To me, this movie is perfection.

brilliant actors, brilliant editing

Your blood may run cold, but you now find yourself pinioned to the story.

Blistering performances.

This thrilling movie is a genuine ripping yarn with intrigue , mystery , tension , shotguns , car crashes , and outstanding plot twists . An enjoyable all action seventies nostalgia trip , being fast paced and rightly developed . The picture is packed with a stuffed ragbag of stash , special arms , cash and cars . Here Big John Wayne/Jim Brannigan takes on London in Chicago Style . As Chicago police lieutenant Jim Brannigan is sent to the UK , as he travels across the Atlantic to London . His mission : to arrest and to escort organized crime boss Ben Larkin (John Vernon) back to the USA but Larkin's hit-men (Daniel Pilon , James Booth) prepare an ambush for Brannigan . Along the way , Branningan is helped by two British Police Inspectors : Cmdr. Swann (Richard Attenborough) and Jennifer (Judy Geeson) . Nice and agreeable thriller with a great cast and a sensational John Wayne against his nemesis magnificently played by John Vernon in one of his meatiest roles as a villain who has fled the States rather than face a grand jury indictment . Humor , noisy action , thrills and suspense abound in this fun film . One of Duke's last movies with a more work modern day assignment than most , here he stars in the somewhat unfamiliar character of a two-fisted and violent Chicago police officer in ¨Dirty Harry¨ style . Stepping out of his ordinary Westerns and into the character of a tough police man , Big Duke goes in search of revenge on the mobster who killed his rookie colleague . John Wayne starred in this film , along with ¨McQ¨ , because he missed out on starring in Dirty Harry (1971) . Although , it was originally intended as a vehicle for Steve McQueen , it was heavily rewritten for John Wayne . Here Wayne fits perfectly to this peculiar role , giving a top-notch and sympathetic acting , as usual . Wayne's image still remained impervious during the seventies surviving through an overlong career . Wayne unmistakeably a legendary figure of the West and by that time he would go playing good Westerns , as he triumphantly survived his own era with titles as ¨True grit¨ in which he won an Academy Award ,¨Big Jake¨, ¨Train robbers¨ , ¨The cowboys¨ , ¨Rooster Cogburn¨ , his last film ¨The Shootist¨, and , of course , his two final thrillers : ¨McQ¨ and ¨Brannigan¨ . Even more old-fashioned that Wayne's former police drama ¨McQ¨(here playing a Chigago Police cop) , ¨Brannigan is also more amusing and entertaining . It rambles a bit , but then it does have full of suspense , intrigue and action . In ¨Brannigan¨ there are also brawls and punches at a typical London pub . Along with spectacular car races , bounds and leaps across Tower Bridge . Stirring film in which there are nail-biting action scenes , intrigue , blasts , suspenseful set pieces and a big star as well as an excellent plethora of secondaries such as : Judy Geeson , Richard Attenborough , Mel Ferrer , Ralph Meeker , Daniel Pilon , James Booth , Bruce Glover and brief acting by Lesley Anne Down as a prostitute . It packs a colorful cinematography by Gerry Fisher , showing splendidly the habitual London sightseeing : Big Ben , Parliament , Trafalgar Square , Regency Street , Buckingham Palace , Piccadilly Circus , Tower Bridge , among others . Besides, a moving as well as exciting musical score by Dominic Frontiere . This tough crime drama was well directed by Douglas Hickock who was quoted at the time as saying that he just wanted to make a John Wayne film . Hickock was an expert at blazing action scenes and realizing acceptable films until his early death at 59 , being his film debut : ¨It's All Over Town¨ and his final ¨Dirty Dozen: The Series¨, TV series . Being Father of directors Anthony Hickox and James D.R. Hickox . Douglas began as an assistant director and second unit director in the 1950's . Before working on feature films , he also directed hundreds of commercials . As part of a bequest , the Douglas Hickox Award is given to a British director on their debut feature . Douglas made all kinds of genres and playing them known actors , such as Drama : ¨Sins¨ with Joan Collins , ¨Mistral's daughter¨ with Stacy Keach ; Black comedy : ¨Entertaining Mr Sloane¨ with Harry Andrews ; Monster movie : ¨Behemoth , the sea monster¨ co-directed by Eugene Lorie with Gene Evans ; Action : ¨Sky riders¨ with James Coburn ; Thriller : ¨blackout¨ with Richard Widmark , ¨Sitting Target¨ with Oliver Reed ; Warlike : ¨Zulu dawn¨ with Peter O'Toole ; a Sherlock movie : ¨The Hound of Baskervilles¨ with Ian Richardson and his best film was ¨Theatre of blood¨ an ironical terror/comedy with Vincent Price .

When a local mobster named "Ben Larken" (John Vernon) skips bail and flies to London, "Lt. James Brannigan" (John Wayne) is sent from Chicago to bring him back. Unfortunately, during the extradition process Larken is kidnapped which results in both Lt. Brannigan and "Sir Charles Swann" (Richard Attenbourough) of Scotland Yard having to pool their resources to locate him. What neither of them realize is that a top assassin named "Gorman" (Daniel Pilon) has been hired to kill Lt. Brannigan and he is extremely tenacious in his work. He just doesn't quit. Now rather than risk ruining this movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was essentially an average movie made better by the presence of John Wayne. That's not to say that the supporting cast was lackluster by any means--as they certainly performed in an adequate manner--it's just that the Duke clearly dominated this picture. Having said that I should probably add that the story itself wasn't exactly novel and this was hardly the best movie he has ever made. That being the case I rate this movie as slightly above average.

Is it John Wayne's best movie? Far from it. Is it is his worst? Again, no. But in regard to the latter it is down there. I didn't like Brannigan at all, I tried to but it didn't work. The cinematography and location shooting are good but little else works. A big problem I regret to say is John Wayne himself. He is very miscast here, and I have only seen one other movie(The Conqueror) of where he is so out of place and disconnected. Another big problem is the story, as others have noted it tries to follow in the footsteps of (the much better) Dirty Harry, but it comes across as convoluted and dull. The script is very clunky, the action is unexciting, the film is overlong and drags and the direction is sloppy. The remainder of the cast don't make much amends either, Richard Attenborough especially comes across as too earnest and overwhelmed. So all in all, in most respects it is a clunky mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox

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.