Coogan's Bluff (film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Coogan's Bluff is a 1968 Universal film directed by Don Siegel and starring Clint Eastwood, Lee J. Cobb, Don Stroud, and Susan Clark. Eastwood plays the part of a young veteran deputy sheriff from a rural county in Arizona who travels to New York City to extradite an apprehended fugitive named Jimmy Ringerman, played by Don Stroud, who is wanted for murder. The name of the film itself is a reference to a New York City natural landmark, Coogan's Bluff, a promontory in upper Manhattan overlooking the site of the former long-time home of the New York Giants baseball club, the Polo Grounds.
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Plot summary
Arizona deputy sheriff Walt Coogan (Clint Eastwood), wearing boots and a cowboy hat, is sent to New York City to extradite escaped killer James Ringerman (Don Stroud). He is up against the slow legal meanderings of New York when NYPD Detective Lieutenant McElroy (Lee J. Cobb) informs him Ringerman is at Bellevue Hospital recovering from an overdose of LSD and cannot be moved until the doctors release him and Coogan has to get extradition papers from the NY State Supreme Court.
He has a flirtation with probation officer Julie Roth (Susan Clark). Then he bluffs his way into Bellevue, tricks the attendants into turning Ringerman over to him, and takes him to the airport to catch a plane for Arizona.
Before he can get out to the airport, Ringerman’s hippie girlfriend Linny Raven (Tisha Sterling) and Pushie the tavern owner (David Doyle) jump Coogan, beat him unconscious, and escape. Coogan tries to find Ringerman's hide out from his mother Ellen Ringerman (Betty Field) and gets Linny's name, and on the way out gets arrested by Sgt. Wallace, Stakeout Cop (James Edwards) for impersonating a police officer. Coogan gets Linny's address from Julie's home files while getting to know her better and while she is making dinner.
He tracks Linny to a psychedelic-themed nightclub called The Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel. There he has a fight with Wonderful Digby (Albert Popwell) at Linny's table; afterwards he makes love to her at her apartment. She then offers to lead him to Ringerman, but instead takes him to a pool hall where he is attacked by Pushie and a dozen men in a bloody battle with pool balls and cues. Coogan holds his own for awhile but is eventually overpowered when several of the men gang up on him. The men take off after hearing sirens and the beaten Coogan exacts justice on Pushie. McElroy finds the bar in pieces, three men dead, and a cowboy hat.
Coogan goes back to Linny's and threatens to kill her if she does not lead him to Ringerman. She takes him to the Cloisters, in Fort Tryon Park, where Ringerman, armed with a gun stolen from Coogan, gets away on his motorcycle. After grabbing the motorcycle of a passing cyclist, who was run into by Ringerman, Coogan gives chase through the park's Heather Gardens and captures him by making a "citizen's arrest" and hands him over to McElroy, who tells him to go to the DA's office, then the State Supreme Court, and let the system handle it. Later, Coogan, with Ringerman in cuffs, takes the helicopter from atop of the Pan Am Building to the airport while Julie is waving goodbye.
Video and DVD releases
The DVD version of Coogan's Bluff is edited by approximately three minutes in all regions for unknown reasons. The missing scenes include Coogan receiving his assignment to return Ringerman from New York, a short scene in a hospital, and a scene in which Julie talks about Coogan's Bluff, a lookout point over the ocean near New York, tying the location into the film's title. The earlier video release did not have these edits, and was released uncut.
Cast
- Clint Eastwood as Deputy Sheriff Walt Coogan
- Lee J. Cobb as Det. Lt. McElroy, NYPD
- Susan Clark as Julie Roth, Probation Officer
- Tisha Sterling as Linny Raven, Ringerman's Girlfriend
- Don Stroud as James Ringerman
- Betty Field as Ellen Ringerman
- Tom Tully as Sheriff McCrea, Piute County
- Melodie Johnson as Millie, Coogan's Girlfriend
- James Edwards as Sgt. Wallace, Stakeout Cop
- Rudy Diaz as Running Bear
- David Doyle as Pushie, Tavern Owner
- Louis Zorich as Taxi Driver
- Meg Myles as Big Red
- Marjorie Bennett as Mrs. Fowler, Little Old Lady
- Seymour Cassel as Joe, Young Hood
- Albert Popwell as Wonderful Digby
See also
