Brannigan ** (1975, John Wayne, Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, Mel Ferrer, John Vernon) – Classic Movie Review 3413

John Wayne was none too well, aged 67 and showing it when he played the surprisingly elderly Irish-American police detective lieutenant Jim Brannigan, who visits tourist London to collect an American mobster Ben Larkin (John Vernon) to take him back home to Chicago.

But when Brannigan, who is supposed to be in his late fifties, arrives in London, the organised crime boss has been kidnapped in a set-up by his lawyer and Larkin’s hit-men prepare an ambush for Brannigan. At Scotland Yard, Brannigan meets up with a stuffy old comical copper named Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough) and falls for a brisk and attractive young woman police constable called Jennifer (Judy Geeson).

Director Douglas Hickox’s 1975 thriller is as daftly askew in its storytelling as in its sense of London geography. It is a terrible dinosaur of a film in the era of Dirty Harry, ironically because that role had been offered to Wayne. But somehow it manages to be quite good fun in its creaky-at-the-joints way, with Wayne appearing as relaxed as an American tourist on vacation.

Also in the cast are Mel Ferrer, Daniel Pilon, John Stride, James Booth, Barry Dennen, Lesley-Anne Down, Ralph Meeker, Anthony Booth (as Freddy), Brian Glover, Jack Watson and Don Henderson. The acting from the Seventies-era British Equity stalwarts is brisk and professional but nothing to write home about. And the same is true of Hickox’s uninspired direction. Also neither the dialogue nor the action light many sparks.

The screenplay is by Christopher Trumbo, Michael Butler, William P McGivern and William Norton. Trumbo said he had no problem working on a Wayne film, even though he was the son of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who had suffered from Wayne.

The movie was one of Wayne’s least successful movies flopped at the US box office. it was the second, and final, time he played a cop, following McQ (1974).Wayne said he would not have made it if he had known McQ was only going to be a moderate success.

The shoot gained admittance to the inside of the actors’ and writers’ Garrick Club, which traditionally does not allow cameras, as Attenborough was a long-term member. There is also shooting at the Royal Automobile Club.

Anthony Booth, also known for Till Death Us Do Part (1968), The L-Shaped Room (1962) and The Contender (2000), died on 25 September 2017, aged 85.

© Derek Winnert 2016 Classic Movie Review 3413

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/