View source for Go ahead, make my day

{{Short description|Film catchphrase in 1983's Sudden Impact}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox movie quote
| name                    = Go ahead, make my day
| image                   = Hollywood blvd Clint Eastwood.jpg
| imagesize               = 300px
| caption                 = A concrete relief of a pair of Clint Eastwood's handprints and a writing of "You made my day" at the Hollywood Boulevard
| character               = [[Harry Callahan (character)|"Dirty" Harry Callahan]]
| actor                   = [[Clint Eastwood]]
| creator                 = [[Joseph Stinson]]
| firstusedin             = ''[[Sudden Impact]]''
| moviequotes             = #6
}}
{{Clint Eastwood series}}
"'''Go ahead, make my day'''" is a [[catchphrase]] from the 1983 film ''[[Sudden Impact]]'', spoken by the character [[Harry Callahan (character)|Harry Callahan]], played by [[Clint Eastwood]]. The iconic line was written by [[John Milius]],<ref>{{cite news |last1=Segal |first1=Gregg |title=Hollywood Signs |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XF8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22go+ahead+make+my+day%22+milius&pg=PA102 |access-date=2022-07-31 |work=[[Los Angeles (magazine)|Los Angeles]] |date=March 2000 |page=102}}</ref> whose writing contributions to the film were uncredited, but has also been attributed to [[Charles B. Pierce]], who wrote the film's story,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cochran |first1=Robert |last2=McCray |first2=Suzanne |title=Lights! Camera! Arkansas! From Broncho Billy to Billy Bob Thornton |date=2015 |publisher=University of Arkansas Press |isbn=9781557286727 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CDNLCgAAQBAJ |access-date=2022-07-31}}</ref> and to [[Joseph Stinson]], who wrote the screenplay.<ref>{{cite book |editor1-last=Knowles |editor1-first=Elizabeth |title=The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations |date=1999 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=0198601735 |page=311 |edition=5th |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o6rFno1ffQoC&dq=%22go+ahead+make+my+day%22+milius&pg=PA311 |access-date=2022-07-31}}</ref> In 2005, it was chosen as No. 6 on the [[American Film Institute]] list [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes]].<ref>"[http://www.afi.com/100years/quotes.aspx Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn]", [[AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes]], [[American Film Institute]].</ref>

== Origins ==

=== Background ===
The phrase "make my day" had already been similarly uttered a year earlier in a lesser-known movie from 1982 titled ''[[Vice Squad (1982 film)|Vice Squad]]''. In that scene, a detective, Tom Walsh ([[Gary Swanson]]), while arresting a pimp named 'Ramrod' ([[Wings Hauser]]), puts his gun up to the side of Ramrod's mouth and says "Come on scumbag, make your move... and make my day!"<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084861/quotes|title = Quotes from "Vice Squad"| website=[[IMDb]] }}</ref>

=== Summary of the scene in ''Sudden Impact'' ===
At the beginning of the movie, Harry Callahan ([[Clint Eastwood]]) goes into a [[diner]] for a morning cup of coffee where he discovers a robbery in progress. He kills all but one of the robbers in a shootout. However, the surviving robber grabs the fleeing waitress Loretta ([[Mara Corday]]), holds his gun to her head, and threatens to shoot. Instead of backing off, Harry points his [[.44 Magnum]] revolver into the man's face and dares him to shoot, saying with clenched teeth and in his characteristic rough grumble, "Go ahead, make my day,'" meaning that if the robber attempts to harm Loretta in any way, Harry would be happy to dispatch the robber. At the end of the film, Harry, again, says "Come on, make my day" just before shooting Mick the rapist, who aims his stolen [[shotgun]] at Harry's lover, Jennifer Spencer ([[Sondra Locke]]).

== Influence ==
Country singer [[T. G. Sheppard]] recorded a novelty song with Eastwood titled "[[Make My Day (T.G. Sheppard and Clint Eastwood song)|Make My Day]]" which featured Eastwood reciting the line.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Carlin |first1=Richard |title=Country Music: A Biographical Dictionary |date=2003 |publisher=Routledge |location=Abingdon, England |isbn=9780415938020 |page=368 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZjrAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22make+my+day%22+sheppard+eastwood&pg=PA368 |access-date=2022-07-31}}</ref>

When speaking out against taxes at the 1985 American Business Conference, President [[Ronald Reagan]], himself a former actor, stated "I have my veto pen drawn and ready for any tax increase that Congress might even think of sending up. And I have only one thing to say to the tax increasers: 'Go ahead—make my day.'"<ref>{{cite news|last=Church|first=George J.|title=Go Ahead – Make My Day|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964091,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080220093634/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,964091,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 20, 2008|access-date=June 18, 2012|newspaper=Time|date=March 25, 1985|author2=Sam Allis|author3=Barrett Seaman}}</ref>

In "White Heat", from the 1986 album ''[[True Blue (Madonna album)|True Blue]]'', [[Madonna (entertainer)|Madonna]] draws inspiration and samples lines from noir movie ''[[White Heat]]'' and uses the line in the chorus of the song.

The song "Action" by Finnish band [[Lovex|LOVEX]] features the line in its lyrics.

The 1991 Japanese film ''[[Godzilla vs. King Ghidorah]]'' has a character say the line in English, referencing its ubiquity.

During his [[Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican National Convention|speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention]], Eastwood ended by referencing the line.<ref>[https://www.npr.org/2012/08/30/160358091/transcript-clint-eastwoods-convention-remarks ''Transcript: Clint Eastwood's Convention Remarks'']</ref> In February 2015, ''[[The Economist]]'' featured the headline "Go ahead, [[Angela Merkel|Angela]], make my day" in reference to the [[European debt crisis]].

"Stand-your-ground" statutes referring to a person's right to self-defense are sometimes referred to as "make my day" statutes.<ref>[https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2012/03/23-other-states-have-stand-your-ground-laws-too/330234/ ''23 Other States Have 'Stand Your Ground' Laws, Too''] ProPublica  March 22, 2012.</ref>

[[Skylanders: Swap Force|Swap Force]] [[Skylanders|Skylander]] Rattle Shake's catchphrase; "Go ahead - snake my day!" is a play on this quote.

=== Italy ===
An Italian version of the phrase, ''Coraggio... fatti ammazzare'' (more literally "go ahead, get yourself killed"), was also chosen as the title for the dubbed version of the film and has become a catchphrase in Italy as well.<ref>[http://davinotti.com/index.php?f=2078] {{in lang|it}}</ref>

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== External links ==
* [https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-movie-quotes/ AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movie Quotes]
* [https://app.vidipulse.com/embed/5b9a1dd9541dea5a49e78967 Can you remember these famous movies quotes? (video quiz)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180914165523/https://app.vidipulse.com/embed/5b9a1dd9541dea5a49e78967 |date=September 14, 2018 }}

{{Dirty Harry}}
{{Clint Eastwood}}

[[Category:Quotations from film]]
[[Category:Dirty Harry]]
[[Category:1983 introductions]]
[[Category:English phrases]]
[[Category:American political catchphrases]]
[[Category:1983 quotations]]