I have always liked the old John Wayne. Grizzled and gruff. The years of hard drinking showing up on his face like an uninvited guest. He had been making movies for over forty years - close to 180 of them - and many of them classics; and some not. At this point he was making movies for money and nowhere is that more obvious than here. He basically goes through the motions but the thing is that he is John Wayne and he still had presence. He always had that. He just had to stand there. Ever since John Ford brought it out in that iconic shot of him in Stagecoach with the camera zooming in on him and Monument Valley lurking in the background. Wayne had been slaving away in one B Western after another - filmed in a week - and that one shot alone made him a star. Bigger than life. And he continued to be one for the rest of his life. Through turbulent times.


I grew up in the 1960's and hating Wayne was de rigueur from the liberal left. For lots of reasons. He was pro-Vietnam and uttered his share of racially charged language, He had also been a strong supporter of the Red Scare - rooting out communists in Hollywood along with his drinking buddy Ward Bond who was said "to able to smell a Commie-Jew a mile away". Wayne did his share to ruin lives. But he thought he was doing the right patriotic thing. One of the writers in this film is the son of Dalton Trumbo - one of the blacklisted - and they had to go tell Wayne to see if he objected. "Can he write" was his reply. His personal life was often messy too with three wives and multiple affairs (Marlene Dietrich being one during the shooting of Seven Sinners). He had his mistress and his wife in London while making this film. But he is still John Wayne.


He acts like an irritable bear woken from his slumber in this one. When he tries to be lightly charming it makes you cringe a bit. The film was made on the cheap with Wayne getting less than usual and a cast of solid actors but no A listers. As soon as the opening credits roll it feels like a generic cop TV show. Which had in fact been its intention with Telly Savalas as the star. But someone thought the script was too good for that and got Wayne. And it is a decent script with a plot that didn't go exactly as I expected. And you have Wayne lumbering through London causing mayhem. A good car chase and a nice stunt off the London Bridge. If you are in the right mood to turn the brain cells off, this is more than fine.



Brannigan is a Chicago cop - the old fashioned kind - we are introduced to him when he busts down a door and says "knock knock". Then he puts a gun to the man's head and demands to know where Larkin (John Vernon) is. He has skipped town. Turns out he is in London having tea and crumpets and a massage and steam bath every day. Living good. Wayne gets extradition papers to go get him. Scotland Yard with Richard Attenborough and Judy Geeson assist him. But Larkin gets kidnapped and a ransom is demanded of his lawyer (Mel Ferrar). But not before Larkin has hired a hitman to kill Brannigan. It is clunky at times - but there is not a lot of down time and thank God he doesn't romance Geeson. They include a big bar fight which must have felt right at home for the Duke. Look for a small part for Leslie-Anne Down as the prostitute. I have come to like her  - about 45 years too late.