McQ (1974) John Wayne was only one of a host of big stars who turned down "Dirty Harry", leaving the role to fall to Clint Eastwood, who launched himself and the film into movie history.....
The Law-Unto-Himself Rogue Cop became a staple of 1970's action cinema and Big John joined the unlawful enforcement brigade with this movie. Directed by high testosterone specialist John Sturgis ("The Great Escape", "The Magnificent Seven"), 'McQ' offers a few simple pleasures for fans of the genre.
But by the end of it, you realize you've seen it all before....and done with a lot more style and violence than this film provides.
But you'll not hear us complain a whole lot about it. Even an aging, lumbering, slow-moving John Wayne still possessed charisma to spare. Audiences grew up with him and still couldn't get enough of him.
Wayne shared the screen with two co-stars.....not people, but two spectacular pieces of equipment that almost steal the movie from him every time they appear.
First his car......a Pontiac Firebird TransAm, which Wayne's tough cop character McQ refers to as 'the Green Hornet'. No wonder someone's trying to steal it the first time we see it. The car looks like a worthy competitor to Steve McQueen's iconic "Bullitt" Ford Mustang.......and you'd better believe Wayne's stunt man drives the hell out of it.....
Secondly.........Wayne's go-to weapon of choice and it's a wham-bammer.....an Ingram MAC-10 machine pistol that sprays out 20 bullets per second. The film cleverly makes us wait until the final 10 minutes before the Duke gets pissed off enough to...uh....whip it out and let it splooge lead at the bad guys......
'McQ's plot aligned with the general fear, loathing and distrust of authority that ruled the 1970's. To his sad surprise, straight arrow Wayne discovers that hateful drug lord Santiago (Al Lettieri) has been one-upped in crime by even craftier drug money launderers within the police department.
And that's more than enough to commence the beatdowns, shootouts and chases, all of which are tailored around the not-too-light-on-his feet Wayne. The Firebird gets some nice tire-screeching time on the freeways until two giant trucks try mashing it into the size of a mini-Cooper.....with Wayne still inside of it.
The finale does serve up a well orchestrated car chase through beach surf, forcing Wayne and two carloads of bad guys to put their wipers on high power. And then at long last, comes what we sat through the movie for......the MAC-10 struts its death-dealing stuff and does not disappoint.
As we pointed out before, this film is no "Dirty Harry" or "Magnum Force" and "French Connection". It's paced like a TV cop show with not much momentum or immediacy. And sorry to say regarding Wayne, but we have to quote Danny Glover's favorite line from the 'Lethal Weapon' series......the Duke's gettin' too old for this shit.
A nice lineup of familiar faces populate the cast.....Eddie Albert as Wayne's disapproving boss, Clu Gulager as a fellow cop pal, David Huddleston as a private eye pal and even The Creature From The Black Lagoon's girlfriend Julie Adams shows up as Wayne's ex wife. Last, but certainly not least, the ever menacing Al Lettieri, who briefly reigned as the supreme villain of 70's movies before succumbing to a heart attack.
"McQ" will still stand as an absolute must for John Wayne completists and curator-collectors of 1970's action films. But for everyone else? A questionable choice, given there's so many more superior films of this era and this particular rogue cop genre to enjoy.
At BQ, we'll leave it to you. 2 & 1/2 stars (**1/2).
No comments:
Post a Comment