Coogan's Bluff

Early American Clint Eastwood performances, as he was testing the cinematic waters after his huge success in Leone's highly influential 'The Man with No Name' trilogy of great spaghetti westerns, are such fun to watch, as he experiments and tries out different genres, deciding what direction he wants to take his career. There are such unexpected gems to behold, both acting and directing, like 'Two Mules for Sister Sara', 'Breezy', 'The Beguiled', 'Play Misty for Me', 'Where Eagles Dare' and this, where he plays the proverbial 'fish out of water', in way over his head, as a deputy sheriff from the sticks, having to find an escaped prisoner in the megalopolis of New York City, no less. The great variety of this time is such a cinematic luxury...

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

Arizona cop Walt Coogan is sent to New York to pick up an extradited prisoner. After losing him in the city he vows to bring him in anyway he can, he may be out of his jurisdiction, he may be patronised by the big city cops, but Coogan has his own way of doing things.

Often thought of as the precursor to Dirty Harry, Coogan's Bluff is a crucial entry in the genre pantheon of tough cop pictures. The fish out of water routine will forever be done to death it would seem, but back here in 1968 it still held its salt and delivers an admirably tight fusion of the big city colliding with the Western genre.

In the more than capable hands of director Don Siegel, and starring Clint Eastwood in the lea...

So boring.

'Coogans Bluff' is a terrible film. Not even Clint Eastwood can elevate it. I'm not necessarily quick to call a film sexist, but this is pretty overtly so; especially at the beginning with women at the end of the 'jokes' - whether it be sexual assault, domestic violence or even rape.

Even after all that, you're left with a seriously dull plot. Nothing of note happens for the opening chunk of the film, then when something finally does it fails to build upon it. That's the case for the whole 93 minutes, the only scene I'll remember will be the admittedly good chase scene.

Eastwood is fine in the lead role, if a little cringey. His 'duck out of water' schtick gets tiresome, as do the running jokes. I can't think of any of t...

Eastwood as an antihero cowboy cop in mid-60s Manhattan

A rural Arizona deputy sheriff (Clint Eastwood) comes to the Big Apple to extradite a prisoner (Don Stroud) while tangling with the chief detective (Lee J. Cobb) and flirting with a probation officer (Susan Clark). Tisha Sterling plays the thugs drug-addicted girlfriend.

Directed by Don Siegel, Coogans Bluff (1968) is a crime drama/thriller with bits of droll amusement (e.g. New Yorkers constantly making references to Texas, Wyatt, the O.K. Corral and the like). It inspired the TV series McCloud, which aired from 1970-1977; and also was the prototype for Siegel & Eastwoods Dirty Harry (1971). The two teamed-up for three other films: Two Mules for Sister Sara (1970), The B...