Charming and brutal

Absolutely amazing

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

" . . . Not stirred" best describes the audience response to "the Duke's" desperate shuffle to scuttle onto the James Bond Secret Agent 007 bandwagon. Looking more like Sylvester Stallone in ROCKY 7 than even Bond's "Q" on a bad day, the geriatric "James. James Brannigan" here appears more likely to be taken as the focus of a Public Service Announcement (PSA) on behalf of Alzheimer's Disease Awareness than someone who can be taken seriously as an international crime fighter. For instance, Wayne's "James" keeps repeating phrases from his extremely distant childhood, such as "Knock, knock" (which apparently is as far as he's able to get at his advanced age with a knock-knock joke). James allows key crime informants (such as Drexel) to be assassinated under his nose. Wayne's version of James loses track of how much alcohol he's swilling down (which could diminish his stock of Depends). James wanders from crime scenes with crucial pieces of evidence Absent-Mindedly tucked into various pockets. The only female within shouting distance of James gives him pity pecks on his cheeks. Most of Michael Caine's recent films feature this gracefully aging actor cast as a nursing home resident. Other guys who pulled punches in their 20s don't know when to quit, as BRANNIGAN proves.

Superstars just Can't Help Themselves. Usually, Late in Their Stellar Careers, They have a Tendency to Remind Us all that indeed They are Human (Fat Elvis in a ridiculous bejeweled jumpsuit anyone?). This one is from "The Duke", John Wayne.Looking Old and Dying (He was), Wayne Stops just Short of Completely Embarrassing Us and Himself. He took on another Tough Cop Role (even after the big flop McQ (1974). Helping Him along this Misstep is a Good Supporting Cast and a Decent Production.The Most Glaring Cringe is the totally Out of Time and Place, Saloon Fisticuffs. But, there is just Enough Gravitas Left in Wayne to make this Worth a Watch for Fans. Thank the Lucky Stars that He Ended His Long Career Perfectly Cast and with the Excellent Direction from Don Siegel, His Curtain Call, "The Shootist" (1976) is One that the Big Galoot Can be Proud.

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.

A lot of comments here consider that BRANNIGAN would have been a better film if Clint Eastwood had been cast instead of John Wayne . You can see the thinking behind this as the opening scene has Big John kick a door open while grinning " knock knock " lulling the audience in to thinking they're going to be watching anti-heroism in action rather than good guys versus bad guys . As the story pans out we're treated to a trans-Atlantic tale of a street wise American cop trying to solve the problems of stiff upper lip British cops and one can't help thinking John Thaw might have better cast You see this movie has a feel very much like an episode of THE SWEENEY . It has a contrast between light hearted comic scenes and bleak violence seen in the legendary British show , but where as BRANNIGAN plays up to the comic scenes such as the punch up in the pub THE SWEENEY would have had slightly more sophisticated dialogue driven humour to it . But there's more to the film than this and THE SWEENEY aspects has extends to the likes of walk on parts of familiar British TV faces such as Glover . Henney and Booth , the sort of journeymen actors you'd expect to see in this type of media so much so that every time Wayne appears in a scene you're almost taken out of the film That said however BRANNIGAN is entertaining enough . It's certainly not a great movie but at the same time doesn't play up the the sometimes nasty and bitchy rivalry Britain and America has . If you love Regan and Carter beating up slags doing a blag then you will like this film if you don't take it too seriously