I was surprised that this film only scored a 6.4 IMDB rating. This was my favorite of the Don Siegel/ Eastwood crime filmsI I liked the Dirty Harry movies, but I liked this. One even more. I think that only the movie version of "Madigan" outranks it in the Siegel canon.
In Coogan, Eastwood is not the monolithic Dirty Harry. He has vulnerabilitiesL When streetwise NPD Detective Lee J Cobb (another strong performance) tells him, that "blew a stakeout", we realize that while he is well that aware of big city corruptions Coogan too has his own limitations. It is Susan Clark his beautiful polar opposite who brings these out. They are like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, and as the song says 'somethings got to give'. She sees the hurt that created his toughness. In the end they both learn something as they fall in love.
This leads to the strange omission in the video version of the film. There is a scene on Coogan's Bluff, an actual spot in New York near the old Polo Grounds where the NY Giants used to play. She explains that Mrs Coogan a wealthy woman owned the Bluff and withdrew from society when she was slighted by the old NY elite. It explains the title double entendre of the title. It was about 30 seconds long. I can't imagine that this was any thing bu a mistake.
In Coogan, Eastwood is not the monolithic Dirty Harry. He has vulnerabilitiesL When streetwise NPD Detective Lee J Cobb (another strong performance) tells him, that "blew a stakeout", we realize that while he is well that aware of big city corruptions Coogan too has his own limitations. It is Susan Clark his beautiful polar opposite who brings these out. They are like the irresistible force meeting the immovable object, and as the song says 'somethings got to give'. She sees the hurt that created his toughness. In the end they both learn something as they fall in love.
This leads to the strange omission in the video version of the film. There is a scene on Coogan's Bluff, an actual spot in New York near the old Polo Grounds where the NY Giants used to play. She explains that Mrs Coogan a wealthy woman owned the Bluff and withdrew from society when she was slighted by the old NY elite. It explains the title double entendre of the title. It was about 30 seconds long. I can't imagine that this was any thing bu a mistake.
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