Customer Reviews

Coogan's Bluff [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

The talented team of Clintus & Sigelini (Clint Eastwood & Don Siegel) show why they paired up in so many outstanding films together with Clint Eastwood's 1968 cowboy foray into New York City !

Eastwood is the quietly spoken, straightforward Arizona lawmen Walt Coogan sent to New York City to return captured escapee James Ringerman (Don Stroud). Coogan slips up, Ringerman escapes and the hunt is on through the bars, discotheques and parks of New York City for the violent criminal. Solid character actor Lee J. Cobb, plays the frustrated New York police Lieutenant McElroy trying to keep Coogan and his rough and tumble Arizona law enforcement methods in check.

One can't help but get the feeling that "Coogans Bluff" was almost like a dry run for Clint & Don Siegel for the pair's upcoming 1971 cop thriller "Dirty Harry"....about another maverick law enforcement officer refusing to accept mediocrity !

"Coogans Bluff" is an interesting and stylish work that is still enjoyable to watch.

PS. Keep your eyes open in the sequence when Clint enters the discotheque, and they are flashing various images on the walls...you see a very quick glimpse of footage from the 1958 film "Tarantula" where Clint had a bit part as a jet pilot sent to kill the giant arachnid with napalm !!

Another great Clint Eastwood movie gets the DVD release treatment, and finds Clint playing the title role in this "rural cop in the big city" action drama. This movie paved the way for the long running and succesful (though much more benign) TV series "McCloud" starring Dennis Weaver, and deals with the cultural clash between a Sheriff from Arizona, and NYPD's finest. This is a fairly straightforward story, but handled very well by the Don Siegel in the directors chair, who went on to make other Eastwood gems such as Dirty Harry a couple of years later. Fighting off the constant stereotyping by his New York brother officers, Lt Coogan (Eastwood) is a laconic fish out of water, and has to track down and return to Arizona with escaped killer Ringerman, played by Don Stroud. Red tape, and more than a little obstruction by the locals, mainly in the form of Lee J Cobb as his opposite number add to his woes, along with being caught up in the 60's drug and crime scene. The story suffers a little from this point of view, as the hippie psychedelic portrayal looks a bit dated, but the action more than makes for this minor complaint. Plenty of pace makes the 95 minute running time zoom by, and even though the ending is more than a little familiar, it's still a very enjoyable movie. Good solid early Eastwood action with a few great moments of comedy thrown in, and a particularly clever choreograghed bar room brawl, complete with pool sticks and balls is worth seeing also, and durability on the rewatching scale makes this a solid buy for fans and newcomers alike. Enjoy

Ever since Coogan's Bluff parted from the movie theater's after 1968, it's been shown on TV and was available for a short time in VHS format.The visual as well as the audio had been severely compromised. The color was pale, dull, bland etc. and the sound was never right, thus having a negative effect with Eastwood's performance and pushing the limits of the viewer. The movie lacked the quality that you expect to see in a major movie star and from a major movie studio like Universal. Now, for the first time since 68' you can see the movie the way the Director Don Siegel wanted you to see it. Thanks to DVD, the color is restored, sharp and pleasing to the eye, the sound is clear and crisp, you can hear the actors, and let's not overlook the soundtrack by composer Lalo Schifrin. The DVD has Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1 and Dolby 2.0 Mono. Whether you've seen Coogan'Bluff before or haven't does not matter. The Top Notch restoration will give the viewing experience as if your seeing it for the first time. It's that good. Don't let this one pass you by. I've given this movie 4 Stars, the only thing that prevented it from going to 5 Stars, is that there are two scenes deleted from the film. The first is in the beginning scenes of the movie where Eastwood is with his Sheriff in the office and given an unwanted assignment to travel to New York.The other is a short exchange with Eastwood and a Doctor in the hospital. Why were these scenes left out ?

This film has aged extremely well -- a time capsule red state/blue state story of Eastwood's Arizona deputy sheriff -- "Texas" to the hard-bitten, seen-it-all New York cops, and his foray to New York City to pick up a fugitive. Eastwood's understated comic performance is spot-on, and New York of 1968 is a bizarre, mysterious melting pot, with hookers, freaks, crazies, druggies, and all manner of miscreants -- all portrayed with a wink and a nod in Don Siegal's steady hand. The scenes at New York's famous Electric Circus, and Eastwood's reaction, are priceless.

The Lalo Schifrin soundtrack is especially strong, and Lee J. Cobb's turn as the exasperated police chief adds to the fun. Good supporting roles too by Conrad Bain and Susan Clark. All in all this film is of a piece with New York films of its time, like Frank Sinatra's The Detective, Midnight Cowboy, even The Out-of-Towners. A treat.

This movie showcases Eastwood's progression from the Spaghetti westerns of the 1960's to Dirty Harry in the 1970's. Eastwood is the classic, un-politically correct (very refreshing) anti-hippie hero in this movie. Great action and great one liners ("You better drop that blade, or you won't believe what happens next, even while it's happening).

This is a "fish out of water" story. Clint Eastwood plays a deputy sheriff from rural Arizona. He is a westerner in the sense of the western movies. He is strong, confident about women and does not tolerate obstruction in any form. He has also hacked off his boss so he gets sent to New York City to extradite a prisoner. That's bad enough but this is NYC of the 60s with all of the additional strangeness brought on by that decade.

While there, he finds that picking up the prisoner is not as easy as it should be. He is bogged down by administrative procedures seeming designed to keep anyone from getting anything done. Worse, it keeps him in NYC waiting. He decides to take matters into his own hands and bluffs his way into custody of the prisoner. He is about to head back to Arizona when he gets bushwhacked and the prisoner escapes. Now he has to deal with a hostile NYCPD and track down a prisoner in very unfamiliar surroundings while the local police threaten to arrest him if he interferes any more.

This is a good but dated story. It has action but not as much as most modern movies. The chase scene seems rather tame. Still, it is about the good guy breaking the rules to bring in the bad guy. Dirty Harry would approve

I NEVER CEASE TO BE AMAZED AT THE FLEXIBILITY OF EASTWOOD'S ACTING. HE AND CHARLES BRONSON ARE TRULY GREAT ACTORS.

Clint Eastwood is Coogan. A Lawman from Arizona who goes to New York City to pick up a prisoner. Upon arriving everyone thinks he comes from Oklahoma or Texas(He wears Western clothes).

While taking the prisoner back to Arizona he looses him in the concrete canyons of New York City and tries every way to find him with or without the help of New York's finest. but gets his man in the end.

This film later became the basis of the 1970's classic television series "McCloud" which starred Dennis Weaver as a Western type lawman in the city of New York.

I first saw this movie when I was in high school some thirty years ago. I recently watched it again at the age of 38. It is still an exciting movie. An Arizona lawman comes to New York looking for a fugitive who has escaped. The Arizona native immediately has trouble with the wild west tactics of Coogan.He still continues on despite these problems.Coogan covers every section of the seedy side of New York in his pursuit of Don Stroud. During all of this chase he is steadilt rubbing the New

York police establishment the wrong way. Eventually the Arizona lawman bags his quarry. This is a good action movie.It has a good plot and the actors and actresses are also very good. This is a movie to see.

The second Don Siegel movie from 1968 about a cop in NYC hunting the killer who stole his gun. (Paging Dr. Freud.) This one has some of the same cast as Madigan, but it's more set-bound and has a T.V. movie feel. Not to mention the instantly dated hippie scenes. (Plus, it's hard to feel much menace when one of the principal heavies is played by David Doyle!) It's odd to think that Clint didn't always enjoy a solid reputation as an actor, because he's easily better than anyone else here.

And note the motorcycle chase through the Cloisters that foreshadows Black Rain.