Leofwine_draca BRANNIGAN is an engaging fish-out-of-water cop thriller clearly modelled on DIRTY HARRY. 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. I thought this was a great little thriller, with plenty of action and suspense along the way, including shootings, assassination attempts, and even a car chase for good measure. It was directed by Douglas Hickox, of THEATRE OF BLOOD fame, and has a similarly gritty look. Judy Geeson plays Wayne's partner while the likes of John Vernon and Mel Ferrer are the bads. Watch out for Tony Robinson in a youthful comic cameo.

utgard14 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. That's not enough to deter our hero, though. 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. It moves quicker and there are some funny lines here and there. Plus everyone in the cast seems like they want to make this work, unlike McQ where nobody seemed that into it. Duke is clearly having a good time and appears more at ease with this mostly British cast than he did with many of his later films. Vets Attenborough, Vernon, and Mel Ferrer deliver as they usually do. Judy Geeson has a nice chemistry with Duke. Thankfully (given their age difference) the film never goes "there" beyond mild flirting. Lesley Anne Down plays a prostitute and Daniel Pilon is the hit man hired to kill Duke. It's not an exceptional film in any way but it is enjoyable, especially for Wayne fans who might like to see him in different surroundings than the western plateau or the battlefield.

Uriah43 When a local mobster named "Ben Larken" (John Vernon) skips bail and flies to London, "Lt. James Brannigan" (John Wayne) is sent from Chicago to bring him back. Unfortunately, during the extradition process Larken is kidnapped which results in both Lt. Brannigan and "Sir Charles Swann" (Richard Attenbourough) of Scotland Yard having to pool their resources to locate him. What neither of them realize is that a top assassin named "Gorman" (Daniel Pilon) has been hired to kill Lt. Brannigan and he is extremely tenacious in his work. He just doesn't quit. Now rather than risk ruining this movie for those who haven't seen it I will just say that this was essentially an average movie made better by the presence of John Wayne. That's not to say that the supporting cast was lackluster by any means--as they certainly performed in an adequate manner--it's just that the Duke clearly dominated this picture. Having said that I should probably add that the story itself wasn't exactly novel and this was hardly the best movie he has ever made. That being the case I rate this movie as slightly above average.

TheLittleSongbird Is it John Wayne's best movie? Far from it. Is it is his worst? Again, no. But in regard to the latter it is down there. I didn't like Brannigan at all, I tried to but it didn't work. The cinematography and location shooting are good but little else works. A big problem I regret to say is John Wayne himself. He is very miscast here, and I have only seen one other movie(The Conqueror) of where he is so out of place and disconnected. Another big problem is the story, as others have noted it tries to follow in the footsteps of (the much better) Dirty Harry, but it comes across as convoluted and dull. The script is very clunky, the action is unexciting, the film is overlong and drags and the direction is sloppy. The remainder of the cast don't make much amends either, Richard Attenborough especially comes across as too earnest and overwhelmed. So all in all, in most respects it is a clunky mess. 3/10 Bethany Cox