Brannigan

In Brannigan, Wayne plays the role of Jim Brannigan, an American cop who goes to London to capture a runaway fugitive played by John Vernon. Wayne soon finds out that London cops are not at all alike American cops. Most of the English cops don't carry a gun and Richard Attenbourough made sure that Wayne didn't use it unless absolutely necessary. Brannigan's partner well played by Judy Geeson is more like a shaparone then a partner because she drives him everywhere and works along side of him to make sure he behaves himself. Wayne also get's in a wild car chase in the busy London streets. With a farly good screenplay and a good 70's score by Dominic Frontiere, this film is worth three stars.

After a spate of tired westerns, and unmemorable cop programmers like McQ, John Wayne was in need of something a little fresh. Brannigan doesn't have much in its plot that we haven't seen before, but it is freshened up by its unusual London setting. Nicely directed by Douglas Hickox, and complemented by lots of good supporting performances, it is also entertaining in patches.

Chicago cop, and all-round hard man Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is ordered to fly out to London, England, to bring back bail-skipping gangster Ben Larkin (John Vernon). But just as Brannigan arrives, Larkin is abducted by a bunch of British crooks who plan to hold him for a hefty ransom. Aided by stiff-lipped Scotland Yard detective Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough), Brannigan attempts to track down the kidnappers so that he can get hold of his man.

Wayne looks pretty old for this kind of energetic action stuff, but he has a certain rugged charisma that allows him to more-or-less get away with it. The supporting cast is generally very good - Attenborough registers well as the Scotland Yard detective; Judy Geeson looks lovely and has a good role as the lady assigned to look after Brannigan during his stay; Vernon adds another unpleasant bad guy to his villains' gallery; and little-known Daniel Pilon has the best scenes in the film as a genuinely evil hit-man assigned to erase Brannigan. The music, scored by Dominic Frontiere, is hilariously '70s and is poured over the action with little consideration. There are also some unnecessary comic moments, such as the needlessly farcical bar-room brawl sequence which is out of tune with the rest of the film (Maltin, preposterously, called the bar-room brawl the high spot of the film but if anything it's the low point). At its worst, Brannigan stoops pretty low, but these low moments are gladly quite sporadic. For most of the way, it's an entertaining - if never truly excellent - star vehicle, and a genuinely "different" role for The Duke.

By the mid 1970s the western film had really become a thing of the past. The action heroes by that time were police of all different kinds of character. Clint Eastwood had sure proved that with the success of the Dirty Harry Films. In fact by the time Brannigan came out, Eastwood had two of them already done.

I suspect that John Wayne was also looking for modern stories for reasons of health. Those western locations were and are pretty rugged. Wayne was 68 when this was done and playing a man in his fifties. He also had only one working lung in those last dozens years of work after the cancer operation of 1964.

So in Brannigan Wayne makes a more successful transition from his western character to a modern policeman than he did in McQ. He's from the Chicago PD and in London to pick up gangster John Vernon who's skipped bail. An assignment that the San Francisco PD surely would have sent Harry Callahan on.

Vernon is not only not in custody with Scotland Yard, but he's been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. Vernon's lawyer Mel Ferrer arrives from Chicago to pay the ransom.

It's a merry chase from then on and while the ending is no kind of surprise the film is a lot of fun.

Richard Attenborough makes an effective British foil for Wayne's all American hero. And Judy Geeson who first became noticed by movie fans as a student in Sidney Poitier's class in Two Sir With Love, plays Wayne's driver and confidante as a police sergeant. The two of them have a marvelous father/daughter like chemistry.

Wayne films are not complete unless there is a fight scene. In this case a London pub is busted up like a frontier saloon in a scene reminiscent of The War Wagon. It's sort of out of place though in a modern film.

And the climax is a homage to Dirty Harry. Dare I say it, but I'm still wondering why Eastwood's Malpaso Productions didn't sue the Duke's Batjac company for that scene which is ripped off from Magnum Force.

Probably because Clint liked the homage.

JOHN WAYNE fans have nothing to complain about. This may not be one of his top films, but it's a piece of slick entertainment with a good script and some clever lines and situations.

He may have been sixty-eight when he did BRANNIGAN, but he was still convincing enough as a "kick butt" cop transplanted rather suddenly to ye olde London and coping with some shrewd and cunning kidnappers demanding a great deal of ransom money. In addition, he has to cope with RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH as the police chief who doesn't like Wayne's Yankee ways.

It's a tale that gets off to a brisk start and never stops feeling like a spin off from a "Dirty Harry" movie starring Clint Eastwood. In fact, given Wayne's age, Clint probably would have been a more suitable, age appropriate choice for the leading role here--but Wayne still had enough energy and spirit to play the part in his usual style.

JOHN VERNON and DANIEL PILON make an interesting pair of villains, as does MEL FERRER as a crooked lawyer who's in on the kidnapping scheme. All of them get their comeuppance in a script that has quite a few surprises and plot twists along the way. JUDY GEESON has a nice rapport with Wayne as the woman assigned to drive him around the city.

Nicely photographed with good shots of the busy London area, it's not one of Wayne's best films but it's a very satisfying one with a good plot and a fair amount of action. The London pub brawl did seem to be a bit overdone but the director obviously played it for laughs.

Summing up: Never a dull moment.

Lieutenant Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is sent to London to extradite an extortionist called Ben Larkin. However, things become more complicated when Larkin is abducted by some hoods and at the same time, Gorman (Daniel Pilon), a contract killer is out to kill Brannigan.

Exciting, fast-paced and slickly directed by Douglas Hickox who directed Oliver Reed in "Sitting Target" (1972 - see my review), and in common with that film, his direction has the right feel for tough guy thrillers employing the right actors and staging some fantastic action scenes such as a marvelous pub brawl in a London bar. And also in common with "Sitting Target" the direction papers over a somewhat deficient script. Great performances from John Wayne as Brannigan and Richard Attenbrough as the commander of Scotland Yard frustrated at the former's police methods which seem unorthodox by British standards. Judy Geeson is good as Detective Sgt Thatcher who is assigned to keep Brannigan out of trouble while Daniel Pilon is superb as the contract killer out for Brannigan's blood. The film is an obvious rip off of "Dirty Harry" (1971)which Wayne regretted turning down after he saw that movie.