The studio REALLY wanted Clint Eastwood to turn his wild 1977 action movie The Gauntlet into a new Dirty Harry movie, but he knew that was a terrible idea. The first three Dirty Harry movies were incredibly popular during the 1970s, and while neither Magnum Force nor The Enforcer were as successful or well-received as the original, they proved audiences would turn up for a new Harry Callahan adventure. It was also the rare Clint Eastwood franchise, as the actor/director often preferred to move on to new projects rather than return for sequels.

Case in point was 1977’s The Gauntlet, a project that was originally earmarked as a two-hander between Steve McQueen and Barbra Streisand. This was Eastwood’s follow-up to The Enforcer and cast him as Shockley, a cop tasked with escorting an important witness (played by Sondra Locke) to a key trial; during their eventful road trip, everything from biker gangs to the entire Phoenix police force tries to kill them. The Gauntlet’s Shockley is Dirty Harry’s opposite and the furthest thing from a supercop imaginable, which is why Warner Bros wanted to replace him with Harry instead.

Clint Eastwood Refused To Turn The Gauntlet Into Dirty Harry 4

Clint refused to make Warner Bros’ day

Shockley is an alcoholic, self-pitying cop who is barely holding on to his career when the story begins. It’s thanks to dodging bullets with Locke’s Gus that he comes to life again, and is determined to see his ᴀssignment through to the end – even if it kills him. Part of what attracted Eastwood to The Gauntlet (aside from the action spectacle involved) was that Shockley was a very different character from Harry. However, in Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983, the star reveals Warner Bros mulled turning the film into Dirty Harry 4.

There were suggestions here at the studio that we could make it a Dirty Harry character, and I just felt that it would never work with Dirty Harry. I felt that Dirty Harry would never have allowed himself to do the things that the guy in The Gauntlet allowed himself to do. He would’ve headed off the situation and come to a much better conclusion earlier.

There was also the fact that Eastwood had starred in three Dirty Harry movies in the span of five years, and was feeling burnt out on the role. Eastwood had already become somewhat typecast in the part, so had he played Harry again only a year after his last appearance, this could have hurt his career in the long run. Eastwood stuck to his guns as actor and director, insisting The Gauntlet only worked with a more flawed protagonist like Shockley fronting it.

The Gauntlet Would Never Have Worked With Dirty Harry

Dirty Harry 4 would only be 30 minutes long with the San Francisco detective

The Gauntlet ended up grossing over $35 million worldwide on a $5.5 million budget (via The Numbers). That’s a shade under $180 million when adjusted for inflation, and by any metric, it was a big hit. Maybe being part of the Dirty Harry series would have given The Gauntlet an extra bump, but it would have hurt the film too. Harry is way sharper and more capable than Shockley, and wouldn’t have allowed himself and Gus to get into the messes they often find themselves in.

For The Gauntlet to work, Shockley needs to be underestimated and, at times, a tad dim. Harry is neither of those things, and the screenplay would have needed to make him a dumber character for the plot to function. Audiences would have been rooting for Harry to take down the bad guys alright, but Shockley managing to get Gus to the courthouse feels like far more of a triumph; with Harry, it would have just been a given.

There’s also the fact that Shockley never kills anybody throughout the entire movie and gets badly beaten up after being attacked by bikers; neither would be true if the film was called Dirty Harry 4. The Gauntlet would have been a fine and entertaining Dirty Harry installment, but it worked better as a standalone offering.

Clint Eastwood Eventually Made Two More Dirty Harry Movies

Dirty Harry 4 hit with a Sudden Impact in 1983

Not only was Eastwood not interested in making The Gauntlet a new Dirty Harry thriller, he sounded done with the character, telling journalist Paul Nelson, “… I’d done as much as I could with the Dirty Harry character at that time — and probably at the present time.” It’s telling that playing a part that was a total 180 from his most famous cop role was part of the appeal of The Gauntlet to Eastwood.

Six years after The Gauntlet, Eastwood picked up the .44 magnum again for Sudden Impact – a sequel that proved to be the most successful of the series. It also spawned the most famous catchphrase in “Go ahead, make my day.” Eastwood closed the book on Dirty Harry for good with 1988’s The ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Pool, where he chases a serial killer targeting celebrities and famous public figures, with Harry also being on the kill list. The final sequel is arguably the weakest of the bunch, sadly, but Harry still remains one of Eastwood’s most enduring characters.

Source: Conversations with Clint: Paul Nelson’s Lost Interviews with Clint Eastwood, 1979-1983, The Numbers