Rent Brannigan (1975)

Entertaining John Wayne Cop Film - Brannigan review by GI

John Wayne in interviews regretted passing on the role of Dirty Harry especially after he'd seen the film that cemented Clint Eastwood's top box office position and so he subsequently agreed to make two cop action films, McQ (1974) and Brannigan. They are both star vehicles with an obviously too old Wayne as different tough cops, indeed he was quite ill during production of both films. But it is Brannigan which has garnered more praise probably because of its London setting and the 'fish out of water' and culture clash narrative. Brannigan is a tough Chicago cop sent to London to bring back a mobster played with his usual slimy persona by John Vernon. Scotland Yard are supposed to have his man in custody so Brannigan is less than pleased when he discovers that his prisoner has been kidnapped. So, as you'd expect, Brannigan goes a bit rogue around London on the hunt aided by Judy Geeson as a beautiful British detective and hounded by her boss played by Richard Attenborough, who is clearly having fun but managed to never ever mention this film in interviews for the rest of his life! This is good fun, a fairly routine action thriller with the usual doses of humour that you find in Wayne films, plenty of roustabout violence including a hilarious bar fight. Of course Brannigan manages to keep a gun despite the laws of England and there's a sort of running joke throughout about it. Of course this doesn't match up to any of Wayne's best films, but it's an interesting one when considering his 70s output and his waning box office draw. His best film of the 70s, and his last, was yet to come but Brannigan, much like Coogan's Bluff (1968), brings a cowboy into the metropolis to wield his mythical prowess and viewed today, it's dated but hugely enjoyable.