“DIRTY HARRY”
Clint Eastwood, Harry Guardino and Reni Santoni star in this classic 1971 police detective drama. In two different scenes, Police Inspector Harry Callahan, the cop you love to hate, delivers his signature lines:
“I know what you’re thinking.”
“Did he fire six shots or only five?”
“Well, to tell you the truth, with all the excitement, I’ve lost track a bit.”
“…you have to ask yourself a question…do I feel lucky?”
“Well, how about you, punk?”
This film is ideal for illustrating and practicing a variety of elements of continuous speech in American English.
Using Popular Movies to Improve Speaking Skills
During the course of my 15+ years of teaching English as a foreign language, I have come across a number of popular films that not only help EFL students improve their English speaking skills, but are also enjoyable to watch. . In each of these films a scene is selected and the dialogue and setting are harnessed for cultural, linguistic and connected speech elements. While there are actually many such movies, I will mention five of my English learners’ favorites in this series of articles.
Plot
In the movie, “Dirty Harry,” a San Francisco police inspector searches for a killer who demands a $100,000 ransom from the city government. The mayor wants to pay, but the police inspector doesn’t think they should pay the money. The Police Inspector has a bad reputation for being violent towards suspects and criminals, which is giving the San Francisco City Police a bad reputation among the public.
Discussion questions and activities
How are the police in your area? Are they friendly? Do you help tourists and citizens?
How are minorities and suspected criminals treated in your city or country? What do you know about San Francisco? What is the city famous for? What things can you tell about the city by watching the movie or movie clip? Students of English as a foreign language can do a little research on San Francisco. Have they or anyone they know ever been to or visited San Francisco? What other movies have you seen that have been shot there? How is San Francisco similar to or different from the city or area where you live?
Is Police Inspector Harry Callahan’s behavior acceptable or not? Why or why not? What would you do if you were mayor or chief of police? What would you do if you were Harry? Why?
Have your students practice and act out the scene in pairs or small groups. Write the changes in the dialogue of the scene. Add dialogue to the scene too. Update the dialog to a more modern or colloquial English language. Make the dialogue more fun, more serious, or use idioms and expressions common in the area where English learners live.
Create vocabulary lists, puzzles such as crosswords or word searches from the key vocabulary of the scene. The scope of possibilities is limited only by the imagination of you and your students of English or foreign languages. Above all, have fun!
key elements of the film
While many popular movies contain selected scenes that could be used to illustrate cultural, linguistic, and connected speech elements, these five have proven useful and well-received by a variety of profiles of English learners. If you can get your hands on any or all of them, give them a try and watch your students’ motivation and English speaking skills skyrocket.
By the way, let me know how well this works for you. If you have any questions or would like one of the worksheets I use to go along with each of these scenes from the movie, please email me. I will be happy to help.