Build a movie plot around this: What information did the detective receive during his phone call on the boat? His longtime partner and two other police officers where shot.
Answer:
It is just before dawn in Seattle. A man dons dark glasses and gloves and loads a 9mm silenced automatic handgun. He drives into town, where he shoots a policeman (Officer Philip Forsell; in the film the character is identified only as Hyatt) on his beat, then drives to a police impound yard and shoots the officer on duty (dialogue identifies him as Wally Johnson). At a luncheonette, as he washes his hands, he momentarily flashes a police badge belonging to Detective Sgt. Stan Boyle (William Bryant). When a car pulls up, Boyle goes outside and gives the driver a satchel containing the 9mm and proceeds to his own car but is shot in the back by the unseen driver.Seattle Police Department, and the head of the homicide investigation, Captain Edward Kosterman (Eddie Albert), believe the shootings are the work of street militants; Kosterman orders an immediate dragnet.Elsewhere, Detective Lieutenant Lon "McQ" McHugh (Wayne) escapes an attempt on his life by a professional hit man named Samuels. McQ had been woken minutes before by a phone call to him on his boat, telling him of the shootings of his longtime partner and the two other police officers.Because he and Boyle had been investigating drug trafficking in the city, McQ is convinced from the start that the target of their investigation, local shipping magnate and known drug dealer Manny Santiago (Al Lettieri), is responsible for the shootings.Despite a warning from Captain Kosterman to leave the investigation to the department, McQ, after talking with Boyle's wife Lois (Diana Muldaur), gets behind the wheel of his personal Pontiac Firebird car and begins tailing Santiago. After seeing a TV news report that Boyle has died of his injuries, he rages after Santiago and beats him viciously in a men's room.When confined to desk duty by Kosterman, McQ angrily resigns, despite pleading from fellow detective Franklyn Toms (Clu Gulager). Continuing to investigate the case through a partnership with local private eye "Pinky" Farrell (David Huddleston), McQ...