FADE IN:

Finally got round to watching Dirty Harry. 

Had never seen it before.

AMA.

There is nothing more powerful in this world than words.

You know what, that's one of the things I just didn't get - why have those series of lines twice? Also, i need to watch it again now so I can count the bullets he fires. 

200 $degen

I think we’re supposed to think that this is what Harry says when he knows he’s out of bullets and is trying to mind fuck someone into surrender. So in the climax we’re supposed to believe that Harry is at a disadvantage against the psycho, then it is a surprise to us when he still has a bullet left.

Maybe it would work. I think the first time he says it is supposed counteract that genre expectation and set up the audience to think that he DEFINITELY doesn’t have a bullet left in the climax and we’re about to see the psycho kill both the kid and Harry. I like him saying it twice but it’s a matter of taste.

Wouldn't that work still without having heard him say it already? I don't know, maybe not. Felt a little less impactful the second time round, though, and it's kind of built into our expectation of the genre that harry will probably have a bullet left to kill him. I don't think we lose anything if we cut the lines from the start. Maybe he says it to every deadbeat he kills, though.