Brannigan

Plot synopsis:
Tough Chicago Police Lieutenant Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is sent to London to extradite a notorious American gangster, Ben Larkin (John Vernon). Brannigan is assigned a local officer, Jennifer (Judy Geeson), to help while he is in London. But before Brannigan can collect his man, Larkin is kidnapped.
Larkin's finger is cut off and mailed to the police to prove how serious the kidnappers are. The mobster's lawyer, Mel Fields (Mel Ferrer), tries to arrange a ransom drop while Brannigan makes his way around London in search of Larkin. Whilst struggling to adapt to the British way of life, and the restrained style of policing, he employs techniques not usually seen in Britain.
In the meantime, a contract had already been put out on Brannigan's life by Larkin, so hit man Gorman (Daniel Pilon) tails Brannigan in a black Jaguar, making several attempts to kill him and nearly shooting Jennifer by mistake.
Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough), in charge of helping get Larkin to America, is a stuffy, titled, upper class Metropolitan Police commander who's not afraid to get his hands dirty. There is continual conflict between Brannigan and Swann about the American's carrying, and use of, his .38 Colt Diamondback revolver.
Permitted to go alone to deliver the ransom payment, Fields personally eliminates the kidnappers. He and Larkin celebrate having pulled off a scheme to get the money, Larkin calling the loss of a finger a small price to pay. Brannigan bursts in to foil their plans. As he and Jennifer walk away, Gorman tries to mow them down with his car, but he is shot by Brannigan, who can now return home to Chicago.

Tags: comedy, revenge, humor, murder, violence

Review:
A year after looking silly starring in the Dirty Harry clone "McQ," John Wayne gave the modern-day cop thriller another try to much better effect in "Brannigan," a fine vehicle for the aging legend.
Brannigan also spends a great deal of the film dodging a hit man whom Larkin hired prior to his kidnapping.What follows is an amusing, and low-key, caper that is culminated by a well-choreographed chase through the streets of London, a hilarious bar brawl, and several attacks by the hit man, including one in which Jenny is almost killed.
He was likable, frank, good-natured, decent, down-to-earth, and tough -- "so damn solid," as Geeson's character put it (to which he replied, "Fat, you mean") in a nice, genuine scene where Brannigan talked about wanting to catch the hood responsible for killing his rookie partner because it was his duty to protect the kid even though, no matter how "nice a story" it would make if the kid had been like a son to him, he had not even liked the "smart-aleck" kid.
What gives it a boost is the strong supporting cast headed by leading British 'luvvie', Richard "Dickie" Attenborough and the good use of London locations including Tower Bridge which is utilised in an above average car chase.
Also there is a large-scale brawl in a city pub ( in Leadenhall Market) which is a direct transfer from a saloon of one of the Duke's innumerable westerns.Tough Chicago cop, Jim Brannigan, is sent to London to extradite notorious American gangster, Ben Larkin, but before he can collect him, Larkin is kidnapped and Brannigan spends the rest of his time chasing around London in search of his quarry.
In the meantime, a contract has been put out on Brannigan's life by Larkin to prevent him from being extradited.Though menouvring his way around London like a big vintage Cadillac, John Wayne lends his unique blend of charm and charisma and inevitably, he is given most of the best lines in what is a lively screenplay.
This is vintage John Wayne and there is no harm in this as he was very good at what he did and as a consequence he has a devoted following of movie fans around the world.Richard Attenborough gives sterling support as the (on the surface)stuffy, upper-class Metroplitan Police Commander not afraid to get his hands dirty .
Look out too for an appearance by Tony Blair's father-in-law, Tony Booth, as a small time con given the 'good cop-bad cop' treatment.Humorous, though a little bloody, 'Brannigan' is good entertainment and if you are a fan of the Duke, it is well worth adding the DVD to your collection.
Lieutenant Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is sent to London to extradite an extortionist called Ben Larkin.
However, things become more complicated when Larkin is abducted by some hoods and at the same time, Gorman (Daniel Pilon), a contract killer is out to kill Brannigan.Exciting, fast-paced and slickly directed by Douglas Hickox who directed Oliver Reed in "Sitting Target" (1972 - see my review), and in common with that film, his direction has the right feel for tough guy thrillers employing the right actors and staging some fantastic action scenes such as a marvelous pub brawl in a London bar.
Great performances from John Wayne as Brannigan and Richard Attenbrough as the commander of Scotland Yard frustrated at the former's police methods which seem unorthodox by British standards.
In fact by the time Brannigan came out, Eastwood had two of them already done.I suspect that John Wayne was also looking for modern stories for reasons of health.
Vernon's lawyer Mel Ferrer arrives from Chicago to pay the ransom.It's a merry chase from then on and while the ending is no kind of surprise the film is a lot of fun.Richard Attenborough makes an effective British foil for Wayne's all American hero.
Nicely directed by Douglas Hickox, and complemented by lots of good supporting performances, it is also entertaining in patches.Chicago cop, and all-round hard man Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is ordered to fly out to London, England, to bring back bail-skipping gangster Ben Larkin (John Vernon).
Aided by stiff-lipped Scotland Yard detective Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough), Brannigan attempts to track down the kidnappers so that he can get hold of his man.Wayne looks pretty old for this kind of energetic action stuff, but he has a certain rugged charisma that allows him to more-or-less get away with it.
The supporting cast is generally very good - Attenborough registers well as the Scotland Yard detective; Judy Geeson looks lovely and has a good role as the lady assigned to look after Brannigan during his stay; Vernon adds another unpleasant bad guy to his villains' gallery; and little-known Daniel Pilon has the best scenes in the film as a genuinely evil hit-man assigned to erase Brannigan.
It's just good old-fashioned fun!By the way, according to Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies, John Wayne was offered the role of Dirty Harry BEFORE it was given to Eastwood!
In Brannigan, Wayne plays the role of Jim Brannigan, an American cop who goes to London to capture a runaway fugitive played by John Vernon.
This may not be one of his top films, but it's a piece of slick entertainment with a good script and some clever lines and situations.He may have been sixty-eight when he did BRANNIGAN, but he was still convincing enough as a "kick butt" cop transplanted rather suddenly to ye olde London and coping with some shrewd and cunning kidnappers demanding a great deal of ransom money.
In addition, he has to cope with RICHARD ATTENBOROUGH as the police chief who doesn't like Wayne's Yankee ways.It's a tale that gets off to a brisk start and never stops feeling like a spin off from a "Dirty Harry" movie starring Clint Eastwood.
In fact, given Wayne's age, Clint probably would have been a more suitable, age appropriate choice for the leading role here--but Wayne still had enough energy and spirit to play the part in his usual style.JOHN VERNON and DANIEL PILON make an interesting pair of villains, as does MEL FERRER as a crooked lawyer who's in on the kidnapping scheme.
John Wayne plays the titular character in the 1975 cop film "Brannigan" and this film, unfortunately, is not one of the Duke's best.
Brannigan and the London police force, led by Commander Swan (Richard Attenborough) must try to save him and dodge assassination attempts made by the enemy.This is a fine plot in a film that just doesn't quite work.
"Brannigan" has slow pacing, not much in the action category, and it's quite clear that it's trying desperately to top off with the classic action cop movies like "Dirty Harry" (1971) even down to the music score, which resembles Lalo Schifrin's score from the mentioned Clint Eastwood film.
I recently watched the reruns of two action movies, McQ & Brannigan, both starring John Wayne, on cable TV.
He was sent to London to bring back an American mobster on the run, Ben Larkin, (played by John Vernon) & along the way he got entangled with the conservative work-style of Scotland Yard.Despite his age, John Wayne was really remarkable in both roles.
The dialogue in both movies was witty, too.In Brannigan, one could see how big & tall John Wayne was, when he was in London among the crowd.
Here Big John Wayne/Jim Brannigan takes on London in Chicago Style .
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 .
If their departments required a primary weapon to be say a .38 calibre or .357 magnum, they would get them for use as a secondary weapon.So it came to pass that one Marion Michael Morrison, having been in the Picture business for nearly 50 years, as John Wayne of course, was into portraying that "Loose Cannon" or "Rogue Cop." In 1974, it was "McQ" with the 'Duke' as a Dirty Harry-type Detective involved with trying to expose some internal conspiracy within the Seattle Police Department.That brings us up to 1975 and "BRANNIGAN".
In short, Lt. Brannigan (it's Jim or Joe, because continuity dropped the ball leaving him with this dual identity problem.) is to travel to London, England in order to extradite one Big Time Yank Hood, Ben Larkin (John Vernon).
The plot has been seen many times in other movies - "Black Rain" comes to mind - but its a formula that works, so check this one out if you want to kill a couple hours watching an older John Wayne in a non-western.
Tough Chicago cop Brannigan (John Wayne) goes to London to extradite an American criminal named Larkin (John Vernon) but the bad guy is seemingly kidnapped before Brannigan can get to him.
He's determined to get his man, no matter how many British toes he has to step on to do so, including those of a stuffy police commander (Richard Attenborough).A fun 'fish out of water' movie for John Wayne; his second attempt to duplicate Clint Eastwood's success at moving from westerns to police thrillers.
It's a better movie than Wayne's previous attempt at a Dirty Harry-style cop flick the year before, the underwhelming McQ.
Chicago detective John Wayne (as Jim Brannigan) tracks an escaped gangster to London; then, it's culture clash time as he partners up with relatively young Judy Geeson (as Jennifer), and knocks heads with Richard Attenborough (as Commander Swann).
Mel Ferrer, John Vernon, and Daniel Pilon are fine as villains; in fact, you may cruelly root for them to win.At this point in his career, outfitting Mr. Wayne as "Dirty Harry" in London was a woefully ill-conceived idea.
** Brannigan (3/25/75) Douglas Hickox ~ John Wayne, Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson.
It looks like old fashion ol' western saloon brawl from the 50s.Cmdr Swann (Richard Attenborough) is the proper London cop who is working on the Larkin case.
A lot of comments here consider that BRANNIGAN would have been a better film if Clint Eastwood had been cast instead of John Wayne .
***SPOILERS*** John Wayne as Chicago cop Lt. James Brannigan is sent off to the UK to expedite Chigago hood Ben Larkin, John Vernon, who among his other crimes was responsible for the death of Bargginan's partner who he was trying to brake in.
For all the things that made McQ work, there's Brannigan to show you what not to do with John Wayne at the end of his career.
While some folks might scoff at Wayne's foray into the cop genre with McQ (and they're wrong, damn it!), simple scoffing can't come close to adequately denigrating this ridiculous mess of a tough-Yank-goes-to-London-to-set-them-Limeys-straight crime drama.From the horrendously dubbed voices to the nose-thumbing at British law, from the clichés and forced humor and Judy Gleeson hugging the Duke saying something about him being "so damn solid" (and don't forget the hit man who matches Inspector Clouseau for incompetence), you're going to be asking .
Wayne's character, Lieutenant Jim Brannigan, is a Chicago policeman sent to London to escort Ben Larkin, a fugitive gangster, back to America.
Several years prior to this movie, John Wayne turned down the tough cop movie "Dirty Harry", which turned out to be a big hit.
I don't remember "McQ" that much, so I'll stick with critiquing "Brannigan" Certainly, the premise of the movie - tough American cop Wayne in jolly old England - did have great possibilities.
The Queen had best be prepared because the man who settled the wild west and had such a hand in winning WWII is touching down on her little isle.Nearly a sequel to the Duke's 'McQ' (not to say he didn't have acting range), the story didn't stretch the character, while it did actually make for a rather good whodunnit story.Typical of the 'cop' vehicles of the time, a good mix of action, drama and a bit of the blood.A little lengthly, but definitely a popcorn movie.Only Wayne's second 'policeman' film, and great genre film like 'Dirty Harry hits England'..
In fact the on screen pairing of both Duke and Attenborough was a stroke of genius as the two men play of each other very well, their scenes are well written and there's an undeniable energy and excitement these scenes.Brannigan will never be remembered as one of John Wayne's best movies which is perhaps accurate, however it is also not remembered as a good movie which is completely unfair, it has some great scenes, interesting characters and a good storyline, it certainly deserves a much better reputation than it currently has..
After the success of MCQ(1974),John Wayne decided to make another cop movie,this time going into partnership with Wellborn Limited,Levy-Gardner-Laven and United Artists,the result was an action masterpiece known as BRANNIGAN.Brannigan is brilliant and one of the best action movies of all time,it's got a great and brilliant storyline,fantastic acting and characters,hilarious one liners and legendary action scenes.The storyline is kept simple and it feels like it's come right out of a 70s cop TV series and John Wayne is brilliant as Jim Brannigan,whom he puts his all into playing,Richard Attenborough is equally good as Brannigans partner Commander Swann.The picture contains elements of comedy,One liners like That's Right Commander,You Can't Get A Decent Hamburger Any Place and Get Brannigan Out Of There,Use A Forklift If You Have To really bring the movie to life,the scene in which Brannigan pushes a young Tony Robinson into the River Thames is painfully funny,but the funniest scene of all has got to be where Brannigan bursts into a bookmakers house,slams hims face down on a table and says I Would Talk If I Were You,Not Unless You Want To Pay For Englands Free Dental Care,this scene is comedy gold,by the end of the movie you will be in tears from laughter,but you have to see it to appreciate it.There's plenty of action to enjoy,there's car chases,shootouts and an epic brawl inside a pub,the car chase is really funny as the duke steals a civilians car and causes havoc on our British roads,skidding around bends at breakneck speed and finally making a breathless leap across an closing/opening Tower Bridge,later remarking The View From Tower Bridge Was Terrific,honestly,you'll laugh your heart out.There's another car scene at the end of the film,it's not really a chase but it's still very exciting,after the duke has taken care of the bad guys,a mysterious assassin in a sports car turns up and races at the duke while trying to run him down,but the duke is able to shoot the driver in the head with his magnum,sending the car flying over the edge of a ramp and exploding into flames,very exhilarating stuff.The brawl is one of the greatest movie fight scenes ever as 50+ men beat each other to a pulp with the duke and Commander Swann joining in on the fun,the funniest part of this scene is where some poor Joe is repeatedly thrown against a Jukebox,changing the tune each time,during the chaos,chairs and bottles are thrown,people are sent crashing through bannisters to the ground below and some guy is thrown right across the bar,it's one of the greatest scenes ever to be seen in a movie,the other action scenes are a shootout in which the mysterious guy in the sports car tries to kill the duke with a small machine gun but the duke smashes a window,fires shots at the car and sends it screaming down the road wishing it had never picked on him(part of this scene is done in slow motion,making it really funny),other action includes exploding toilets and exploding flower vases,Brannigan contains some of the greatest action scenes ever filmed.The soundtrack is very good,Brannigan is a lot better than the dukes previous cop drama,Mcq,if you want a good laugh and lots of action,this is your movie,i highly recommend this film to all fans of John Wayne and action movies.A gem..
He and Brannigan go like chalk and cheese and it's just hilarious to watch.John Wayne films are known to have jokes and funny one-liners but none have as much as this classic.
The work of art on wheels is blue :)The film was made 4 years before the Duke's death.Like all John Wayne films it involves guns, so i would recommend it as a 15+ movie..
BRANNIGAN is a routinely plotted late vehicle for John Wayne,not in the saddle as you'd usually expect but in 1970's London.The location and the sight of Wayne in such unexpected surroundings is easily the strongest element of the film.The uninspired script and story (about pursuing gangster John Vernon) is somewhat compensated with some well handled action,some decent light relief,and the sheer spectacle of Wayne sharing scenes with familiar British character actors,a highly unusual and rather fascinating occurrence.Richard Attenborough is his main co-star here,along with Judy Geeson,who gives a good account of herself despite what is a basically underwritten and pointless role,but who would have thought that the Duke would ever share scenes with such actors as John Stride,Tony Booth,Del Henney and Tony Robinson?
In deference to John Wayne's legendary film career in Westerns, Turner Classic Movies moderator Ben Mankiewicz stated that you could move "Brannigan" out West and it would work.
A larger-than-life John Wayne plays the jaded American cop sent to London to bring down a crime lord, and an ensemble cast of familiar faces from the era either help or hinder him along the way.
Judy Geeson plays Wayne's partner while the likes of John Vernon and Mel Ferrer are the bads.