McQ (1974)

Perfectly adorable

Highly Overrated But Still Good

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

With the success of "Dirty Harry" in 1971, there were bound to be lots of imitators, and "McQ" is one of them. After his officer best friend is killed, McQ (Wayne) is told by his boss (Eddie Albert) to forget about the murder and let the police investigate. So…McQ resigns from the police force, drives around in a sports car, carries an automatic weapon, and destroys the bad guys in a climatic shootout on a beach. Sound familiar?This ponderous, heavy-handed film tries to turn John Wayne into Dirty Harry, and it doesn't even come close. Wayne tries, but he's way too old for his role. Albert comes off much better as his boss Capt. Kosterman but he can't possibly save this turkey. You might want to watch the movie to see Wayne in his late 60s trying to act half his age, but it just doesn't work. This is one of Duke's late-career misfires.

Not a great movie but a good one. The Duke is too old for his part, he was much better served by the following year's Brannigan, but he gruffs his way through. The story is standard and not too difficult to figure out but if you are a fan of crime movies this is an acceptable time filler. Where it fails is in the wasting of three talented actresses Diana Muldaur, underused, Colleen Dewhurst, although she comes across the most strongly it is more the power of her personality and presence than anything she's given to work with in a throwaway part, and Julie Adams, she and Wayne have a good rapport in their one scene and you have a feeling there is more to their story but then she is gone from the film.

The duke had played soldiers,Generals,cowboys,sheriffs,lawmen,adventurers,outlaws and even Genghis Kahn,but he never before had played a cop,this makes Mcq a turning point in his career.Three years previous,John Wayne had wanted to play Dirty Harry,but he was too old and the role went to a younger Clint Eastwood,so he made this crime drama with his own studio Batjac,and i must say it's pretty good.The storyline is good enough and very straightforward,but the same idea has been used in at least a dozen other cop actioners(corruption within the police force,police officers being killed off by other police officers,sounds like 1973s MAGNUM FORCE),but there's a bit of a mystery and you have to work out who's behind it all,you must keep thinking and in the end it turns out to be the last person you'd expect,this strengthens the plot a little.The action scenes are brilliant,there's two excellent and very fast paced car chases and some shootouts.The car chase at the end of the movie is the best part as it involves two cars racing along a seashore and zooming up ramps and flying in the air and results in one of the cars crashing and tumbling over,this is followed by a small shootout in which all the bad guys are shot to death.The car chase through the streets of Seattle is just as good and there's plenty of skidding and rubber burning,other smaller action scenes include a car being crushed between two monster trucks and a police car exploding and a shootout at a factory,the action scenes are very satisfactory and will keep action buffs happy.The soundtrack is brilliant and John Wayne does a great job as the renegade cop,this is one of his more obscure films and dosen't really feel like a John Wayne film at all,the film drags a little and there's some unnecessary dialogue scenes that have nothing to do with the main plot whatsoever and deserve to be cut from the movie,otherwise this is an excellent film and i highly recommend it to John Wayne and action movie fans.It is a great film,but it's not half as good as it's follow up BRANNIGAN.

Originally turning down the role of 'Dirty Harry Callahan', Wayne was given another shot by Warner Bros. to play his first 'policeman' role in the legendary career.Not out of his league by any means, the Duke definitely fills the bitter seen it all lost my partners kill some drug dealers genre cop of the early 1970's.Not so much a rip-off of 'Dirty Harry' as a different take on the idea. Just as Eastwood's character was another take on 'Bullit'.The story moves along and doesn't skimp on much, definitely bring the popcorn and maybe one quick bathroom break.