Brannigan
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Movie Reviews of Brannigan
Movie Review: Here's to you, partner
Summary: 3 Stars
This film has been what I like to call a Cuban Cigar Perennial Favorite. I used to have a cigar once a year (medical reasons) and couldn't stand to have more if I wanted.
BRANNIGAN is one of the Cuban Cigar films. A perennial favorite though likely not to everyone's taste. And once again I can luxuriate in the work done by others and keep my critique short and sweet.
I think it bears recalling that Wayne was THIS close to his final film (THE SHOOTIST) and was already losing weight rapidly. Keeping that in mind, it helps when noticing Wayne has very little screen time in this thing. What little screen time he has is spent riding around London. His lines are solid and his strength seems stable, but there is too much Rooster Cogburn in a lot of it.
This film, I think, is overlooked because it shows how Wayne pioneered the tough-rouge-cop genre. To do so in London, alongside a young Sir Richard Attenborough...well, as I like to say, only the Duke! It's refreshing to see the way REAL explosions and shootings were filmed, back in the mid-1970s. We can't possibly match that today. Even my old lady was impressed with all the bombs going off--though she was angered by the double attempt on Brannigan. A shotgun waiting to hit you at the bathroom door, then a bomb in the toilet?--she said. Then she said, Did the assassin expect Wayne to go to the toilet after the shotgun had put a foot-wide hole in his chest?
My only consoling remark was, it was the '70s. Fun, fun, fun. How else could Eastwood have gotten away with DIRTY HARRY? (Which he did very well.) Then again, it is this film right here that Seagal has copied ad nauseam. At least Wayne knew when to quit. Watching him here, I am saddened that he did not play a physician or scientist in some movie.
In the end, I cannot recommend this for the dvd library unless you are a super-die-hard Duke fan. I'm one myself, but I will never own this...it's too slow, sagging and too little of Wayne in it, no matter how historic. Attenborough throwing some expert punches is hilarious fun, because he's such a little scrapper, but that is a negligible inducement to buy the video.
However, watch it if you must.
Movie Review: Duke of England
Summary: 3 Stars
With the slow death of the western John Wayne moseyed on over to the police genre and made two cop flicks, Brannigan was the second and arguably the better movie. A minor picture to be sure, it follows the basic cop formula and offers few surprises, but it is surprisingly entertaining and breezes along nicely. Wayne playes a Chicago cop who is transported over to London in pursuit of a criminal(John Vernon). Once there he discovers his quarry has been kidnapped and here the story takes a few moderate twists. The film has some suspense and plenty of action but Brannigan's sense of humour is it's strongest asset. Many of Wayne's latter movies were overly serious(The Cowboys, Cahill-US Marshall to name a few)so his return to the lighter approach is much appreciated. The supporting cast includes Mel Ferrer, Judy Geeson and Richard Attenborough.
The DVD is much like the movie, nothing special but worthwhile.
Movie Review: Not one of the better films...but it IS the Duke!
Summary: 3 Stars
Well, I'm a big John Wayne fan. He was and remains one of the great American icons. Brannigan is not a great film, although one of his final films; it is a necessary addition to complete one's collection. But don't blame the Duke: the writing is bad, the direction is poor, the editing is mediocre and the story is a bore. Yes, the Duke is very old, but he is still great. It's just a poor movie. 'McQ' is far better all around. Look at 'Brannigan' as a film trip to Joly Ol' England with John Wayne.Movie Review: Putting the UK in Duke
Summary: 3 Stars
Wayne's second try at following Clint's lead from the sagebrush to a modern urban setting is basically a retread of Coogan's Bluff and it's not bad. There are still some right-wing complaints about civil liberties, but the tone is more amiable than McQ. Everything's pretty diverting until we get to the drawn-out "funny" bare-knuckle brawl that doesn't work here any better than it did a few years earlier in The Undefeated.Movie Review: Rather dull, actually...
Summary: 2 Stars
A brief, mildly exciting car chase, and a few cheap laughs are not enough to recommend this movie. The Duke is Jim Brannigan, a crusty Chicago cop sent to England to extradite a prisoner (John Vernon). Things get complicated when the prisoner is kidnapped and held for ransom by persons unknown. The muddled plot, then centers on efforts to recover the criminal. But how much do we really care?The cast does what they can with a script that tries hard, but fails to be clever. Richard Attenborough as a British top cop is serviceable, but dull. Judy Geeson is a police officer who does little more than chauffeur the Duke, and act as a sounding board.
In addition, a "professional" killer, hired to eliminate Brannigan, attempts to do so using some rather elaborate, but ultimately ineffective methods. This loser can't shoot straight, or drive well, and the only one he succeeds in killing is himself.
Probably the film's most memorable moment is the brief car chase sequence, which concludes with Brannigan jumping across a London drawbridge, and crashing on the opposite side. Like Brannigan's car, this vehicle for an aging screen legend is a bit of a wreck. If you want to see John Wayne as a cop, check out "McQ", which is a much better film, though it is not yet available on DVD.
The DVD transfer is average, and the colors look a little washed out at times. The only extra is a theatrical trailer, which contains almost all of the film's best scenes and one liners.