Truly Dreadful Film

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Admirable film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

The 1970s saw John Wayne's long-running career come to an end with the actor's death in 1979, but before that point he made two contemporary police thrillers, the only ones of his lengthy career. These were made in response to his missing out on Clint Eastwood's role in DIRTY HARRY. Of the two, I have a huge fondness for BRANNIGAN due to the London setting, but MCQ turns out to be a serviceable little picture that feels heavily indebted to BULLITT with plenty of car-focused mayhem and chasing taking place on the streets of Seattle. Wayne plays a cop in the usual maverick mould, hunting down the killers of his partner who is executed in the film's violent opening sequence. Police corruption and drug dealing are the elements of the story here, and it's all stylish and fast-paced enough to be watchable. Wayne does feel long in the tooth but his trademark charisma and charm shine through and there's very little to dislike overall.

This is another cop film from the 70's, (probably the best decade for this genre). If you've seen Brannigan and enjoyed that, then you'll know what to expect. The plot is surprisingly cleverly worked out, the clues casually planted along the way and never given too much attention until they fall into place even if one of the villains among the boys in blue seems rather obvious. John Wayne plays McQ, a Seattle cop. When his friend, also a cop, gets killed McQ sets out to find his killers, and has no ethics about how he does it. As the plot leads him into the seedy underworld, (what 70's cop film doesn't) he quits the police force and becomes a private eye in order to catch and bring the killers to justice.This is by no means a great John Wayne action picture. It does, however, hold its own and hold interest. Wayne, as usual, take the high moral ground and refuses to compromise on what he believes to be right. Lettieri is a terrific villain, underplaying the menace, and there's a decent funky Elmer Bernstein score, but it's a solid film rather than an inspired one. Director Sturges creates an uncomplicated sense of flow, keeping the story moving along, using the backdrop of Seattle very well. Some parts that would normally seem slow (character development) are kept afloat by better than average performances by Watkins, Muldaur and Dewhurst, who, incidentally, doesn't do any skag. I liked the hot pursuit car chase sequences (there were three) not because they were car chase sequences, but thoughtfully done, well-planned, professionally shot, highly exciting car chase sequences. It may not have all the CGI special effects and fancy stuff newer movies have, but some of the best movies ever made were made before computers.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

When John Wayne's law enforcement partner is brutally murdered, he comes out of semi-retirement to find the people responsible. Along the way, he finds more than he bargained for, including corruption in his police department and a possible personal connection that is never confirmed. Having spent the first half of the 1970's in westerns, Wayne took on a modern setting for this and one other film ("Brannigan") in the last years of his career. The role he plays is typical of what the slightly younger Robert Mitchum or Burt Lancaster were playing at the time, and an obvious attempt to duplicate the success of the much younger Clint Eastwood's "Dirty Harry".Wayne is likable as always, and shows a sentimental family side when he goes to visit his beautiful ex-wife (the stunning Julie Adams), her extremely rich husband (Richard Eastham), and his teenage daughter (Kim Sanford) for a loan. Diana Muldaur is featured as the widow of the murdered partner who may not have been as devoted to her husband as it initially appeared. In a Thelma Ritter "Pickup on South Street" type role, the always amazing Colleen Dewhurst is excellent as the sad older woman Wayne utilizes to force out the culprits. Dewhurst's character is one of those heartbreaking creatures whose tough exterior is hiding many wounds. Her few scenes make you long for more of her. Eddie Albert is also featured in an important role, dependable as always.The chase sequence at the end was obviously influenced by "Bullett" and "The French Connection" and builds into an explosive action sequence at the conclusion where Wayne singlehandedly takes on the bad guys while Muldaur hides nearby trying to avoid being shot. The film barely succeeds with its moments more memorable than the films ultimate lack of structure.

Initially, action director John Sturges and leading man John Wayne had planned to make "The Sons of Katie Elder." Wayne's declining health, however, prevented them from collaborating on that superb western that Henry Hathaway eventually helmed. Instead, Sturges and Wayne got together to make the urban police thriller "McQ," and "McQ" ranks as one of the best of the modern-day police thrillers in the tradition of both "Bullitt" and "Dirty Harry." The Lawrence Roman screenplay, inspired by Roman's previous epic "Slaughter on 10th Avenue," is top-notch stuff with a genuine mystery attached to an otherwise highly serviceable thriller about a rogue cop. Veteran detective Lon McQ (John Wayne) has a vendetta to settle with the chief villain, Manuel Santiago, and McQ believes that Santiago had a hand in the murder of his partner. Yes, this plot is as creaky as "The Maltese Falcon," but it always pays off in spades.This atmospheric film is not without its share of surprises, a really cool, careening auto chase across scenic Seattle, memorable dialogue, another superb Elmer Bernstein orchestral score, and the first ever tumbling car stunt on the beach at the end. John Wayne gets to wield the rapid-firing MAC-10 submachine gun in its motion picture debut. "Lon, it's not licensed," the firearms guy reminds him. "Jack," McQ replies, "neither am I." Eddie Albert, despite one sudden haircut goof in an interrogation scene, stands out as McQ's fire-eating superior Kosterman who blames everything on 'radicals.' Kosterman keeps his eyes glued on McQ from start to finish. Eventually, Kosterman assigns a cop to shadow McQ because McQ has a history of police brutality. Western television star Clu Gulager is on hand, too, in a first-class cast that includes "McCloud's" girlfriend Diana Muldaur, perennial tough guy villain Al Lettieri, Colleen Dewhurst, Julie Adams, and portly David Huddleston.The complex plot opens with McQ's long-time partner Stan Boyle (William Bryant of "The Guns of Will Sonnet") who puts three bullets each into two uniformed cops during the early morning breakfast hours. What McQ doesn't know is that Boyle is the one doing the killing. Later, at a rendezvous outside of a coffee shop, Boyle hands his murder weapon, a 9MM automatic pistol with a silencer over to the mystery man who lets him have it with a shotgun in the back. The mystery arises over who did the killings. Captain Kostermann (Eddie Albert) insists that radicals are behind these murders. Predictably, McQ believes that his arch nemesis Santigo (Al Letierri of "The Godfather")is to blame. As it turns out, Kostermann and McQ are both wrong! Nevertheless, this doesn't keep McQ from making an ass of himself as he stakes out Santiago's premise. A tip from a black pimp (Roger E. Mosley of "Leadbelly") provides him with information about a team of gunmen that Santiago is importing. McQ also learns about two million dollars in cocaine and heroin that is scheduled for incineration at an undisclosed location.John Sturges, who helmed "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Great Escape," maintains the suspense and tension throughout this 111 minute thriller and sets up one primary red herring in the Roman screenplay that pays off in the finale. Mind you, "McQ" is no "Dirty Harry." It doesn't address the legal complications of our flawed justice system, and the chief villain is a corporate type drug smuggler with a large company that he can hide behind as well as an expensive attorney who doesn't miss a trick.Sure, John Wayne looks a mite long in the tooth to be playing such an athletic role, but he carries himself well enough and he has a genuine character to play. Incidentally, Wayne had a chance to play "Dirty Harry," but he turned it down. He doesn't have a bank robbery scene like Clint did in "Dirty Harry," but he has a scene where he nails a fleeing hit-man named Patty Samuels dead in his tracks on a Seattle dock with a well-nigh impossible shot. "That was the greatest shot," raves a dock hand, "that I ever saw." Interestingly, this scene resembles a scene from Sturges' "The Magnificent Seven" where Brett (James Coburn) fired at a man on horse just as the rider reached the skyline. Brett blew the horseman out of the saddle. Chico rhapsodizes about the shot, but Brett explains that he was aiming for the horse but not the rider!"McQ" is an above-average thriller that every John Wayne fan must see!