"Go ahead, make my day" is a

catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...

from the 1983 film ''

Sudden Impact ''Sudden Impact'' is a 1983 American action-thriller film, the fourth in the ''Dirty Harry'' series, directed, produced by, and starring Clint Eastwood (making it the only ''Dirty Harry'' film to be directed by Eastwood himself) and co-starri ...

'', spoken by the character Harry Callahan, played by

Clint Eastwood Clinton Eastwood Jr. (born May 31, 1930) is an American actor and film director. After achieving success in the Western (genre), Western TV series ''Rawhide (TV series), Rawhide'', Eastwood rose to international fame with his role as the "Ma ...

. The iconic line was written by

John Milius John Frederick Milius (; born April 11, 1944) is an American screenwriter and film director. He is considered a member of the New Hollywood generation of filmmakers. He rose to prominence in the early 1970s for writing the scripts for ''The L ...

, whose writing contributions to the film were uncredited, but has also been attributed to Charles B. Pierce, who wrote the film's story, and to Joseph Stinson, who wrote the screenplay. In 2005, it was chosen as No. 6 on the

American Film Institute The American Film Institute (AFI) is an American nonprofit film organization that educates filmmakers and honors the heritage of the History of cinema in the United States, motion picture arts in the United States. AFI is supported by private fu ...

list AFI's 100 Years...100 Movie Quotes.

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 Vice Squad are an English punk rock band formed in 1979 in Bristol. The band was formed from two other local punk bands, The Contingent and TV Brakes. The songwriter and vocalist Beki Bondage (born Rebecca Bond) was a founding member of the b ...

''. In that scene, a detective, Tom Walsh ( Gary Swanson), while arresting a pimp named 'Ramrod' (

Wings Hauser Gerald Dwight "Wings" Hauser (December 12, 1947 – March 15, 2025) was an American actor, screenwriter, film director and musician. A prolific character actor, he appeared in over 100 film and television productions since 1967, and was once cal ...

), puts his gun up to the side of Ramrod's mouth and says "Come on scumbag, make your move... and make my day!"

Summary of the scene in ''Sudden Impact''

At the beginning of the movie, Harry Callahan (

) goes into a

diner A diner is a type of restaurant found across the United States and Canada, as well as parts of Western Europe and Australia. Diners offer a wide range of cuisine, mostly American cuisine, a casual atmosphere, and, characteristically, a comb ...

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 A shotgun (also known as a scattergun, peppergun, or historically as a fowling piece) is a long gun, long-barreled firearm designed to shoot a straight-walled cartridge (firearms), cartridge known as a shotshell, which discharges numerous small ...

at Harry's lover, Jennifer Spencer (

Sondra Locke Sandra Louise Anderson (née Smith; May 28, 1944 – November 3, 2018), professionally known as Sondra Locke, was an American actress and director. An alumna of Middle Tennessee State University, Locke broke into regional show business with ass ...

Influence

Country singer T. G. Sheppard recorded a novelty song with Eastwood titled " Make My Day" which featured Eastwood reciting the line. When speaking out against taxes at the 1985 American Business Conference, President

Ronald Reagan Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...

, 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.'" In "White Heat", from the 1986 album '' True Blue'',

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone ( ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. Referred to as the "Queen of Pop", she has been recognized for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, ...

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 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 speech at the 2012 Republican National Convention, Eastwood ended by referencing the line. In February 2015, ''

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British newspaper published weekly in printed magazine format and daily on Electronic publishing, digital platforms. It publishes stories on topics that include economics, business, geopolitics, technology and culture. M ...

'' featured the headline "Go ahead, Angela, make my day" in reference to the

European debt crisis The euro area crisis, often also referred to as the eurozone crisis, European debt crisis, or European sovereign debt crisis, was a multi-year debt crisis and financial crisis in the European Union (EU) from 2009 until, in Greece, 2018. The e ...

. "Stand-your-ground" statutes referring to a person's right to self-defense are sometimes referred to as "make my day" statutes. Swap Force 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.

References

External links

AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Movie Quotes

Can you remember these famous movies quotes? (video quiz)
{{Clint Eastwood Quotations from film Dirty Harry 1983 introductions English phrases American political catchphrases 1983 quotations