Brannigan (1975)

Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

Good movie but grossly overrated

best movie i've ever seen.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Rogue cop who is "out of control" (in a now-cliché'd Dirty Harry sort of way) John Wayne goes to England to retrieve the Sheriff from KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE. Once there, the chief/old guy from JURASSIC PARK assigns him to the possessed alien mom from INSEMINOID as his flirty tease of a partner. While on the case, they shake down the warden from ALIEN 3 while spied on by the cowardly soldier "Hookie" from ZULU, here teamed up with one of the Death Star generals from STAR WARS. However his only real lead comes in the form of a shifty lawyer, the guy who married Audrey Hepburn before going blind and trying to poison Caesar in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.As you can see, the cast of this movie is just marvelous and features a lot of "that guy"s from other movies you've seen. The chemistry between Wayne and the guy who directed GANDHI works really well as they have to team up from such opposite viewpoints to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for those seeking lots of action (Wayne enters the movie by kicking down a door and hitting a guy in the head with a 2x4), there's not much here. Wayne merely gets in one mediocre car chase and has a few close calls with a creepy hit man who tries to sneak up on people with the most conspicuous car possible and who would be a better shot if he hadn't hacked his broom handle Mauser pistol to fire full-auto. More often than not, the film decides to protract what would be smaller scenes in an American movie into 20 minute episodes. For instance, did we really need to witness every darn detail with the first money drop sequence? Or would our time have been better spend seeing Wayne (who looks quite tired) beating up a few more henchmen and spouting one-liners?All in all it's only made watchable by the cast and director Douglas Hickox's assured ability to enliven a lot of scenes that would otherwise have dragged far worse. There's a few nice surprises and some suspense, but you'd be better off just watching an full-blown Euro-crime movie than this tame and watered-down cross-pond excursion.

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.

After the success of MCQ(1974),John Wayne decided to make another cop movie,this time going into partnership with Wellborn Limited,Levy-Gardner-Laven and United Artists,the result was an action masterpiece known as BRANNIGAN.Brannigan is brilliant and one of the best action movies of all time,it's got a great and brilliant storyline,fantastic acting and characters,hilarious one liners and legendary action scenes.The storyline is kept simple and it feels like it's come right out of a 70s cop TV series and John Wayne is brilliant as Jim Brannigan,whom he puts his all into playing,Richard Attenborough is equally good as Brannigans partner Commander Swann.The picture contains elements of comedy,One liners like That's Right Commander,You Can't Get A Decent Hamburger Any Place and Get Brannigan Out Of There,Use A Forklift If You Have To really bring the movie to life,the scene in which Brannigan pushes a young Tony Robinson into the River Thames is painfully funny,but the funniest scene of all has got to be where Brannigan bursts into a bookmakers house,slams hims face down on a table and says I Would Talk If I Were You,Not Unless You Want To Pay For Englands Free Dental Care,this scene is comedy gold,by the end of the movie you will be in tears from laughter,but you have to see it to appreciate it.There's plenty of action to enjoy,there's car chases,shootouts and an epic brawl inside a pub,the car chase is really funny as the duke steals a civilians car and causes havoc on our British roads,skidding around bends at breakneck speed and finally making a breathless leap across an closing/opening Tower Bridge,later remarking The View From Tower Bridge Was Terrific,honestly,you'll laugh your heart out.There's another car scene at the end of the film,it's not really a chase but it's still very exciting,after the duke has taken care of the bad guys,a mysterious assassin in a sports car turns up and races at the duke while trying to run him down,but the duke is able to shoot the driver in the head with his magnum,sending the car flying over the edge of a ramp and exploding into flames,very exhilarating stuff.The brawl is one of the greatest movie fight scenes ever as 50+ men beat each other to a pulp with the duke and Commander Swann joining in on the fun,the funniest part of this scene is where some poor Joe is repeatedly thrown against a Jukebox,changing the tune each time,during the chaos,chairs and bottles are thrown,people are sent crashing through bannisters to the ground below and some guy is thrown right across the bar,it's one of the greatest scenes ever to be seen in a movie,the other action scenes are a shootout in which the mysterious guy in the sports car tries to kill the duke with a small machine gun but the duke smashes a window,fires shots at the car and sends it screaming down the road wishing it had never picked on him(part of this scene is done in slow motion,making it really funny),other action includes exploding toilets and exploding flower vases,Brannigan contains some of the greatest action scenes ever filmed.The soundtrack is very good,Brannigan is a lot better than the dukes previous cop drama,Mcq,if you want a good laugh and lots of action,this is your movie,i highly recommend this film to all fans of John Wayne and action movies.A gem.

He's still big,of course,but don't let that obscure the signs of vulnerability.The way he walks to avoid the sudden jarring,the collar of his jacket folding up,the moments of reflection,the slow pacing of his part in the bar fight,his avuncular attitude towards D.S.Thatcher and the fact that he doesn't actually seem to give a damn about whether what he does meets with the approval of his superiors or not because,in the end,what can they do to him that time has not already done? All that and his (or the studio's) stubborn insistence that he persists with that silly wig add up to a portrait of a man who knows he is not what he once was and is only too aware of what he will soon become. It was brave of him to take on the role of Jim Brannigan,an old man in a young man's world.Apart from Lord Attenborough in an annoyingly silly part as a titled senior Met Officer(not many of them to the pound) he is considerably older than the British cops and villains he mixes it with. Attenborough's office at "Scotland Yard" is in fact anywhere but,with views across the river to St Paul's.Presumably the real Yard with its views of Westminster Underground station was not "London" enough. But we do get The Mall,Buckingham Palace,Piccadilly Circus etc,all shot in J.Arthur Rank "Look at Life" colour. The storyline isn't important,it's just the fish - out - of - water thing every moviegoer is familiar with and "Brannigan" is competently enough directed,rather like an episode of "The Sweeney" with a big budget and extra Granadas. The car chase through south London streets and across the half - open Tower Bridge is quite exciting and the way Mr Wayne gets out of his wrecked Capri,clambers out of the builders' skip and dusts himself off ruefully down put me in mind of Buster Keaton. Classic car lovers may find the scene where an E.type f.h.c. gets incinerated too much to bear. By 21st century standards "Brannigan" is a rather gentle reflective portrait of an ageing man succeeding - perhaps for the final time - in defying the inevitable.Mr Wayne is comfortable in that role,and I admire him even more for accepting it.