Brannigan (1975)

“Detective Lt. Brannigan is in London . . . God Save the Queen!”

Tough Chicago cop Lieutenant Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) tracks fleeing criminal Ben Larkin (John Vernon) across the Atlantic to the streets of London. Here, he finds the British police resent his unconventional methods.

Richard Attenborough plays Commander Swann, the Scotland Yard police officer whose job it is to make sure the visiting American cop plays by the book.

Brannigan’s assigned liaison officer, Detective Sergeant Jennifer Thatcher (the lovely Judy Geeson) quotes her father, saying there are only three things wrong with Yanks: They are overpaid, over-sexed and over here.

Brannigan is essentially a Western movie transported to London, with red double-deckers instead of stagecoaches and hangovers from Swinging London.

It’s also a blatant rip-off of Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry (1971), which Wayne bitterly regretted turning down after seeing the film.

Despite lots of talk about how reckless Jim Brannigan is, everything he does in the film is fairly reasonable. He does wreck a good deal of public property, but it’s all in the service of getting killers off the streets.

In the end, the Duke’s ten-gallon charisma carries the movie, and Attenborough looks fairly gobsmacked by acting with such a living legend.

Lt James Brannigan
John Wayne
Commander Swann
Richard Attenborough
Jennifer Thatcher
Judy Geeson
Mel Fields
Mel Ferrer
Larkin
John Vernon
Charlie
James Booth
Captain Moretti
Ralph Meeker
Gorman
Daniel Pilon
Drexel
Del Henney
Traven
John Stride
Jimmy the Bet
Brian Glover
Freddy
Anthony Booth
Luana
Lesley-Anne Down
Julian
Barry Dennen
Carter
Jack Watson
Geef
Don Henderson
Miss Allen
Kathryn Leigh Scott
Angell
Arthur Batanides
Alex
Stewart Bevan

Director
Douglas Hickox

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