“ | Alright, now listen to me carefully. I've changed my mind; I'm going to let her die! I just wanted you to know that. Do you understand? I just wanted you to know that before I killed you. Goodbye, Callahan. | „ |
~ Scorpio preparing to leave the girl he kidnapped to die while attempting to kill Harry Callahan. |
Scorpio (real name: Charles Davis) is the main antagonist of the 1971 film Dirty Harry.
Depicted as a psychopathic serial killer who targets people of all ages in San Francisco when it comes to his killing spree, he is the sworn archenemy of protagonist Harry Callahan.
He was portrayed by Andrew Robinson, who also portrayed Frank Cotton in Hellraiser.
What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]
- In the novel, it's stated that he was a mental patient in Springfield, Massachusetts, because he killed his grandparents as a teenager.
- He snipes an innocent woman in a swimming pool to get the attention of the police force, threatening to kill either a Catholic priest or a "n---er" if they don't give him $100,000.
- His title, "Scorpio Killer," offers dark implications by itself.
- He attempts to murder a gay Catholic priest but fails and kills a police officer instead.
- He kills a 10-year-old black boy by blowing off his face from a distance.
- He kidnaps a 14-year-old girl, ripping out her tooth and raping her before burying her alive and then later demanding twice the ransom money for her survival. Even after Harry delivers him the ransom money, Scorpio tries to brutally beat Harry to death, guns down Harry's partner Chico, and gleefully reveals he's going to let the girl die anyway.
- When Harry corners him, he pathetically begs for his life instead of disclosing the location of the girl in time. This results in the girl dying via suffocation.
- He frames Harry for police brutality, out of spite, and/or for his own protection.
- He viciously assaults an elderly cashier by smashing a bottle of beer into his head to knock him to the floor before robbing him of his gun, presumably either killing him or coming close to.
- He takes an entire bus full of school children hostage, threatening to kill them all unless he's given a flight out of the state in addition to another $200,000. When two boys ask to be let off, Scorpio smacks them both across the head and threatens to kill everyone's mothers if they don't keep singing along with him.
- While driving the school bus, he slams it into a car driving nearby to drive it off the road, endangering whoever was on board the car.
- He takes a young boy hostage and threatens to shoot him when Harry corners him, and after the latter shoots him, he makes one last attempt to kill Harry by grabbing his gun, only to get shot and fall onto a river to his death.
Trivia[]
- Andy Robinson actually created a backstory for Scorpio, which involved him having PTSD due to being drafted into the Vietnam War and then turning completely insane after seeing how people treated soldiers. However, Robinson's backstory isn't confirmed to be canon, so Scorpio lacks any tragic background. Even if he did have a tragic past, it wouldn't excuse his horrible and racist actions.
- To help drive home the point of Scorpio being Pure Evil, his actor Andrew "Andy" Robinson actually received numerous death threats from a lot of people just because of the way he portrayed Scorpio in the movie. Thus, Andy had to get an unlisted phone number because of this, which easily makes Scorpio the evilest and darkest character portrayed by Andy Robinson.
- Scorpio is, alongside Mick, one of the two Dirty Harry villains to be Pure Evil.
External Links[]
- Scorpio on the Villains Wiki.
- Scorpio on the Hate Sink Wiki.