how does it still have such a high rating? it aged horribly

Who's "Zodiac"?

Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right.

Ferris209 gave you a point by point breakdown of your argument (which you didn't address). These scenes are not as ridiculous as you are making them out to be. There was very little implausibility in Dirty Harry compared to what you are saying.

WHAT? This film was and is 9/10 to anyone with taste.

This film is a classic.

1, Even when they find someone via helicopter, that doesn't guarantee their capture, even in real life police don't catch everyone.

2, Refer to first point.

3, Why would they do that on their own, because that's what they were ordered to do, the mayor decided to give in and pay Scorpio.

4, Because a girls life was at stake and Scorpio clearly wasn't willing to talk unless he was forced.

5, It's not just a knife, it's an Italian stiletto switchblade, you know the one where you push the button and the blade flicks out, it's most commonly associated with criminals, so he's disgusted at the fact that Harry knows how to use a weapon most used by the "enemy"

6, Scorpio had a bus full of kids and was threatening to kill them if he didn't get his money and a safe way out, the mayor was simply giving him his word that Scorpio would be untouched in order to not give him any reasons to start killing kids.

7, Scorpio says he'd kill a Catholic priest, so they go to a Catholic church.

Harry "magically" appears in front of the bus because they know where they're going so he simply drives ahead of them and gets on a bridge he knows they'll pass.

Exactly, he's a doctor, naturally people will want to go to the closest doctor available, so yes the doctor would be able to identify someone who lives very close to the office.

8, How are scenes that set up Harry's and Scorpio's characters unnecessary? It's character development, without those scenes, Harry would be just another detective with a big gun and Scorpio would be just another nut case who threatens to kill unless paid not to.

As for what he's doing, he's passing time while waiting for Scorpio to show up.

Unless by peeping Tom scene you mean the one where him and Gonzales were following the tan suitcase and it turns out that it's just full of lingerie, they're told to look out for a tan suitcase so they had to find out what was in it even if it meant being a peeping Tom in the process.

8, Because the evidence was inadmissible in court due to the conditions that it was obtained, Harry conducted an illegal search of Scorpio's hideout, interrogated him without legal counsel present and tortured a confession out of him, according to the law they had to let him go due to having virtually no evidence against him even though they all knew he was in fact guilty, the only really unrealistic thing they did was let him go without putting him under watch.

9, His backstory is that he was a Vietnam vet who saw horrible things in the war, came back and saw how soldiers were treated and went insane, insane people tend to act...well not so right in the head so the overacting is well placed.

You clearly missed the entire point of the film completely, it's about the frustrations that are caused from the legal system caring more for the rights of criminals than they do for the rights of the victims and how a cop (Harry) who holds the victims rights in a higher regard than the criminals rights, tries to do his job the way he feels it should be done while dealing with those frustrations. And in that sense, the film still holds up just as well as it did when it first came out.

I'd give Dirty Harry 9/10.

I love the music, the use of locations and the overall atmosphere of the film. It's also one of my favourite Clint Eastwood performances and Andrew Robinson is brilliant as Scorpio.

this movie is wonderful, still good in today standard, top 3 crime thriller of all time

First off why would Harry admit to breaking and entering in his original police report knowing fully well that he didn't have a warrant then, especially an experienced cop like him. He caught Scorpio in the open stadium trying to make a run for it and shot him in the leg to prevent that. There is no other evidence or witness other than his partner and it's quite likely he would backup Harry's story rather than the obvious psychopath. And about torturing Scorpio to get information about the girl, he didn't have to admit that either, who would they believe, the police officer or the serial killer with loads of evidence against him like the gun used in previous killings including one dead cop and one injured, the knife wound inflicted by Harry, no alibi, possible witnesses..