Celebrate the Drive-In: Coffy

Celebrate the Drive-In is a tribute to a beloved venue of the past. During it's heyday, a trip to the drive-in was one of my favorite things, both on the rare occasions as a child, and in my early adulthood. This blog is going to celebrate Drive-In Day (Jun 6) with a series of movies that I was too young to see (or in a couple of cases, not even born yet) that I wish I could've experienced in a drive-in. Keep coming back for the entire week as there will be one per day for the duration.

 

Women! Can't live with them, can't shoot them! Presenting the next Coming Attraction! Coffy!

 

 

One of the tropes of the era of 70's film was the one termed as "blaxploitation". For a brief period from about 1969 to 1979 Hollywood attempted to appeal to a sector of the populace, the black audience, by producing films that were supposed to draw in a viewership of the country that did not find movie figures that it could relate to in the standard fare of the day.  

Blaxploitation is a portmanteau word, combining "black" and "exploitation". It was coined by Junius Griffin, the leader of the Beverly Hills NAACP. It was not meant to be a complimentary word. Griffin was pointing out that, by making movies that depicted blacks as power figures in the community, but as mainly working in the criminal world, was no better than the previous tradition of depicting them as subservient.

The Hollywood machine was influenced by the rising Black Power movement in this respect. The idea did have some merit, whether or not their hearts were in the right place. The basic idea was to present black people as being in control of their own destinies, without having to answer to "The Man" (the white people). While it did provide an outlet for the populace to see black people in more prominent roles, it wasn't necessarily well received by said populace.

Among the people who spoke out against this new trend was Jesse Jackson, who criticized the trend because it tended to promote a different type of stereotype, making the black person a caricature in a different form. Instead of the "yassuh, boss" caricature, the films promoted the idea that black people were violent hypersexual criminals. Often in these films the main character was working in unsavory roles; pimps, pushers, etc.

On some rare occasions the main character would be a character working on the right side of the law, but even those characters would often be less scrupulous about their actions than their white counterparts. Shaft featured Richard Roundtree as a private detective who had no qualms about taking the law into his own hands. Truck Turner starred Isaac Hayes as a bounty hunter and Black Belt Jones had Jim Kelly going head to head with the Mafia, both of which had their hearts in the right place, even if the execution of their ideals would have caused Superman to recoil in shock.

Rarer still were the use of females in starring roles. Pam Grier made a career out starring in these kinds of films, and her characters were often characterized as "embodying strength, style and resilience". She was one of the first, if not the first female action star. She got her start in the "women in prison" genre with such films as The Big Doll House (her first starring role), Women in Cages and The Big Bird Cage. But she started getting recognition for her potential in action movies with Coffy and Friday Foster.

In terms of blaxploitation films, I think many of her films helped to make the genre more accessible to people like me. She was not on the side of the criminal. Most often she was more of a vigilante, seeking justice in a world where "justice" was a mythical concept. That's why I chose Coffy as a choice for Celebrate the Drive-In Week. Her character in the film has some ideals that appealed to me, even if often she strayed into areas that the law-abiding public might frown on.

Grier went on to many other significant roles. You may remember she made appearances at The Midnite Drive-In several times. She was Wendell Jones' wife in Greased Lightning. She was a former cohort of Snake Plissken in Escape from L.A. She was also in Mars Attacks! and Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey.  She was a favorite of Quentin Tarantino, who cast her as the lead in Jackie Brown in 1997. And as recent as 2023 she was still active, appearing in Pet Semetary: Bloodlines.

By the way, a side note, in case you didn't know: Pam Grier is the sister of Rosey Grier, the former NFL football star turned actor, who made his debut at The Midnite Drive-In last year in The Thing with Two Heads. 

 

    

Coffy (1973):

The protagonist (I hesitate to use the word"hero") of this film is a woman who goes by the name of "Coffy". Her last name is Coffin, so the appellation appears to be derived from that. (Elsewhere I read her name is Flower Child Coffin, but I don't recall it being mentioned in the film...) Coffy is a woman with a mission.

 

 

The first time we meet Coffy is after a man called Grover (Mwako Cumbuka), enters a bar and tells his boss, Sugarman (Morris Buchanan), that he has a surprise waiting for him in his car. When Sugarman gets to the car he finds a woman desperate for a drug fix, willing to "do anything" to get said fix. It turns out, however, that she is just faking it to lure the two to a private session of her own brand of "justice". She executes both of them.

 

Sugarman and Grover

Coffy, in her private life, is a nurse. Her sister, LuBelle, has become a heroin addict, due to LuBelle's dealer, Sugarman. Coffy is determined to rid the world of those she deems responsible.  But Sugarman is only the beginning. As usual in movies like this there are higher ups that are running the show.

Coffy has a friend on the police force, Carter (William Elliot), and at one point she seems on the verge of revealing everything she has been doing in her vigilante role to him. But she backs away at the point, only hinting at the idea that the evil doers dealing drugs in the black community deserve death. 

 

Coffy and Carter having coffee

 

She also has a boyfriend, Howard (Booker Bradshaw), who is an up and comer in the world of politics. He is a city councilman on the verge of being elected to Congress. 

 

Coffy's boyfriend, Howard

 

She continues on her goal, eventually working her way into the "stable" of prostitutes run by a character called King George (Robert DoQui). This is primarily to get in contact with her ultimate drug kingpin goal, Vitroni (Allan Arbus). But in so doing she is also looking to gum up George's drug dealing. She substitutes sugar for his heroin stash.

Coffy and King George

 

Eventually she does get called to Vitroni's house, because Vitroni likes a certain type of girl which Coffy pretends to be to get inside. 

Coffy and Vitroni

 

But her ruse is discovered and she ends up being held captive. And just before Vitroni sends his henchman, Omar (Sid Haig) out on a quest to kill her, she finds out that her "loyal to the people" boyfriend Howard is not all that honest as a politician. 

 

Vitroni and Omar

Of course, Coffy manages to escape her captors and exacts more of her vigilante justice. Including that traitor of a boyfriend...

Despite the drug connection that seemed to be a part and parcel of the typical blaxploitation film, this one has several things that set it apart. For one, it has a resounding anti-drug message. And, of course, there is the fact that the main character is a woman as opposed to the generic male dominated movie. Up until this point women usually played secondary roles that were typical in lots of movies of this type.  Grier, I think, opened the door for many movies yet to come, where a female character could carry the load that was typically left to only male protagonists.

You should be forewarned, however, that the film is not without some titillating (no pun intended) scenes. In other words, several scenes with topless women. This film, being firmly entrenched in the drive-in milieu of the 70's, almost HAD to have that. But the good thing is (almost) none of it comes off as exploitative. They all happen in character with the situation at hand. Both Grier (on screen) and director Jack Hill (off screen) play these scenes well. Occasionally they may come off as a little unnecessary (I refer basically to the all out "catfight" scene in the brothel here; not the brawl itself, just that the ripping of the dresses may not have been all necessary). 

The only real objection I have to the film is the way that Vitrioni and Omar take out King George, believing that George was responsible for sending Coffy to kill him. I won't reveal here what happens, but it absolutely shocking in its execution.

 

Outside of Grier the rest of the cast is pretty unremarkable. But: Does Robert DoQui look familiar? He had pretty extensive career playing cops, but many of you who watch the same kinds of movies I do may immediately recognize him; he was the Detroit police sergeant in charge in the RoboCop films. Allan Arbus may also trigger a "hey, I know that guy!" thought. He was the psychiatrist in several episodes of the TV series M*A*S*H*. And Sid Haig menaced a lot of people in secondary roles throughout his career. None of them really stand out here, however, but that doesn't mean they were just flashes in the pan.

Don't go into this film expecting too much. As a vigilante movie. it pretty much toes the line established in movies that came before it and followed it, plot wise. You should go into it, however, expecting to see the potential from it's lead actress, who surely impacted many actresses who came after her. Is Coffy her best movie? Hardly. But she does put up a good performance.

Until next time, drive safely, folks. Remember, drugs are bad for you. And so are women with a grudge. Come back tomorrow for  Hot Rod Girl! 

Quiggy

  

Celebrate the Drive-In Week: The Born Losers

Celebrate the Drive-In is a tribute to a beloved venue of the past. During it's heyday, a trip to the drive-in was one of my favorite things, both on the rare occasions as a child, and in my early adulthood. This blog is going to celebrate Drive-In Day (Jun 6) with a series of movies that I was too young to see (or in a couple of cases, not even born yet) that I wish I could've experienced in a drive-in. Keep coming back for the entire week as there will be one per day for the duration.

 

It's a bad day when you wake up and a band of outlaw bikers are creating havoc in your home town. Presenting the next Coming Attraction! The Born Losers!

 

 

The legend of Billy Jack may not be readily apparent if you were born after about 1980. The Tom Laughlin created character of Billy Jack first appeared in The Born Losers, but his cache of appeal wasn't readily apparent until the sequel, Billy Jack. It was then that the character became something of a counterculture hero.  But even in the first outing for Billy Jack, the reluctant fighter for the rights of the downtrodden comes out.

According to history, Tom Laughlin and his wife, Delores Foster, came up with the story of Billy Jack back in the 1950's. The story that the pair wanted to tell was of an outcast veteran who used his skills to help young people from a corrupt system. (Essentially the plot of Billy Jack, except, I guess, the "veteran" was a WWII veteran at the time.) 

But Laughlin and Foster couldn't find any reputable studio willing to take a gamble. The 50's establishment in Hollywood, still operating under the repressive censorship established by Joseph Breen and the Hays code were unwilling to touch that particular keg of dynamite. But by the time the late 60's rolled around, with America dealing with much larger issues like campus unrest and a war that almost nobody wanted to continue, the doors became open a little wider.

The pair decided to take a new slant on the theme to begin with, however. As one reviewer I read says they decided to try to "ease in" and make the first film more commercially palatable. (Not sure if the end result was all that much "easier" to swallow than the first idea, but then, you can't argue that they didn't make it more "commercial"...) For one thing, our hero is now a disillusioned veteran of that less than popular war in Vietnam.

Laughlin had a new co-writer for this script, his eventual co-star in the film, Elizabeth James. The script they hashed out is based loosely on a real event. A band of Hell's Angels motorcycle club had gotten into trouble in the early 60's. Two members of the gang had been arrested in Monterrey, California for the rape of two teenage girls. In that incident, much like the story behind the film, the charges were dropped due to a lack of concrete evidence. (Whether or not that was because the motorcycle gang intimidated people in the real life incident is not mentioned in the article I read, as it was in part of the film).

The film company that produced The Born Losers was American International Pictures, which had a history of producing counterculture biker movies, but they had problems with this one, some of which had to do with financial oversights in the production, but also because the company had a difficult relationship with Laughlin, who insisted on creative control and conflicted with the studio's bottom line of "get it made and get it made cheap". So the three sequels were instead made under a different company.

  

 

The Born Losers (1967):

A biker gang, The Born Losers, headed by Danny (Jeremy Slate), have been terrorizing the small town of Big Rock. When a local accidentally bumps into one of the bikes with his car, the bikers beat the crap out of him. 

 

None of the locals have the guts to step in, but Billy Jack (Tom Laughlin), a loner ex-Green Beret who happens to be in town steps in. The bikers end up being arrested, but they also arrest Billy Jack, whose only crime apparently was doing the job the police SHOULD have done.

 

The bikers get off with basically a slap on the wrist, but the judge slaps Billy Jack with a heavy fine. As a result he has to sell his jeep to come up with the money, otherwise spend some time in jail. Billy Jack has had some dealings before with Danny. (Not sure, since it's never actually stated, but I think either they were in high school together or possibly they both served time in the Vietnam War).

 

The bikers figure they have the  upper hand in town, and as a result they eventually rape a couple of the town girls. Devastated by the actions as they are, the girls refuse the pleas to testify against the biker gang. The D.A. (Paul Bruce) and the Sheriff (Stewart Lancaster) are frustrated by this, of course, but the bikers' intimidation tactics are very thorough. They convince the girls and their families that it would be better for their safety to just lay low, or maybe even leave town. 

The coming of a new girl in town, Vicki (Elizabeth James), is a new twist on the bikers however. She, too, is a victim of the illicit sexual tactics of the band of outlaws. When the D.A. tries to approach her she seems willing to help, but only if the authorities can guarantee her safety. Unfortunately the authorities cannot convince her she would be completely safe. But maybe Billy Jack can.

 

 

Initially Billy Jack is only trying to confront the gang because they raided his mobile home and stole his stash of money he had hidden there (Billy Jack doesn't trust banks... and there is a trope that always bugs me.  Why do these loners always mistrust banks?) Billy Jack confronts the gang and demands they return his money, and that apparently is his only motivation. But in the process he develops a little bit of care for the downtrodden Vicki, a foreshadowing of the character he becomes in the sequels. The character gradually becomes a hero of sorts defending the underdog. The fact that a peace loving individual resorts to violence in order to promote peace was a source of consternation among some critics, but the character of Billy Jack gradually comes to be the kind of antihero that not only found a following in the 60's and 70's but even finds a following in today's society.

A couple of familiar faces show up during this movie. Jack Starrett, who plays the deputy, will be familiar as the sadistic deputy who gets on Rambo's wrong side in the first First Blood film.

Starrett as the Deputy

Starrett in First Blood 

 

And Robert Tessier, who may be familiar from The Longest Yard and Breakhart Pass made his film debut here, as Cueball (albeit before he shaved his head...) 

 

Tessier as Cueball

Tessier in The Longest Yard

Tessier in Breakhart Pass

 
Also appearing in a brief role is pin-up icon Jane Russell as the mother of one of the victims.

 

The film was a modest success, financially.  It went over budget as far as AIP was concerned, but even so, with a cost of $2 million to produce it managed to pull in over $35 million at the box office. It was not particularly well received by the critics. Many of them, like Leonard Maltin,  citing the aforementioned criticism of using violence to promote an anti-violence message. Bosley Crowther, in his review, also said it was "difficult to have empathy for the victimized youngsters after seeing them half-naked in beachwear, coyly edging up to the cyclists".

The Born Losers is a tough movie to watch if you are remotely sensitive to any objectifying of women, even if the message of the film is that that objectifying on the part of the cyclists is not acceptable (as opposed to some of the typical drive-in movies of the day which tried to make titillation a rite of passage of young men of the day). One of the most difficult parts of the film is when one of the girls who were victims says that she and the other girls wanted to be a part of the gangs' activities, and thus were not "raped".

While I like The Born Losers as an introduction to a character that I really liked in the sequel, Billy Jack, I would submit that this may not be a movie for all people. If you found Easy Rider a difficult movie to like, you probably will be turning off The Born Losers before Billy Jack ever begins to show he's got a pair. But if you can get over the stark images that the movie presents, it is worth a look. Fortunately the movie shies away from actually showing the sexual aspect (except for a few scenes with the girls wearing bikinis, there is not that is much overtly titillating in the film).

That wraps up today's movie. Drive safely, folks. Don't hit any motorcyclists while backing out. Come back tomorrow for Day of the Triffids!

Quiggy

 

Semiquincentennial Movie Project #4: Gator

 

 

 

The Semiquincentennial  Movie Project is an ongoing celebration of the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States. During the course of this project your humble blogger is choosing a movie a week to represent each of the 50 states in the Union, as well as a movie scheduled for 4th of July weekend that will represent the nation's capitol, Washington D.C. The order of the weekly entries will coincide with the order of each state's entry into the fold (although, not necessarily coinciding with the date of their entry into said fold).

 

 

 

Week #4: Georgia -

 

The state of Georgia was established on January 2, 1788.

Details about Georgia:

State bird: brown thrasher

State flower: Cherokee rose    

State tree: live oak

Additional historical trivia:

Georgia is the home of the vaunted peanut, and our  39th U.S. President, Jimmy Carter, was a peanut farmer in the state prior to his political career.

The stove top waffle iron, the cotton gin and even Coca Cola, are all products that first saw the light of day in the state. 

Georgia is one of only three states that proudly displays the motto "In God We Trust" on it,

Some famous people from Georgia: Jimmy Cater (of course), Martin Luther King, Jackie Robinson, Jeff Foxworthy and Ray Charles all were born in the state.   

 

 

Gator (1976): 

Gator is actually a sequel to White Lightning, the 1973 film that introduced the character of "Gator" McKlusky. That film features Gator as a moonshine still operator who goes undercover to help trap other moonshiners. But Gator is no flunky for the government. His real goal is to get revenge on a crooked sheriff who killed his younger brother.

 

After the end of White Lightning, Gator was essentially a free man,  and went back to his old lifestyle. Meanwhile at the capitol building, the governor of the state, played by Mike Douglas, is ranting about how he looks in the press because of that one degenerate county in the state. What county? Why Dunston County, home of Gator.

But the governor has a man that may be able to help, Irving Greenfield (Jack Weston). Greenfield is touted as one of the top agents in the Federal government. Greenfield has a plan. 

 

The key to solving the dilemma with Greenfield is to somehow nullify the influence of the county bigwig (and top crime boss) "Bama" McCall (Jerry Reed). What Greenfield proposes is getting the help of a recent parolee, our friend "Gator", to help bring in McCall.

 

Of course, catching Gator is going to be half the battle. Because he knows the swamps better than just about anybody, and can run through that stuff like a cottonmouth in the brush. But eventually the Greenfield crew do run down Gator. Since Gator is almost assuredly running moonshine again and a third conviction would send him away for a loooong time, Greenfield thinks he's got Gator by the cajones. 

 

But Gator is not quite ready to throw in with the Feds. That is, until Greenfield threatens to send Gator's dad Ned (John Steadman) to jail for moonshining, and putting his daughter, Susie (Lori Futch) into foster care. See, Greenfield already has them, even if not under arrest, and if Gator refuses to help bring Bama McCall in, he's going to be one lonely man with all hi family out of the picture. (As usual, these Feds play dirty...)

 

So Greenfield takes Gator to Dunston County, where it turns out that he and Bama were old buddies. Bama is willing to let Gator come in on his operations. See, Bama is a wheeler dealer in town, running all kinds of shady operations. Be forewarned! Jerry Reed is Bama, and if your only connection to Jerry Reed is a good 'ol boy who is harmless, like Cledus in the Smokey and the Bandit films, or J. D. Reed in the TV series Concrete Cowboys, you are NOT gonna like Bama... He's a lowlife of the first order. 

Bama has all kinds of crime in his milieu, like extortion, corruption, selling drugs. Gator is not entirely OK with this, but he is willing to go along with for a while. But then he discovers the really bad vice that Bama is into... prostitution.  And not prostitution with what would be at least normal, if not acceptable. See, Bama's big prostitution ring consists of underage girls. This really disgusts Gator and he tells Bama he wants out.

 

But Bama is not the kind of guy to just turn his back and ignore a backslider in his operation. He has two muscle boys, Smiley (Burton Gilliam) and Bones (William Engesser) to help him change Gator's nind, by hook or crook. 

 

Gator now wants to help Greenfield bring Bama down, and hooks up with a reporter, Aggie Maybank (Lauren Hutton) and a little off her rocker former city employee, Emmeline (Alice Ghostley) to break into City Hall and get files that will put Bama and some of his political cohorts away for a long time.

 

Don't get the idea that this is a typical Reynolds comedy. There is some serious stuff going on here, and more than one person is going to die. Think of it as something like Lethal Weapon. There is a bunch of comedy sprinkled throughout, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty, the serious side is going to come to the fore.

But one of the more humorous parts of the movie (at least for me, are the scenes where Bones, who is apparently Bama's chauffeur, in addition to one of his bully boys, has to drive Bama around in a converted red  Plymouth Gran Fury. Note: this is not the only car they used, just one of them. Anyway, the exaggeration of how big Bones is is highlighted by the fact that he has to stick his head out through the sun roof. (I'm fairly sure he was probably sitting on a box or something in the car scenes... Surely the actor wasn't THAT big...)

  

This was Burt Reynolds' first feature film as a director. According to what I read, Reynolds originally turned the role saying "it's a terrible script." But then they offered him the opportunity to direct and suddenly it was "a great script"... (The things Hollywood will do to get their way...) I couldn't find any information on a budget, and it didn't exactly break box office records. It only grossed $11 million. 

The critics weren't exactly kind to the movie either. On Rotten Tomatoes, the aggregator of what is the critic viewpoint, it stands at only 14%. Charles Champlin, a reviewer for the Los Angeles Time, not only managed to denigrate the movie, but also the kind of crowd that liked Reynolds movies: "Gator looks exactly what it is, a commercial concoction assembled for an undemanding mass market." (Phhht, Chuck...)

Ranker, one of my favorite go-tos for public opinion of films, however, ranks it #7 all-time as one of Reynolds' best movies, beaten out only by the first Smokey and the Bandit, The Longest Yard, Deliverance, Hooper, The Cannonball Run and White Lightning (in that order). My opinion is Gator is a movie that will appeal to those who love Reynolds screen charm and also for those action movies that blend a little humor into the mix. I especially liked seeing Bama get his comeuppance, even if I didn't particularly care to see Jerry Reed playing a thoroughly unscrupulous bad guy.

Well, that's it for this time. See you for the next entry, featuring the state of Connecticut.

Quiggy

 

  

Wayne Got His .44 Magnum After All

 

 

 

John Wayne had a career that spanned decades. He began with bit parts in the late 20's, until his first real meaty part in The Big Trail (1930). Then he wallowed in "poverty row" westerns (cheap B movies cranked out by such studios as Monogram and Liberty, with budgets lower than even the quality) until John Ford rescued him and gave him what is referred to commonly as his breakthrough role as "The Ringo Kid" in Stagecoach (1939). Over the next 40 years, Wayne's name became a drawing factor in dozens of movies.

Admittedly, he was involved in some clunkers over that span. Not too many would disagree that probably his worst was when he tried to play Genghis Khan in The Conqueror (1956).(Wayne as a Mongol warrior? See the link to see what I thought of that decision). A lot of those poverty row westerns rank pretty low on a list of Wayne movies, too, and admittedly, to me at least, most of them could be confused with each other, because they all basically had the same story.

Personally, I think Wayne was at his best when he stayed with the westerns genre.  My personal favorites in this category are El Dorado, The Horse Soldiers, The Shootist, The Sons of Katie Elder, Stagecoach, The Train Robbers, The Undefeated and The War Wagon, all of which I have reviewed elsewhere on this blog. You can also add a few that I haven't gotten around to reviewing (yet): Chisum, Fort Apache, The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Red River, The Searchers and True Grit. I also like Rio Bravo, but not nearly as much as I like the remake, El Dorado.

When Wayne tried to branch out from his western hero mold, at times he came across as a western cowboy in a role that was decidedly not a western, but many times did a good job at it anyway. As jingoistic as they come across, both Sands of Iwo Jima and The Green Berets are still standout Wayne performances. But both of those are war movies, and cowboys and soldiers are not all that far apart, at least in the Hollywood tradition. You could have transplanted both of those in the realm of the Civil War and made him a Union officer leading troops and they still would have been mostly the same.

In my opinion, however, when Wayne tried to play modern day characters outside of the war and western pictures, his films were not all that great.  Circus World, Jet Pilot and even Hellfighters are probably some of the worst films my admitted movie hero ever made.

Two movies Wayne made just prior to his last, and one of his greatest, films, The Shootist, rank among those that many Wayne fans are not overly fond of.  Both, I think, were made in response to Dirty Harry (1971) and involved him playing modern day detective/cop characters. In McQ (1974) and Brannigan (1975) Wayne played the rogue cop role already made famous by Clint Eastwood, and followed by such TV shows like Baretta. Of course, in McQ Wayne's character quits the force and takes on the role of private investigator to complete his goal, but he starts out as a sort of Harry Callahan character at the start.

It's not that Wayne is absolutely horrible in these two. The fact is, being an avowed Wayne western aficionado, I myself just had a hard time with accepting him playing the gritty modern cop character. Now it must be said, Wayne had been approached to play Harry but turned it down, and admitted later that he thought he had made a mistake. So his taking on these two roles probably had a lot to do with that decision. 

Contrary to the title of this blog entry, Wayne's gun(s) in these films is not a .44 Magnum as Eastwood uses in Dirty Harry. In Brannigan his preferred weapon is a Colt Diamondback, and in McQ, it is a SW Model 10, but I couldn't resist the title, given that these two films were basically knockoffs of the Eastwood film.

Both films have something to keep the interest of people. There is a little bit of film noir running through each, what with a lot of surprise double crosses, and a few "didn't see that coming" twists, but in my opinion, Wayne was the fly in the ointment here. Clint Eastwood was 40 when he made the first Dirty Harry, and as such somewhat believable as the rogue cop with some vigor still in his body. Wayne, on the other hand, was in his mid-60's when he made these two, and even taking the cancer that was starting to take toll on his body by this time, just didn't have the oomph to look like he could still hang with the big guys. 

 

 

 

 

Brannigan (1975):

Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) likes doing things his way, regardless of what objections the bosses might have. He is hot on the trail of a mobster named Larkin, and he'll stop at nothing to get him.  But Larkin is no longer in America.  He is currently in London, where the Brits have offered to extradite him to the Americans, and the powers that be send Brannigan to collect him. But basically Larkin is walking around free until at such a time. That's because the Brits have some "by the rules" laws, which includes the fact that he could go on bail.  Not to worry, however, Jimbo, they have him "under surveillance". Jolly good, eh, what? 

 

Larkin has a hit out on Brannigan, and has hired a hit man to eliminate him, this despite the fact that even if he succeeds the Americans will just send another man.  But Larkin doesn't like Brannigan very much, so he has his sights set on just the immediate future. 

 

And he has one of the best hit men in the world on the pay roll, Gorman (Daniel Pilon). He also has no intention of taking the advice of his "lawyer" , Fields (Mel Ferrer), to skip town through a bit of subterfuge because Larkin really likes London and wants to hang around.

 

Brannigan is met at the airport by a police officer, a woman (bit of a change from his last stint in London during the war.) Det. Sgt. Jennifer Thatcher (Judy Geeson) escorts Brannigan to meet with the head honcho in Scotland Yard, Sir Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough), who assures him they can pick up Larkin any time Brannigan is ready to do so.  But there is a fly in the ointment.  While Larkin was at a men's club getting a massage, he is kidnapped, and now even the Yard has no idea of his whereabouts.

 

Brannigan gets off to a bit of a bad start with Swann over his insistence to wear his firearm, which, although regulatory by American standards is against British law.  "When in London, do as the Londoners do" is not a part of Brannigan's repertoire, however. Despite many demands put on him by Swann to turn over his weapon, he refuses to do so.  Which decision comes in handy quite often over the course of the film.

 What keeps this movie from becoming an unintentional farce like the Conqueror is the fact that the action gets gritty enough to hold your interest.  And the chase scenes through the London streets are exceptionally well paced.  I am especially grateful for the fact that when, in the inevitable scene in which Wayne is forced to take the wheel in one car chase, the film didn't sink into the "fish out of water" driving I half expected: that of Wayne, being American, driving the wrong side of the road or some such ridiculousness.  At least they kept that joke out of the picture.

There is some very interesting twists going on, and Brannigan seems to think that maybe, just maybe, that kidnapping of Larkin isn't as on the up-and-up that it would seem to be.  Although you might think it was given the fact that one scene involves the "kidnappers" sending the police one of Larkin's fingers as proof they mean business. Which just goes to show how committed some people can be in hoodwinking others.

Over the course of the film there is always that hit man working his way into the objective, and in one scene, the female detective almost buys it just because the hit man mistakes her for Brannigan.  Fortunately she is saved, because that would have been a very serious letdown if she had died.  I liked the girl playing her.

The final shootout with the bad guys goes pretty much as you would expect.  But wait! Remember the hit man?  He is still determined to finish his assignment. OK, so this movie (and as you will see, the other one) are not really horrible. And with a younger guy than Wayne, these movies both might have been good moneymakers, whether or not a star name was in the title role. 

 

 

McQ (1974):

 

The beginning has a guy driving around the city where he kills two uniformed police officers.  One is a guy on early morning patrol checking locks when he sees the car and investigates.  The driver shoots him and speeds away.  But not very far because he shoots another a few blocks away.  Then he goes to a diner where he stashes the gun in a satchel.  And we find out that he is a police officer himself... He takes the satchel outside and throws it in a car that pulls up, but as he is walking away, the driver of that car shoots him. It turns out that the original shooter was a Det. Sgt. Boyle, who was a partner and friend of Lt. Lon "McQ" McHugh (John Wayne). 

 

It's a bad morning for McQ. Not only does he learn that his partner and friend has been shot, but when he goes outside, he finds some guy trying to hijack his car.  He yells at the would-be thief  who runs away, but someone has been lying in wait for him and tries to shoot McQ.  He dodges the bullets and ends killing his would be assassin instead.  Already, barely three minutes into the picture, we have 4 dead bodies.

In the tradition of film noir, it gets even more complicated as it goes along.  McQ's boss, Capt. Kosterman (Eddie Albert) thinks the whole thing is a plot by radicals. (This being the 70's, liberal anti-war student radicals were often the bad guys.) 

 

But McQ is convinced it is the work of a local drug lord, Santiago (Al Lettieri).  He tries to do his own work in solving the murders (Boyle has in the meantime died), and ends up beating the crap out of Santiago to try to get a confession.

 

 

That doesn't work so well.  McQ ends up in hot water with his bosses and is told to take a desk job pending investigation.  But McQ is in no mood to give up so easily.  He quits the force and then goes to a private detective friend to get hired on as a private investigator. This is just a cover, since McQ's "client" is himself, thus giving him some freedom to operate on the case in another capacity. He still retains a compadre on the inside of the force, however, to help him wangle the necessary information he might need; J.C. (Jim Watkins)

In the process of investigating he finds out from a former snitch, Rosey (Roger E. Mosely), that there is a planned heist, and from another snitch, Myra (Colleen Dewhurst) that the planned heist is going to be from the police department itself.  

 

It turns out that about $2 million worth of drugs is about to be burned, but hoods posing as laundry men, take the drugs.  McQ gives chase but loses them in a confusion during the chase. Capt. Kosterman is none too pleased and threatens McQ with removal of his private license. But McQ is still on the case, with or without his legal license to carry. Ultimately he breaks into Santiago's offices where he finds, conveniently, a desk littered with bags of the "drugs".  But he is caught by Santiago and his henchmen, and finds out that even crooks can be taken for a ride.  What Santiago actually ended up with in his drug heist are bags of sugar. 

You get it now?  There are some police men on the inside who are dirty, taking the drugs for their own profit and basically leaving the real drug dealers high and dry.  McQ suspects that the Mr. Big on the inside must be Kosterman, who, after all, has been doing everything he can to get McQ off this case.  But don't be too sure about that...

Of course, it turns out, as anyone watching must have cottoned to, that Boyle was involved in some dirty dealings, but he had to have a partner in the ring, one who knew all about his dirty dealings, and one who was higher up in the echelon on the inside.  But maybe there were a couple of other partners that were in on it that no one else knew about. And possibly, just possibly, friends that McQ has may not entirely be the friends he thinks he has.

At this point I would normally tell you how it all panned out.  But despite  the fact that I thought Wayne was out of his element in this role, I still liked the double cross the film makers put on the viewing public as to the real solution.  Maybe you will see it coming a mile away, but I was thrown for a loop. Which is why I think this movie is worth watching, at least plot wise. Wayne may not be believable as an obviously aged cop trying to pull off stuff that someone 20 years younger ought to be doing, but the story makes it worth a watch.

One of the important reasons why this film works is that it had a guy behind the camera who knew how to make the action interesting.  John Sturges, the same man who gave us such classic action oriented movies as The Great Escape, The Magnificent Seven (and there's a movie long overdo for an appearance at the Drive-In...), Ice Station Zebra and his last film, The Eagle Has Landed knew how to hold the viewers interest. Many of you could name others, I'm sure, but those are the ones that come immediately to mind for me.  

Well, folks, as opposed to most of my Wayne movies, this time I won't have to try to saddle up a horse, although the Plymouth is no match for the kinds of cars Wayne gets to go home in...

(And, in case you missed it a few years ago, for those who might be wondering, I present the Plymouth...)

 

 

Drive safely, folks.

Quiggy