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 to peruse and discover for oneself. Mine came in the humongous '35 Years 35 Films', and there have been even larger compendiums more recently. They all offer fine value to the discerning cinephile. It's great fun seeing Lee J. Cobb and Susan Clark (when she was really irresistible), and you can never go wrong with director Siegel, who, along with the aforementioned Leone, were the greatest influences on the American icon who at that time was blossoming into his own, the San Franciscan-born Eastwood. Definitely worth owning and rewatching.

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 lead, Coogan's Bluff is fully aware of the time frame and the changes occurring in late 1960s America. Witness a marvellous scene as Coogan trawls through a dayglow orange psychedelia club. Meeting pimps, crooks and hippies are all par for the course for Coogan, and of course the women find the cowboy dapper Coogan worthy of further inspection, all that and a cigar chomping Lee J. Cobb as tough Det. Lt. McElroy help to make Coogan's Bluff a very enjoyable picture. Now about those boots Walt? 7/10