Independent Films, Film Profiles

Coogan's Bluff (film)
by Don_Siegel

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.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), and Coogan bluffs his way into Bellevue and tricks the attendants into releasing 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 and beat him unconscious and escape. Coogan tries to find out 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 leads him to Ringerman, but instead, she 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. The men escape hearing sirens and the beaten Coogan extracts justice on Pushie. McElroy finds the bar in pieces, three man 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 Cloisters Park where Ringerman, armed with a gun stolen from Coogan, gets away on his motorcycle. Coogan gives chase on another motorcycle through the Park 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. Coogan, with Ringerman in cuffs, takes the helicopter from atop of the Pan Am Building to the airport while Julie is waving goodbye.