Coogan's Bluff (1968)

I willshop here again.

The movies came when promised, were in excellent shape, and I have no complaints about the service at all. August 19, 2008

Clint in the City

The second Don Siegel movie from 1968 about a cop in NYC hunting the killer who stole his gun. (Paging Dr. Freud.) This one was 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. May 21, 2008

The Pigeon Toed Orange Peel

Coogan's Bluff DVD

Clint Eastwood stars as an Arizona deputy sheriff sent to New York City to extradite a prisoner back to Arizona to stand trial. Of course he's successful in the end, when is he not?

The interesting thing about Eastwood is the number of lesser known actors and actresses that he carries from one of his movies to another. Is this Eastwood or just chance?

Highly recommended for fans of Clint Eastwood. This movie will give you a good look at "early Eastwood". It was made in 1968, forty years ago.

Gunner March, 2008

March 7, 2008

Classy Entertainment

This very good film is worth seeing for a number of reasons:
Firstly it is directed by Don Siegel who earlier in his career directed the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers and then went on to make a string of minor classics (Charley Varrick, The Shootist, The Beguiled) and later would direct the first Dirty Harry movie. Don Siegel was a major influence on Clint Eastwood as a director and if you've seen the above films you'll know why. If you haven't seen them they are all strongly recommended.

The second reason to see this is Clint Eastwood. As an actor he was just beginning to hit his golden period, and this film, where he plays Coogan, a deputy Sheriff who is sent to escort a dangerous prisoner, gives him the oppurtunity to show why he was the biggest box office star for years and years. A lot of credit must also go to Lee J Cobb who almost steals the film from Eastwood, playing Det McElroy the city cop with little time or patience for Coogan. However in the end it is Eastwood's performance that wins out, if only because he gets to deliver some laconic lines in classic style.

Some of the scenes from the nightclub (not to mention the music) look rather dated now (1968 was the height of flower power etc), but this is a well acted, action-packed and sometimes funny film that is well worth getting.
September 7, 2007

Seems to be edited

Limp movie by today's standards, with jarring switches from locations in NY to obvious Universal studios backlot. Very TV movie in its look and overuse of extreme closeups. A view of the 60's counterculture that didn't even ring true then. I also seem to recall that when I saw this in the 60's that Susan Clark points out the actual Coogan's Bluff (a real natural landmark in NY) to Eastwood's character during their scene above the Cloisters. She tells a little story about it, tying it to the character's "bluff" about how tough he is. If I am recalling correctly, that scene has been clumsily trimmed out on this DVD. Note how in one shot Eastwood is wearing his hat, but in the very next one it is off. At that point the dialogue appears to jump from one subject to an entirely different one. Without this scene the title doesn't even make sense anymore April 13, 2007

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