the corners of their mouths. Their drug of choice was work, work, work, and clearly it paid off huge dividends. They get credit on not one, but FIVE Dirty Harry movies. Each one special in its own way. The original, the sequel that's basically the original, the trilogy capstone that's basically the original, but now taking a page from the book of All in the Family, the art house one that people think they've seen, but really haven't, but they know the one catch phrase from it, and the one that signalled to all involved that it was probably time to retire the character. And then, after Pink Cadillac (Dirty Harry 5.5?), it was a personal and professional last straw for Clint Eastwood, where he stood up, looked in the mirror and said "I'm Clint Eastwood, and if I'm going to star in turkeys, I'm going to DIRECT them too, damn it!" The Rookie, for example. Yes, it was at that moment that Clint Eastwood decided to recast himself as the Woody Allen of Los Angeles, determined to crank out one film a year for the rest of his life. Kinduva discipline thing, a mantra thing, something like that....still, Buddy Van Horn's a good guy, so despite Dirty Harry 5 and Pink Cadillac, he can go back to his day job. (nice plastering job, eh? I added in a buncha stuff, and can't find a way to better recast that segue...) Classic name, too! Buddy Van Horn. What's not to like? Everyone named Buddy is a good guy, that's just the rule. Anyway, back to the Finks. Somehow, they should probably get credit for Blood Work, or de-facto Dirty Harry 6. They must REALLY be enjoying retirement, or no one noticed that they died. I guess when you go to that WGA retirement home, you stay gone or something. Where the heck are they? Don't they deserve a comeback special?
Harry Julian Fink on Wikipedia
Rita M. Fink... NOT on Wikipedia! You BASTARDS!
Harry Julian Fink on IMDb
Rita M. Fink on IMDb
3 comments:
Rita appears on Wikipedia as R.M. Fink. In one spot of the entry it says, "Other Names" Rita M. Fink.
Possibly her page was added after you last checked.
Unfortunately, the pages for both Julian and Rita are stubs. I surely hope someone can, and will, fix that.
Regarding the above, I meant to say, "Unfortunately, the pages for both Harry and Rita are stubs."
I dig your enthusiasm, the one who the Mortals call Flowwalker! Whelp, here in the Covid era, we have to go to alternative sources for this information. Luckily for us, I've got a 1979 edition of Ephraim Katz's "The Film Encyclopedia," and... nope! Not there either. They should be right there between "fine grain" and "Finkel, Abem," another screenwriter. Back to the drawing board.
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