The Dead Pool in the context of "Neo-noir"

Inspector Harold Francis "Dirty Harry" Callahan (born October 3, 1930) is a fictional character and the protagonist of the Dirty Harry film series, which consists of Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). Callahan is portrayed by Clint Eastwood in each film.

From his debut, Callahan became the template for a new kind of film cop: an antihero who does not hesitate to cross professional boundaries in pursuit of his own vision of justice, especially when the law is poorly served by an inept, incompetent bureaucracy.

Dirty Harry is an American action thriller film series featuring San Francisco Police Department Homicide Division Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. The five films are: Dirty Harry (1971), Magnum Force (1973), The Enforcer (1976), Sudden Impact (1983), and The Dead Pool (1988). Clint Eastwood portrayed Callahan in all five films and directed Sudden Impact.

Callahan is notorious for his unorthodox, violent, and ruthless methods against the criminals and killers he is assigned to apprehend. At the same time, he is assigned a partner who is usually either killed or seriously injured during the film.Clint Eastwood was the only actor to have appeared in all five films.

William John Neeson OBE (born 7 June 1952) is a Northern Irish actor. He has received several accolades, including nominations for an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award, three Golden Globe Awards, two Tony Awards and one Volpi Cup. With a film career spanning more than forty years, Neeson is regarded as one of Ireland's greatest film actors. Films in which he has appeared have grossed over $11.7 billion worldwide. Neeson was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 2000.

Neeson made his film debut in 1978 with Pilgrim's Progress followed by early roles in Excalibur (1981), The Bounty (1984), The Mission (1986), The Dead Pool (1988), and Husbands and Wives (1992). He rose to prominence portraying Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's Holocaust drama Schindler's List (1993) for which he earned an Academy Award for Best Actor nomination. He played leading man roles in drama films such as Nell (1994), Rob Roy (1995), Michael Collins (1996), and Les Misérables (1998). He took blockbuster roles portraying Qui-Gon Jinn in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), Ra's al Ghul in Batman Begins (2005), and Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia trilogy (2005–2010).

Dirty Harry is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Police Department (SFPD) Inspector "Dirty" Harry Callahan. The film drew upon the real-life case of the Zodiac Killer as the Callahan character seeks out a similar vicious psychopath.

Dirty Harry was a critical and commercial success and set the style for a whole genre of police films. It was followed by four sequels: Magnum Force in 1973, The Enforcer in 1976, Sudden Impact in 1983, and The Dead Pool in 1988.

Wayne "Buddy" Van Horn (August 20, 1928 – May 11, 2021) was an American stunt coordinator and film director. He directed the Clint Eastwood films Any Which Way You Can (1980), The Dead Pool (1988), and Pink Cadillac (1989). A long-time stunt double for Eastwood, he was credited as the stunt coordinator on Eastwood's films from 1972 to 2011, and as second unit director on Magnum Force (1973) and The Rookie (1990). He was sometimes credited as Wayne Van Horn in the 1980s. He earlier doubled for Guy Williams on Disney's Zorro, and Gregory Peck. Van Horn's most prominent onscreen appearance is the role of Marshal Jim Duncan in the Eastwood film High Plains Drifter (1973). Van Horn died in Los Angeles on May 11, 2021, at the age of 92.