Coogan's Bluff [DVD]

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Arizona based 'Deputy Sheriff 'Walter Coogan' (Clint Eastwood) a smooth talking cop with an eye for a pretty lady isassigned the task of collecting a prisoner from New York, a murderer.Expecting a quick turnaround he finds that he'll have to wait around for a day or two, the prisoner 'Jimmy Ringerman'(Don Stroud) is currently hospitalised.It also seems according to the N.Y precinct Lieutenant 'McElroy' (Lee J Cobb) that there will be a list of procedures tofollow to extradite the prisoner into 'Coogan's' custody.'McElroy' and 'Coogan's' paths will cross quite frequently along the way.With time on his hands 'Coogan' makes a play for 'Julie Roth' (Susan Clark) who he meets in the precinct, she works inprobation department.'Coogan' isn't one for hanging around, he illegally takes 'Ringerman' out of the hospital making out he had orders fromthe local authority to do so, his plans are to fly back to Arizona with is prisoner as soon as he can, however, 'Ringerman'is sprung at the airport, 'Coogan' overpowered by the murderer's friends.Though ordered back to Arizona, 'Coogan' is going nowhere unless he as his prisoner in tow, 'McElory' insists that theArizona cop leaves the recapture to his department,.In a strange town with great danger to himself 'Coogan' sets about the task, unofficially of course, to recapture 'Ringerman'himself.Perhaps a little dated, however it is 'Clint Eastwood' with his usual laid-back style and a collection of one-liners and his on-screen talent for getting into a scrap or two, this is an enjoyable offering, a must for 'Eastwood' fans.An 'okay' Blu-ray upgrade.

‘Coogan’s Bluff’ was released on Blu-ray by Universal in 2015.Picture quality was about the same (excellent), but that was a bare-bones edition without bonus features.The new Blu-ray from Kino-Lorber is the Deluxe edition:-- Two audio commentaries.-- Newly filmed interview with actor Don Stroud, who plays the villain.-- 1968 featurette with Clint Eastwood.-- Clint Eastwood theatrical trailers.-- English SDH subtitles.‘Coogan’s Bluff’ was filmed in New York City over seven weeks in Nov-Dec 1967.Several scenes were filmed atop the Pan-Am Building, an iconic skyscraper built above Grand Central Station.Now known as the Met-Life Building (boo).For a brief period in the 1960s, Pan-American Airways operated helicopter flights between the roof of the building and Kennedy Airport.Super-Cool, but highly controversial.Due to safety concerns, the helicopter flights were discontinued in February 1968, making Clint Eastwood one of the few people who actually used the service.Scenes were filmed inside the helicopter, on the 60th floor landing strip, and in the Pan-Am lounge (where the bad guys ambush Clint).Helicopter service was briefly resumed in February 1977, but a crash two months later beheaded five passengers, which brought a premature end to the experiment.Still cool.‘Coogan’s Bluff’ was the second film Eastwood made after his return from Europe (The first was ‘Hang ‘em High’).‘Coogan’s Bluff’ was the first Eastwood film directed by Don Siegel.It is almost a prequel to the Dirty Harry movies that he and Eastwood would make together beginning in 1971.Clint is an Arizona deputy sent to New York to escort a criminal back for trial.His attitude toward the criminal justice system is identical to Harry Callahan’s.Highly recommended.

Don Siegel just shoots the film. Nothing fancy, nothing insightful, nothing of artistic merit. The camera devours the necessary shots, and the story chugs on of its own volition. A template for the 1970's TV series McCloud, this film presages the coming of the original terminator, Dirty Harry, a few years late. Of course, Clint kills no one in the film, although he does attend a wild party (wish I'd'a been there) searching through the wilderness of 1960's NTYC searching for someone who did something bad in Arizona. He breaks rules, uses women, beats up thugs, wears a cowboy hat, makes Lee J. Cobb upset, and rides off in a helicopter in the end. Compared to moderns films, such as say, John Wick, this film is tame, a tad boring, and the deficiencies of Siegal's direction come off rather poorly in comparison. Now more an historical document, the joys are seeing a vanished New York and a younger Clint.

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

The DVD has a good quality transfer, colour, ratio (bars top and bottom) and sound with good subtitles. It's Clint in full Clint mode. Steeley eyed, a lover of women (Susan Clark and Tisha Sterling), Fighting gangs of thugs, riding around on a motorbike chasing a veryy OTT Don Stroud. It's Clint and action macho man Don Siegal for heaven's sake. Like John Wayne you could rely on Clint for all the above, though later he did ring some changes (quite a few actually, just remembering some as I type - Too many now I think about it to name, so yes, more versatile, perhaps than Mr Wayne). This is a fine example of relatively early Clint. 90 mins of action sex, chases and fights. Good stuff. Recomended for a lockdown viewing.

It's a rare thing to say about Clint Eastwoods work, but this did not work well for me. I couldn't help but think much of the time of the tv spin off version McCloud with Dennis Weaver which I ,loved in the 1970's. In this I think Clint was still finding his feet and what worked for him and I found the female interaction scenes awkward and almost forced. I turned it off after about 30 mins and would not chose to watch it again.

Another great movie from clint as always none stop action from start to Finnish.

I have seen this film countless times since I was a young boy in the 1970's [it's great!]. All those years I thought the title reflected something about the name of Clint Eastwood's character and the plot. I find out this year from Wikipedia it's actually named after a location in New York; where some scenes in the film were shot. Which other of my beliefs are equally misguided? It's bloody annoying.

The first hour is so enjoyable: a young yet stil rough Clint Eastwood. A brilliant workmate like Lee J Cobb (always fabulous), a story all played around the contrast between tradition and modernity, county and city (I'm not from TExas, I'm from Arizona"). In the second half you realize that's the core of the movie, and not the action or the crime side. So, when it comes to catching the bad guy, the movies goes a little down. But it's still good old Siegel!