Trivia: When the film was released, Axl Rose told the crowd at Hilton Coliseum, Ames, IA, on 27th July 1988, not to waste their money and see "The Dead Pool," despite being in the film. Confirmable by listening to the show.
Trivia: When Jim Carrey auditioned for the film, he did not do any scenes from it. He did his Las Vegas Elvis show. Eastwood and others in the room could not stop laughing.
Trivia: Members of the band Guns N Roses appear in this film. They're visible in the funeral scene, and they are working on the boat when the director fires the man. Slash, the band's guitarist, is the one who fires the harpoon through the window.
Trivia: This is the only movie in the "Dirty Harry" series not to feature Albert Popwell, an actor who had played a different character in each of the previous four movies. He was unavailable due to a scheduling conflict.
Trivia: Axl Rose, Duff, Slash, and Steven from Guns N' Roses have uncredited cameos in a few scenes.
Chosen answer: Under those circumstances, when someone has just committed an extreme act to protect themselves it would be hard to claim that the third shooting was deliberate murder, that he was thinking normally, and that there was no further danger. From Callahan's perspective, he might have believed the shooter was not actually fleeing and still posed a threat if he came back.
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