"No, don't pass out on me now cop! No, no, no, no, no. Don't pass out on me yet, you dirty, rotten oinker! Do we understand each other? You better answer me, if you want to know where the girl is. Okay? Now listen... I've changed my mind. I'm going to let her die! I just wanted you to know that. You hear me? I just wanted you to know that before I killed you!" Goodbye, Callahan!"
Charles "Scorpio" Davis is the main antagonist in the film Dirty Harry.
Davis, going by the moniker "Scorpio" was a serial killer who decided to extort the City of San Francisco by killing people.
He was portrayed by Andy Robinson.
History[]
According to the novelization, Davis was born in Springfield, Massachusetts on November 14, 1938. He killed his parents and younger sister when he was 14, and was subsequently institutionalized. Davis escaped from the mental institution 5 years later, breaking a nurse's neck in the process.
Dirty Harry[]
Scorpio first appears at the beginning of the film, where he uses a sniper rifle to kill a woman swimming in a pool. He then leaves a note of his demands for the police.
When Harry Callahan arrives at the crime scene he finds the note. Scorpio demands that he be paid $100,000, or he will kill a Catholic priest or an African-American person.
Later, a helicopter patrol spots Scorpio as he is about to kill a black man with his sniper rifle. Scorpio is prevented from killing, but manages to escape.
Much later, Scorpio kills a ten-year-old black boy by blowing his face off with the gun. The police then set a trap for Scorpio.
Since Scorpio said he would kill a Catholic priest, Harry and his partner Chico Gonzalez stake out on the church rooftop at night, waiting for Scorpio to arrive. Scorpio arrives with the intention of killing a priest and is caught off guard when Harry begins shooting at him. Scorpio and Harry shoot at each other, but Scorpio manages to escape and murders a police officer in the process.
Scorpio, enraged at the police, kidnapped a 14-year-old girl named Ann Mary Deacon, whom he then proceeded to rape and bury alive at Fort Point. He demands double the ransom and "no funny business", or else he will let Ann slowly suffocate to death. The police were able to identify that she has really been kidnapped, because Scorpio sent them part of her bra, a sample of her hair, and one of her teeth that he pulled out with pliers.
The police department gathered a bag filled with thousands of dollars in paper currency and Harry volunteered to be the bag man. Chico accompanied Harry. During that night, Scorpio had Harry run from phone booth to phone booth to make sure Harry was alone and not bringing back-up. Chico and Harry kept in contact with earpiece communicators and Chico kept out of sight from Scorpio. When Harry met Scorpio face to face, Scorpio began beating up Harry. Scorpio betrayed his promise that he would let Ann go and would now kill Harry. Luckily, Gonzalez showed up to rescue Harry, but ended up getting wounded by a shot from Scorpio, but survived. Harry stabbed Scorpio in the leg with a switchblade knife, yet Scorpio escaped again.
However, Scorpio now had a permanent limp and ran in a strange manner. The doctor who treated Scorpio's leg wound revealed where Scorpio lived. Harry went to the football stadium and chased Scorpio.
He interrogated Scorpio by stepping on his wounded leg so he would tell where Ann was buried. Sadly, she was discovered dead. Scorpio was released from custody, because his rights were violated and Harry ‘illegally’ entered the area. Scorpio made sure Harry wouldn't follow him anymore by paying a thug to brutally beat him up. That way he made it look like Harry had been harassing him and would get him off his back. Scorpio's last plan was hijacking a school bus and holding the children hostage.
To cheer the children up, he tells them to come up with a song, singing "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" along with them. Harry disobeyed the mayor and chief and went to ruin Scorpio's plan. He intercepted the bus and jumped onto its roof as it went under a railroad trestle! Scorpio crashed the bus and the two had a brief shootout at a gravel quarry.
Death[]
Scorpio then saw a boy fishing and quickly held him hostage. He demanded that Harry put the gun down. Harry pretended to put it down, but then quickly raised his revolver and shot Scorpio in the arm. As Harry approached the wounded killer he told him he lost count of how many shots he fired and asked if he would risk the chance of trying to kill Harry. Scorpio thought a moment and then grabbed his gun and laughed maniacally. Harry immediately shot and killed Scorpio and Scorpio fell into a pond. Harry watched Scorpio's dead body float away and then threw his police badge at the dead body.
Weapons[]
- 7.7mm Arisaka Type 2 Paratrooper Takedown rifle.
- MP40.
- Walther P38 (Luger in the novelization).
Trivia[]
- Although the novelization gave him a backstory, Andy Robinson provided one of his own: Scorpio was a soldier who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, and suffered from PTSD from the horrors of war, and went completely insane from the horrific treatment soldiers received after returning from the war, so he resorted to extortion to get back at the government.
- Andy Robinson flinched every time he fired a gun because he didn't like guns.
- Scorpio shares the same last name as Officer John Davis in Magnum Force, one of the sociopathic vigilante cops; there is no relation between the two.
- In the fifth Dirty Harry film The Dead Pool, there is an old newspaper article that references Scorpio when Samantha Walker is at a bar with Harry Callahan.
- In the end credits, Scorpio is only credited as "Killer".
- After the release of Dirty Harry, Andrew Robinson received several death threats, and had to get an unlisted phone number.
Gallery[]
