NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Kino Blu-ray (August 2021): Kino have transferred Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff to Blu-ray. It is cited as being from a "Special Edition" advancing on Universal's bare-bones, 2015, Blu-ray release HERE. After a few speckles in the opening scene,  Kino's new 1080P looks beautiful on a dual-layered disc with a max'ed out bitrate. The colors are tight, there is plenty of depth and strong detail in the film's infrequent close-ups. Contrast is well-layered with rich black levels. This is a very pleasing, unembellished, HD presentation - that makes the film look brand new.   

NOTE: We have added 68 more large resolution Blu-ray captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE

On their Blu-ray, Kino use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (16-bit) in the original English language. Coogan's Bluff has many aggressive moments that come through with realistic depth and a delightfully Morricone-esque score by Argentinean Lalo Schifrin (famous as the guy behind the Mission: Impossible theme as well as Joe Kidd, Eye of the Cat, Rollercoaster, Charley Varrick, The Nude Bomb, Day of the Animals, Hit!, Man on a Swing, The Manitou, Tango and many other films) including here; Pigeon-Toed Orange Peel and Everybody. The music adds further layers to the viewing experience. It has consistent dialogue in the lossless transfer. Kino offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Kino Blu-ray offers two new commentaries. The first if by Alex Cox (author of 10,000 Ways to Die: A Director's Take on the Spaghetti Western.) He is the director of Sid and Nancy, Repo Man and in 2017 Tombstone Rashomon among many other films. He is always a delight being a renowned filmmaker who passion and knowledge always shine through. He discusses the 'second American career' or Eastwood, being the middle film in Don Siegel 'Rogue Cop Trilogy' - bookended by Madigan and Dirty Harry. He was a lot to share about Eastwood's spaghetti genre westerns, TV work and much more. The second commentary is by Alan Spencer known for creating the 1980s satirical police series Sledge Hammer! He was one of the youngest people ever to join the Writers Guild of America, writing for television at the age of fifteen. He is what is know as a "script doctor" for feature films. He is excellent discussing the Coogan rogue character that helped establish Eastwood's persona for the next 25 years, he identifies the many, many, supportive cast roles - even very small ones, he reads part of Vincent Canby's negative review on Coogan’s Bluff finding Eastwood wooden and Pauline Kael (and many of her negative comments on Eastwood - as well as his articulate response "She’s really suckered them into thinking she knows something. That’s what’s so funny. It becomes a kind of a joke. Just making a lot of outrageous statements not having any bearing on anything, but you’re doing them because you’ve found that that’s the avenue to get attention. That’s exactly what the secret to Kael is: she’s found a way to get attention.") plus Judith Crist of The New York Herald Tribune disliking the excessive testosterone in calling Coogan’s Bluff "the worst happening of the year". Spencer amusing states that if Kael was still alive she would blame Eastwood for Global Warming. He discusses how his acting IS re-acting, the plot involving a 'Stranger in a Strange Land' motif, how 'old school justice' meets modern policing and how part of the inspiration for Coogan’s Bluff was Tarzan's New York Adventure among sharing many other fascinating details about Clint, Siegel and the production. I'd love to hear more from him as I also enjoyed his commentary on The Nude Bomb. Great job Alan! There is also a new 9-minute interview with fascinating actor Don Stroud, another 8-minutes of 'Clint Eastwood Home Movies', a Radio Spot, trailers (in HD), a poster and image gallery and the package has reversible art (see below) and has a limited edition O-Card slipcase.

Don Siegel's Coogan's Bluff is 'essential Clint' with his loose-cannon cop leaving the rugged west to tangle with the trappings of police procedure of the big city. It's well-crafted by director Siegel. It's weakness may be the meandering romance with Susan Clark, David Doyle as a tough-guy, not enough Lee J. Cobb nor enough of the pursuit of badass Jimmy Ringerman. But Eastwood fans will want this for the one-dimensional, but thoroughly enjoyable, crime-actioner, the stellar Kino Blu-ray a/v and the impressive commentaries. Add the Stroud interview and handsome casing. Sold!

Gary Tooze