Clint Eastwood still wore a cowboy hat in his first attempt to move from the western landscape into the contemporary urban setting, but under Don Siegel's taut direction he carried off the switch successfully. In many ways the forerunner of Dirty Harry, Eastwood's laconic Arizona sheriff tracking down a murderer in Manhattan was his first character to get upset by big-city sleaze and escalating crime. This stylish and gritty crime drama set the seal on Eastwood's screen persona for decades to come and later inspired the McCloud TV series.

Coogan, an Arizona deputy sheriff goes to New York to pick up a prisoner. While escorting the prisoner to the airport, he escapes and Coogan heads into the city to recapture him.