← Back to Reviews
in
Plot – Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan (Eastwood) is sent to New York to collect a prisoner, James Ringerman (Stroud). When he arrives however he is informed that the prisoner is not ready for transport; he's laid up recovering from an LSD overdose. To try and speed up the process he decides to cut a few corners. While doing so however the prisoner escapes, leaving Coogan injured. Despite being ordered off the case and back to Arizona his pride won't allow him to return home empty handed, so he heads out into the big city to track down the prisoner.
It's very hard not to see this film's plot as a metaphor for Eastwood's 'coming out' to mainstream Hollywood. The way that his character, Deputy Sheriff Coogan, leaves the Arizona desert for the big city really feels like a statement from Clint that he is ready to move out of the spaghetti western genre which established him into American productions. The former Man With No Name is now ready to make, and have a name (and yes I just went with a line that corny!
) It's also quite a safe vehicle for Eastwood as he is able to retain his western persona of a gruff, monosyllabic outlaw/lawman. The film really is like a stepping stone between the western genre that established him, and the cop thriller genre were he arguably would gain even greater recognition and fame. It's only a small step from here to the disgruntled, brutal cop that is Harry Callahan. There are quite a few moments of foreshadowing Harry Callahan such as his confusion and distaste for the miles of red tape he encounters and the compassionate attitude towards obviously guilty criminals.
I've got to say that while my exposure to his work is still fairly limited I am really liking Don Siegel's style. His films just have so much character and atmosphere to them. It's a mixture of their visual aesthetic, shot choice and their musical score. It's hard for me to define exactly what it is, but the result is that his films have a real raw, and natural earthy quality to them. Here he handles the film very well; presenting a gritty, intense film while delivering the moments of comedy and impeccably handling the moments of action – a motorcycle chase in and around a park, and in particular a terrific bar room brawl are real highlights. And then there is his depiction of a hippie get-together at the Pigeon Toed Orange Peel club (what a name!). It really is absolutely ridiculous but undeniably entertaining, and certainly gets across the fish out of water element of the story. Oh and just as he did with San Francisco in Dirty Harry, he strongly evokes the feeling and atmosphere of the location, this time New York.
And Siegel needs to be at the top of his game as the story itself isn't the strongest. He's not quite having to polish a turd but he certainly raises the film above were I feel it would otherwise have been. Along with a script that is quite predictable at times the story itself is not the most original. It's a fairly common tale of the straightforward, honest country boy who comes to the big city to test his frontier qualities in a large, modern civilization. I just felt the film could have been even more entertaining if it had chosen one path to head down. What we have would probably be described as a crime drama, however it also includes elements of the thriller and action genres along with moments of humour. I would liked the script to pushed one of those elements above the rest. Either make it a pulse-pounding thriller, a balls to the wall actioner or a real fish out of water comedy instead of including all of those but in a watered down fashion.
Opposite Clint, Lee J. Cobb is just fantastic as McElroy, the lieutenant who butts heads with Coogan at every turn. His growing frustration and sarcastic attitude towards Coogan as the film goes along is highly entertaining. Don Stroud may not give as strong a performance as Andrew Robinson did in Dirty Harry but he grabs your attention nonetheless, and you can definitely see another link between this and Dirty Harry in terms of their characters; both are unhinged, rather manic and unpredictable creations for Eastwood's cool, unruffled cop to go up against.
The rest of the cast is filled out by quite a number of colourful minor characters. Particularly memorable is Ringerman's mother, played by Betty Field and Ringerman's girlfriend of a sort, Lilly Raven (Tisha Sterling). The former is a crude, highly spirited defender of her son, while Lilly Raven is a fairly twisted young girl into the hippie scene and apparently excited and aroused by Ringerman's violent actions.
Probably the biggest flaw for me which was a little off-putting was the whiff of misogyny that pops up throughout the film. Eastwood's Coogan has no problem either sleeping with a married woman or with his constant harrassment and macho attitude he displays towards Susan Clark's probation offficer, Julie Roth. And her character is pretty bad. She is introduced in a bizarre scene were she allows a creepy, perverted guy on probation to grab and fondle her breasts, and then when Coogan decks him she scolds him as the bad guy in this situation. And yet her liberal, feminist stance is apparently all a front; she seemingly likes to have Coogan stalking and harassing her. As if women just need to be told what they really want. And then when they finally are about to get together Coogan uses the opportunity to raid her confidential files for information about the case. And is she angry? Of course not! In fact she appears at the film's conclusion, now dressed in a miniskirt and go-go boots, to bid him farewell as he flies off back to Arizona.
Conclusion – A fairly simple and unoriginal tale which is greatly elevated by Siegel's direction and another trademark tough as nails character from Eastwood. With some memorable scenes and a couple of nice efforts from the supporting cast it's an entertaining little flick.
|
|
Year of release
1968
1968
Directed by
Don Siegel
Don Siegel
Written by
Herman Miller
Dean Riesner
Howard Rodman
Herman Miller
Dean Riesner
Howard Rodman
Starring
Clint Eastwood
Lee J. Cobb
Susan Clark
Don Stroud
Clint Eastwood
Lee J. Cobb
Susan Clark
Don Stroud
Coogan's Bluff
+
Plot – Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan (Eastwood) is sent to New York to collect a prisoner, James Ringerman (Stroud). When he arrives however he is informed that the prisoner is not ready for transport; he's laid up recovering from an LSD overdose. To try and speed up the process he decides to cut a few corners. While doing so however the prisoner escapes, leaving Coogan injured. Despite being ordered off the case and back to Arizona his pride won't allow him to return home empty handed, so he heads out into the big city to track down the prisoner.
It's very hard not to see this film's plot as a metaphor for Eastwood's 'coming out' to mainstream Hollywood. The way that his character, Deputy Sheriff Coogan, leaves the Arizona desert for the big city really feels like a statement from Clint that he is ready to move out of the spaghetti western genre which established him into American productions. The former Man With No Name is now ready to make, and have a name (and yes I just went with a line that corny!
) It's also quite a safe vehicle for Eastwood as he is able to retain his western persona of a gruff, monosyllabic outlaw/lawman. The film really is like a stepping stone between the western genre that established him, and the cop thriller genre were he arguably would gain even greater recognition and fame. It's only a small step from here to the disgruntled, brutal cop that is Harry Callahan. There are quite a few moments of foreshadowing Harry Callahan such as his confusion and distaste for the miles of red tape he encounters and the compassionate attitude towards obviously guilty criminals. I've got to say that while my exposure to his work is still fairly limited I am really liking Don Siegel's style. His films just have so much character and atmosphere to them. It's a mixture of their visual aesthetic, shot choice and their musical score. It's hard for me to define exactly what it is, but the result is that his films have a real raw, and natural earthy quality to them. Here he handles the film very well; presenting a gritty, intense film while delivering the moments of comedy and impeccably handling the moments of action – a motorcycle chase in and around a park, and in particular a terrific bar room brawl are real highlights. And then there is his depiction of a hippie get-together at the Pigeon Toed Orange Peel club (what a name!
). It really is absolutely ridiculous but undeniably entertaining, and certainly gets across the fish out of water element of the story. Oh and just as he did with San Francisco in Dirty Harry, he strongly evokes the feeling and atmosphere of the location, this time New York.
Film trivia - The film became the inspiration for the TV series McCloud. Starring Dennis Weaver the show ran from 1970 to 1977.
Opposite Clint, Lee J. Cobb is just fantastic as McElroy, the lieutenant who butts heads with Coogan at every turn. His growing frustration and sarcastic attitude towards Coogan as the film goes along is highly entertaining. Don Stroud may not give as strong a performance as Andrew Robinson did in Dirty Harry but he grabs your attention nonetheless, and you can definitely see another link between this and Dirty Harry in terms of their characters; both are unhinged, rather manic and unpredictable creations for Eastwood's cool, unruffled cop to go up against.
The rest of the cast is filled out by quite a number of colourful minor characters. Particularly memorable is Ringerman's mother, played by Betty Field and Ringerman's girlfriend of a sort, Lilly Raven (Tisha Sterling). The former is a crude, highly spirited defender of her son, while Lilly Raven is a fairly twisted young girl into the hippie scene and apparently excited and aroused by Ringerman's violent actions.
Film trivia - When Coogan is wandering through the New York nightclub, The Pigeon Toed Orange Peel, the large screen plays a scene from the B movie sci-fi/horror flick Tarantula. Made in 1955 Clint Eastwood had an uncredited role in it.
Conclusion – A fairly simple and unoriginal tale which is greatly elevated by Siegel's direction and another trademark tough as nails character from Eastwood. With some memorable scenes and a couple of nice efforts from the supporting cast it's an entertaining little flick.