Harlan Rook: "Now you've locked yourself in, asshole!"
Harry Callahan: "Yeah. Just you and me, asshole."
-Harry Callahan confronting Rook.
Rook
Status: Deceased
Cause of death: Shot in the chest and pinned to a wall by a Harry Callahan using a harpoon gun.
Weapons: Smith & Wesson Model 29 (.44 magnum), RC car bombs, Hunting knife.
Harlan Rook is the main antagonist in the fifth Dirty Harry film The Dead Pool.
Rook was an unstable horror movie addict. He was a deranged and obsessive fan of horror film director Peter Swan. He would stalk Peter Swan to every convention or seminar he visited. Harlan wrote a horror movie script and asked Peter Swan to make into a movie. He insisted that it would be the "ultimate Peter Swan movie". Peter Swan was creeped out by the crazy Rook and had a restraining order issued against him.
Harlan had a mental condition known as processed schizophrenia, a condition where he had no personality of his own and instead would imitate people from books and movies because of his self-hatred. He lived in the fantasy worlds of horror movies. A year later Rook planned to frame Peter Swan and have him jailed. Harlan believed that Peter Swan stole his nightmares and made movies from them. He became very angry with Peter Swan.
Harlan Rook made his own Dead Pool List and started killing celebrities while pretending to be Peter Swan. He killed rock star Johnny Squares by poisoning him with synthetic drugs, movie critic Molly Fisher by stabbing her with his knife, and talk show host Nolan Kennard by blowing him up with a bomb. His ultimate goal was framing Swan.
He hoped that Inspector Harry Callahan would arrest Swan. In the meantime Harlan was working as a security guard for Peter Swan's movie production under the name of Ed Butler. In the end Harry found out who the real killer was. Harlan tried to kill Harry with a remote control car bomb in a car chase all over San Francisco, but failed. Rook then kidnapped news reporter Samantha Walker.
He pretended to be Peter Swan and asked for her to interview him. Rook killed her camera man and took her to the movie studio where he told her his evil scheme and wanted to interview her. When she tried to fight him he almost killed/rape her, until Harry arrives at the studio too.
In the final confrontation Harlan Rook got Harry's gun, by threatening to kill Samantha with his knife, unless Harry gave him his gun. Rook then chased after Harry and Samantha to kill them. Harry waited for Rook to run out of bullets while running away from him. After counting all the bullets Rook shot off, Harry ended up killing Rook with a harpoon gun, which left Harlan pinned to the wall. Afterwards Harry grabs his magnum back and walks away with Samantha.
He was played by David Hunt.
Trivia
- He is the final Dirty Harry villain in the franchise.
- He shares many similarities to Charles Davis (The Scorpio Killer from the first film). Both have severe mental problems that result in the deaths of innocent people. Both also work alone as they don't have any partners or henchmen work for them.
- Harlan Rook tried to look and sound like Peter Swan. He had a British accent, had his hair tied back in a ponytail, and wore a Hotel Satan crew jacket. Rook is presumably from England.
Rook gets the Hook