Meu Nome é Coogan

In this breakout year when films could dump most of their restrictions, this inspiration for the hit television series McCloud, dumped a couple and went the low road on a few things.

The language still was pretty tame but it had a big-time sleazy atmosphere with a bunch of unlikeable characters. Susan Clark played a lot of these kind of roles in the late '60s to about 1980. Clint Eastwood and Don Stroud are the male leads and Eastwood fits the mold as a tough Arizona lawman going to New York City to bring back an escaped convict. This kind of set of the stage, I think, for his Dirty Harry series which began a couple of years after this.

The story moves well and has some good action scenes, but, man, you can tell it is the late '60s and no longer the "classic era" in Hollywood with the nudity and no one with any moral standards.

The film borrows from the older city crime dramas adding a new twist, Eastwood's character, a police lieutenant from Arizona who will use any means to apprehend his prey. This film, shot on a relativley tight budget in New York City, captures the dark side of New York City in the late 60's, amidst the "free love" atmosphere. Particularly notable are the sharp fight sequences, the amazing sequence at the "Pidgeon Toed Orange Peel" dance club, and the chase sequence at the Cloisters. This film inspired the "Dirty Harry" series, and also paved the way for cowboy in the big city flicks such as "Midnight Cowboy" (and there are a few interesting resemblances). An overall exciting picture that should keep your interest.

It would be easy to dismiss this movie as lightweight entertainment however this is a much more interesting film if for no other reason than it is the first pairing of Siegel and Eastwood one of the most interesting partnerships in cinema that between 1968 and 1971 produced four good movies and at least one classic, "Dirty Harry". In this film Clint forged a bridge between his cowboy persona and the contemporary characters that he went on to play. While it was released to theatres the frame compositions look better in 4;3 TV ratio suggesting that like another Siegel film, "The Killers" this was produced with TV in mind and released to cinemas when the quality of the piece became apparent. I think this might explain why it has taken so long for a 1.85 transfer to be released and why the quality of the DVD is so poor, full frame prints look fine. Also the use of what looks like pre-standing sets gives it a low budget TV feel. With "Play Misty for me" Clint became a director and Siegel appeared as an actor thus the partnership was ended, the pupil became the master. Clints style as a director owes much to Siegel and he still has the economy which was a hallmark of Siegels work. Another partnership that began in this film was with actor Albert Popwell who went on to appear with Clint in the first four Dirty Harry movies,portraying a different role in each film. So as an Eastwood or a Siegel fan this is a must see pivotal movie and contains much of their trade mark craft even on a low budget. Don Stroud is as ever a bonus as is Susan Clark.

Coogans Bluff (1968)

Plot In A Paragraph: Coogan (Eastwood) an Arizona deputy, goes to New York City to escort a fugitive back into custody.

Before Hang Em High had been released, Eastwood had set to work on this movie, a project which saw him reunite with Universal Studios after an offer of $1 million, more than doubling his previous salary.

The thing I like most about this movie was it's tag line "Clint Eastwood gives New York 24 hours to get out of town"

Outside of saying it's the first time Clint worked with Don Siegel, there is not much to say here, it's a pretty generic fish out of water cop movie. We do get a decent motorbike chase at the end, with Clint visibly doing his own stunts. His character seemed a bit like James Bond early on, in that he handcuffs a prisoner to a porch so he can go and have sex with a woman. Once again we get early shades of Dirty Harry in Clint's character, as Coogan does not have much respect for his superiors or the rules and prefers to go it alone. Future Dirty Harry actor Albert Popwell has a small role here too.

Coogan's Bluff continued the trend of each Eastwood movie grossing less than the last, with a $3 million domestic gross.

Coogan's Bluff ranks as one of my favorite Eastwood films. Partly because of the time period & location which the story takes place. It's an excellent period piece. Late 1960's New York city in all it's Glory. I live in NYC and it's was nice to see the Pan Am Building in the backdrop. It's now the Met Life building. The Pan Am building was also the location of the final scene where the helicopter takes off.

The other reason I like this movie is that Eastwood is essentially playing Dirty Harry before Dirty Harry. Coogan is just like Harry Calahan without the 44. magnum. The story is solid but it's the locales and the situations that Coogan finds himself in that sell the movie. Who cares of it's dated? Of course it's dated but that's part of the experience. Actually most movies made more than 20 years ago (or less) are dated. If you look at it in the context of the time it was made then you'll enjoy it. Ignore the negative reviews and check it out.