Review of Coogan's Bluff (1968) by Nathan M — 15 Sep 2007

Clint Eastwood is every cop before and after... except... he's from the West.

Coogan's Bluff packs every single "cop movie" and "cowboy in New York" stereotype there is out there. Clint Eastwood isn't bad in it, as the script is riddle with unoriginal plot devices to make this movie more calculated and formulaic, something innate to the Hollywood money making machine. Stereotypes include the police chief demeaning Coogan calling him "Tex" when he's actually from Arizona (the timing and antipating for that was PAINFULLY obvious). Coogan is also the renegade officer who doesn't play by the rules and is a womanizer (that's something Eastwood brought to the movie, whether written or not ;) ). He goes against the call of duty on his own terms, using whoever he can use in his path to maintain that he's the badass police officer who can do his job better than the entire New York Police force. And for good measure and for the humanity for Eastwood's fans, Clint has his fair share of beating up hippies left and right (hilariously the stage and hangout for the antagonist). Damn hippies.

This movie isn't as bad as I'm making it out to be, it's just not good. I think a 4.5 is suitable for this, but I think this is in the realm of funny bad, so you might want to check it out. If not, no big deal.