Coogan's Bluff (1968)

Written by John Chard on March 5, 2019

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