Coogan's Bluff

Director: Don Siegel
Format: Color
Studio: Universal Studios
Video Release Date: May 23, 1995

Cast:

Clint Eastwood ... Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan
Lee J. Cobb ... Det. Lt. McElroy, NYPD
Susan Clark ... Julie Roth (probation officer)
Tisha Sterling ... Linny Raven (Ringerman's girlfriend)
Don Stroud ... James Ringerman
Betty Field ... Mrs. Ellen Ringerman
Tom Tully ... Sheriff McCrea (Piute County, Arizona)
Melodie Johnson ... Millie (Coogan's girlfriend)
James Edwards ... Sgt. Wallace (stakeout cop)
Rudy Diaz ... Running Bear
David Doyle ... Pushie (tavern owner)
Louis Zorich ... Taxi driver
Meg Myles ... Big Red
Marjorie Bennett ... Mrs. Fowler (little old lady charging rape)
Seymour Cassel ... Joe (young hood)
John Coe ... Bellboy
Skip Battyn ... Omega (customer at Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel)
Albert Popwell ... Wonderful Digby (customer at Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel)
Conrad Bain ... Madison Avenue man
James Gavin ... Ferguson

Albert Henderson ... Desk sergeant
James McCallion ... Golden Hotel room clerk
Syl Lamont ... Apartment manager
Jess Osuna ... Prison hospital guard
Jerry Summers ... Good Eyes
Antonia Rey ... Mrs. Amador
Marya Henriques ... Go-go dancer at Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel
James Dukas ... Prison hospital doctor
Larry Duran ... Zig Zag
Andy Epper ... Pool player
George Fargo ... Gay boy at Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel
Scott Hale ... Dr. Scott
Ted Jacques ... Detective
James Joyce ... Man in Pigeon-toed Orange Peel
Diki Lerner ... Gay boy at Pigeon-toed Orange Peel
James McEachin ... Man
James Oliver ... Hip typeq
Robert Osterloh ... Deputy
Clifford A. Pellow ... Waiter
Allen Pinson ... Whippy
Doug Reid ... Prison hospital guard
Al Ruban ... Detective
Don Siegel ... Elevator passenger
Kristoffer Tabori ... Elevator passenger
Clark Warren ... Plainclothesman
David Brandon ... Hippie boy
Kathleen O'Malley ... Woman
Diana Rose ... Psychedelic paint girl
Colleen Thornton ... Hippie twin
Morreen Thornton ... Hippie twin
Eve Brent ... Hooker
Constance Davis ... Mother

Arizona Deputy Sheriff Coogan (Eastwood)comes to New York City to transport a prisoner, James Ringerman (Don Stroud ) back to Arizona for a suspected murder when he runs into lack of cooperation from Det. Lt. McElroy, NYPD (Lee J. Cobb), a cynical, overworked NYPD cop used to runarounds and bureaucracy. A typical provincial New Yorker who thinks New York is the center of the universe. he continually refers to
Coogan as a "cowboy", "Tex", and other diminishing names, threatening him with jail for interference, and informing him that he is "just another private citizen." It is apparent that "private citizens" get little respect in NYC from the police.

Coogan takes it upon himself to give the NYPD a lesson in extradition, Arizona style. An entertaining way to spend a couple of hours. I recommend it, like almost any other Eastwood film.

Joseph (Joe) Pierre

author of Handguns and Freedom...their care and maintenance
and other books.

Classic Eastwood Urban Western Gets a Makeover   June 6, 2004
A.M.Boughey (Rochester, MN)
Another great Clint Eastwood movie gets the DVD release treatment, and finds Clint playing the title role in this "rural cop in the big city" action drama. This movie paved the way for the long running and succesful (though much more benign) TV series "McCloud" starring Dennis Weaver, and deals with the cultural clash between a Sheriff from Arizona, and NYPD's finest. This is a fairly straightforward story, but handled very well by the Don Siegel in the directors chair, who went on to make other Eastwood gems such as Dirty Harry a couple of years later. Fighting off the constant stereotyping by his New York brother officers, Lt Coogan (Eastwood) is a laconic fish out of water, and has to track down and return to Arizona with escaped killer Ringerman, played by Don Stroud. Red tape, and more than a little obstruction by the locals, mainly in the form of Lee J Cobb as his opposite number add to his woes, along with being caught up in the 60's drug and crime scene. The story suffers a little from this point of view, as the hippie psychedelic portrayal looks a bit dated, but the action more than makes for this minor complaint. Plenty of pace makes the 95 minute running time zoom by, and even though the ending is more than a little familiar, it's still a very enjoyable movie. Good solid early Eastwood action with a few great moments of comedy thrown in, and a particularly clever choreograghed bar room brawl, complete with pool sticks and balls is worth seeing also, and durability on the rewatching scale makes this a solid buy for fans and newcomers alike. Enjoy


Great movie!   February 13, 2004
Great movie! This review is in the VHS section because the U.S. doesn't offer the DVD (as of Feb. 2004). they cut out the scene where is gets even with the airport dudes by messing the one guy up with the pools balls in the bar. I have the DVD that is available in every $%&! country but the US it seems, and they even cut it out of the DVD (oh yeah, the new crack down on physical violence in movies. They sure didn't mind physical violence in movies before 1990). The DVD has beautiful widescreen and multiple languages. (I got the Australian version). Did you see the conquests Coogan has in this movie!
spoiler alert* don't read if you haven't seen the movie
First he has a go at a married woman ("is he home?") then he
has a go with the bad guys girlfriend! All the while pursing a hot brunette, and even turning down a naked club girl whose knockers bump off his hat as she flies into his arms!


Enjoyable urban western   July 11, 2001
TheIrrationalMan (Basildon, United Kingdom)
An Arizona law enforcer, Eastwood, tracks a fugitive to the urban jungle of New York and estranges detectives with his unconventional strategy and cowboy tactics. The film delivers a number of thrills and humorous moments as Eastwood, at home in his role, lets loose on all cylinders in his pursuit of the bad guys. The film, directed by Donald Siegel, is a prototype of the more brutal "Dirty Harry", which was also directed by Siegel, featuring Eastwood as an overviolent rogue cop, "Dirty" Harry Callahan, and was the inspiration for the hit TV series "McCloud", with its New York cowboy hero on horseback.