Harlan Rook

Harlan Rook is a fictional character from the last Dirty Harry film, The Dead Pool, played by actor David Hunt.

In the film, he is the final antagonist that Harry Callahan ends up facing in the Dirty Harry films, when it was revealed that he was the actual Dead Pool killer. Rook was impersonating film director Peter Swan (Liam Neeson) in an attempt to frame him. According to Swan, Rook was a deranged Swan fanatic, whom desired Peter Swan to direct his film which would be the ultimate low budget horror movie. D ue to excessive harassment, Peter Swan put a restraining order on Harlan Rook. From there he began his fatal impersonation of Swan. With the Dead Pool game started, Rook rigs the game and kills some of those listed on the list.

Rook fits the profile of the obsessed fan/stalker archetype, usually suffering from erotomanic disorder. Real-life counterparts include John Hinckley, Jr. and Robert John Bardo.

Not much is known about his past, except that he resided in a mental institution for some time due to suffering from multiple schizophrenia that resulted to a cruel hatred of himself. A character in The Dead Pool states that Rook often impersonated characteristics seen from movie characters, substituting them for his own behavior.

Rook fails to kill Harry Callahan with a car bomb at the climax of the movie, thus settles for reporter Samantha Walker instead; however, Callahan interferes with Rook's plan, and after a brief chase on a Peter Swan movie set where Walker was held, impales him with a harpoon.

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