Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

CrawlerChunky In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

Gurlyndrobb While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

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.

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.

SnoopyStyle Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is a tough Chicago cop on a mission to take in mobster Larkin (John Vernon). Larkin is keen on taking down Brannigan also. Brannigan goes to London to bring back Larkin for extradition only to find him gone while out on bail. Brannigan isn't convinced but his lawyer Fields (Mel Ferrer) brings them a tape of the ransom demand.John Wayne is old and dying, but he still has his iconic swagger. He's trying to do his version of Dirty Harry, but Father Time is never defeated. He looks old like grandpa trying to do action. This is especially obvious when Wayne starts a fight with Attenborough in an Irish pub. 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. He brings proper acting to this action drama. It's good that he's there because Brannigan's foil is gone for most of the movie. When the movie starts, you'd think it would be mano to mano with the evil mobster Larkin. The kidnapping plot line really screws it all up.

Wizard-8 Several years prior to this movie, John Wayne turned down the tough cop movie "Dirty Harry", which turned out to be a big hit. He must have regretted that decision, because several years later he put aside his cowboy hat and starred in two tough cop movies, "McQ" and this movie. Neither movie was a big success with critics or at the box office. 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. Indeed, the finished movie does have some genuinely amusing moments, and Wayne still had the stuff (though not as much as in past movies due to his advancing age and his expanding waistline). However, the central story is kind of a bore. The kidnapping plot is pretty thin, resulting in near- desperateness by the screenwriters to pad things out to an acceptable running time. Also, there is not much in the way of action. Indeed, Wayne's character is less of a take-charge kind of guy than other Wayne roles in other movies. Fans of the Duke will probably enjoy this movie all the same despite its shortcomings, though I think even they will admit that this is far from Wayne's greatest movies.