Harry Callahan quotes from Magnum Force (1973)

View Quote A man's got to know his limitations.

View Quote Nothing wrong with shooting as long as the right people get shot.

View Quote I asked if you knew where San Quentin is, and you do, don't you asshole?

View Quote Couldn't have happened to a nicer bunch of guys.

View Quote Sunny: Hi!
Harry Callahan: Oh, hi... what's your name?
Sunny: Sunny. You know, I've been living here for almost six months now. It's funny I've never met you before.
Harry Callahan: Oh well... I work a lot.
Sunny: I know. You're the cop who lives upstairs.
Harry Callahan: That's right.
Sunny: Mind if I ask you a question?
Harry Callahan: Go ahead.
Sunny: What does a girl have to do to go to bed with you?
Harry Callahan: (after recovering from his initial shock at so brazen a seduction effort) Try knocking on the door.

View Quote [Harry and Early converse about John Davis, Philip Sweet, Michael Grimes, and “Red” Astrachan - the motorcycle cops - after encountering them outside the police station following the Cost Plus robbery]
Harry Callahan: You know those guys?
Early Smith: They came through the Academy after me. They stick together like flypaper, you know? Everybody thought they were **** for each other.
Harry Callahan: Tell you something. If the rest of you could shoot like them, I wouldn't care if the whole damn department was ****.

View Quote Harry Callahan: [confronted by Davis, Astrachan, and Grimes, the three surviving vigilante cops] You heroes killed a dozen people this week. What are you going to do next week?
Officer John Davis: Kill a dozen more.

View Quote Harry Callahan: By the way I'd like to have Davis and Sweet as my backup squad.
Lieutenant Briggs: Davis and Sweet? They're just rookies!
Harry Callahan: Well you drum up someone in the department who can shoot as well and I'll use them.
Lieutenant Briggs: Dammit, there isn't supposed to be any shooting! Besides, they don't experience needed for a job like this.
Harry Callahan: How the hell is a man supposed to get experience if nobody gives him a chance? And Davis is the new pistol champion.
Lieutenant Briggs: Suppose they panic and start shooting?
'Harry Callahan: Nothing wrong with shooting as long as the right people get shot!

View Quote Lieutenant Briggs: You're on loan to Stakeout, Callahan.
Harry Callahan: That's right, Lieutenant! You saw to that.
Lieutenant Briggs: I've got nothing personal against you, Callahan, but we can't have the public crying police brutality every time you go out onto the street.
Harry Callahan: Well you just might need me on a job like this. Whoever did this was very good at it.
Lieutenant Briggs: You're sure one to know, Harry.
Harry Callahan: Well, I just work for the city, Briggs!
Lieutenant Briggs: So do I, longer than you, and I never had to take my gun out of its holster once. I'm proud of that.
Harry Callahan: Well, you're a good man, lieutenant. A good man always knows his limitations...

View Quote [to stop an aircraft hijacking, Harry disguises himself as a pilot and begins taxiing for takeoff]
Pilot: Excuse me, Captain. This may seem silly, but can you fly?
Harry Callahan: Nope. Never had a lesson.
[This shocks the hijacker holding a gun to Harry's back long enough for Harry to subdue him]

View Quote Officer Phillip Sweet: What kind of a load do you use in that .44?
Harry Callahan: It's a light Special. This size gun it gives you better control and less recoil than a .357 Magnum with wadcutters.

View Quote Infirmary Doctor: [stitching up Harry's head] Sure you don't want a local for this, Harry? Takes about seven stitches.
Harry Callahan: No, thanks.
Infirmary Doctor: Ok, it's your ass...
Harry Callahan: My head, the cut's on my head.
Infirmary Doctor: Why does everybody suddenly become a comedian in here?

View Quote [Harry is at the morgue with Briggs and Avery, examining the bodies of the vigilante cops' victims]
Lieutenant Neil Briggs: You and your partner are back on Homicide.
Harry Callahan: This is a little dramatic, is it, Briggs? Not your usual style.
Lieutenant Neil Briggs: It's meant to be, Callahan.
Captain Avery: Look, this thing might be bigger than even we think it is. [They walk past the bodies of the vigilante cop's victims, with Avery calling out each one's crimes as they go along] Hijacking and gambling. [He lifts the tag of the second corpse] Trucking. [lifts tag on the third corpse] Narcotics and prostitution. This is the cream in the bottle, Callahan: someone's trying to put the courts out of business.
Harry Callahan: So far you've said nothing wrong. [They reach the last two bodies]
Captain Avery: This one just came in about an hour ago. Somebody wants it all. [points to the left body] This guy was just a pimp. [points to the body next to it] That's one of his girls.
Harry Callahan: How did she get it?
Captain Avery: Uh, sometime before he got hit, he poured a can of drain cleaner down her throat.
Harry Callahan: That shows a certain sense of style.
Lieutenant Neil Briggs: You're all heart, Callahan.
Harry Callahan: Look, am I gonna have to have him leaning over my shoulder?
Captain Avery: Look, you work with Briggs on this, Callahan. But if you ever lean out of line, so help me lord, I'll flop you lower than whale shit.
Harry Callahan: Speaking of whale shit, what have you turned up, Briggs?
Lieutenant Neil Briggs: Nobody in my department is sitting on their ass.
Captain Avery: [takes out a cellular phone, a new device for the time] See this thing, Callahan? The chief; he calls me on this all the time. Even in the can. I haven't been out of my shoes for 48 hours and still we have no witnesses; not one. In these cases, there's always an officer right on top of the crime, but nobody's ever seen a thing.
Harry Callahan: Who was the officer on this one?
Captain Avery: A patrolman, uh, Sweet, wasn't it, Briggs?
Harry Callahan: (as Briggs nods in confirmation) Sweet seems like a good man. Well I'll get on the Ballistics report first thing in the morning.
Lieutenant Neil Briggs: We ran all the slugs through Ballistics. We're never gonna see those guns; it was too professional. You're wasting your time.
Harry Callahan: Well it takes me time, Briggs. [walks towards the door] A man has to know his limitations. [leaves the morgue]

View Quote [Harry, Early, and one of the CSI technicians are examining the pimp's car in the crime garage]
Walter, Crime Scene Investigator: Whoever it is, he enjoys it. It's possible the man was dead with the first shot. The others were thrown in for good measure.
Harry Callahan: Well everybody has to pay something.
Walter, Crime Scene Investigator: Now, he'd have to be standing right here, this close. Point-blank range. [Harry peers inside the car]
Harry Callahan: And the driver's license and a $100 dollar bill were out. Almost like he was showing it to a traffic cop.
Walter, Crime Scene Investigator: Yeah. And from what we have it figures to be someone impersonating a police officer. On the cars at least, it's been done before. This close? It would have to be someone he would never recognize.
Harry Callahan: Or never suspect.

View Quote Harry Callahan: I'd bust Palancio for stepping on a crack in the sidewalk if I could, but this isn't his style. Not the cars, anyway. It's too direct.
Lieutenant Briggs: Callahan, you just keep your nose pressed against Palancio's ass, until I get a warrant from the DA's office to bring him in. And I want the first conviction on this animal.
Harry Callahan: "Conviction"? He's liable to be your next victim! Just what are you asking for, Lieutenant?
Lieutenant Briggs: I'm not asking you to follow him, Inspector; for the last goddamn time, I'm telling you!