Coogan's Bluff

Story is of the clash between sophisticated law enforcement and frontier-style simplistics, which is perhaps one of the major internal American problems.

Even Siegel's somehow off-centre treatment of New York hippiedom is intriguingly wry.

The screenplay is so predictable in situation and so arch in its supposedly tough, blunt, wise talk that it turns into a joke told by someone with no sense of humor.

Siegel knows what he wants and gets it.

New York cop thriller with a touch of the Westerna and a touch of the Eastwood...and all the better for it.

Eastwood's performance as the flawed, headstrong superman has been terribly underrated, but he brings to the part of Coogan a sure knowledge of the man's obvious strengths and not so obvious failings.

The material involving Coogan's pursuit of Ringerman is solid, but too much time is spent on a dreary relationship between Coogan and a probation officer (Susan Clark); their will-they-or-won't-they status would grow tiresome even in a romantic comedy.

For all intents and purposes, what we think of as comedic action cinema was born the day Coogan's Bluff was released.

A satisfying police yarn with some really great, physically hefty location photography.

The film is like a cousin to the Western genre, with Coogan keeping his trap shut and his emotions to himself, but Siegel, with his expert craftsmanship, brisk pacing and exciting action, gives us plenty of other stuff to concentrate on.