Brannigan (1975)

hyped garbage

A Masterpiece!

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

BRANNIGAN is an engaging fish-out-of-water cop thriller clearly modelled on DIRTY HARRY. A larger-than-life John Wayne plays the jaded American cop sent to London to bring down a crime lord, and an ensemble cast of familiar faces from the era either help or hinder him along the way. I thought this was a great little thriller, with plenty of action and suspense along the way, including shootings, assassination attempts, and even a car chase for good measure. It was directed by Douglas Hickox, of THEATRE OF BLOOD fame, and has a similarly gritty look. Judy Geeson plays Wayne's partner while the likes of John Vernon and Mel Ferrer are the bads. Watch out for Tony Robinson in a youthful comic cameo.

Tough Chicago cop Brannigan (John Wayne) goes to London to extradite an American criminal named Larkin (John Vernon) but the bad guy is seemingly kidnapped before Brannigan can get to him. That's not enough to deter our hero, though. He's determined to get his man, no matter how many British toes he has to step on to do so, including those of a stuffy police commander (Richard Attenborough).A fun 'fish out of water' movie for John Wayne; his second attempt to duplicate Clint Eastwood's success at moving from westerns to police thrillers. It's a better movie than Wayne's previous attempt at a Dirty Harry-style cop flick the year before, the underwhelming McQ. It moves quicker and there are some funny lines here and there. Plus everyone in the cast seems like they want to make this work, unlike McQ where nobody seemed that into it. Duke is clearly having a good time and appears more at ease with this mostly British cast than he did with many of his later films. Vets Attenborough, Vernon, and Mel Ferrer deliver as they usually do. Judy Geeson has a nice chemistry with Duke. Thankfully (given their age difference) the film never goes "there" beyond mild flirting. Lesley Anne Down plays a prostitute and Daniel Pilon is the hit man hired to kill Duke. It's not an exceptional film in any way but it is enjoyable, especially for Wayne fans who might like to see him in different surroundings than the western plateau or the battlefield.

Several years prior to this movie, John Wayne turned down the tough cop movie "Dirty Harry", which turned out to be a big hit. He must have regretted that decision, because several years later he put aside his cowboy hat and starred in two tough cop movies, "McQ" and this movie. Neither movie was a big success with critics or at the box office. I don't remember "McQ" that much, so I'll stick with critiquing "Brannigan" Certainly, the premise of the movie - tough American cop Wayne in jolly old England - did have great possibilities. Indeed, the finished movie does have some genuinely amusing moments, and Wayne still had the stuff (though not as much as in past movies due to his advancing age and his expanding waistline). However, the central story is kind of a bore. The kidnapping plot is pretty thin, resulting in near- desperateness by the screenwriters to pad things out to an acceptable running time. Also, there is not much in the way of action. Indeed, Wayne's character is less of a take-charge kind of guy than other Wayne roles in other movies. Fans of the Duke will probably enjoy this movie all the same despite its shortcomings, though I think even they will admit that this is far from Wayne's greatest movies.

Not bad, but what makes it for me is when John Wayne commandeers a young man's new Capri to chase a contract killer in the ultimate gangster car of the time, a sixties Jaguar. I love it where he drives over Tower Bridge and totally wrecks the car, while the Jaguar gets away. I've waited a year for delivery, as Wayne steps out of the ruined Capri and the door falls off. Also good at the end is an appearance of a battered E Type with the killer Gorman behind the wheel, firing a machine pistol at Brannigan, who has to dodge bullets before shooting him right between the eyes. Otherwise a bit ho hum, though Tony Booth has a decent role and Sir Dickie is good as Brannigan's superior. However, for classic car nuts like me, the orange Capri makes it.