{"id":9593,"date":"2014-09-05T14:38:28","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T18:38:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9593"},"modified":"2014-09-05T14:38:28","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T18:38:28","slug":"br-brannigan-1975","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/?p=9593","title":{"rendered":"BR: Brannigan (1975)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Brannigan_BR\"<\/a>Film<\/strong>: Good<\/p>\n

Transfer<\/strong>: \u00a0Excellent<\/p>\n

Extras<\/strong>: Excellent<\/p>\n

Label:\u00a0<\/strong>Twilight Time<\/p>\n

Region:<\/strong>\u00a0All<\/p>\n

Released:<\/strong>\u00a0 July 8, 2014<\/p>\n

Genre:<\/strong>\u00a0 Crime<\/p>\n

Synopsis:<\/strong>\u00a0A\u00a0Chicago detective in London must work with the local police to rescue a U.S \u00a0mobster kidnapped by British crooks and held for a ransom.<\/p>\n

Special Features:<\/strong>\u00a0 Audio commentary track with producer Nick Redman and actress Judy Geeson \/ Isolated stereo music track \/ Theatrical Trailer \/ 8-page colour booklet with liner notes by film historian Julie Kirgo \/ Limited to 3000 copies \/ Available exclusively from Screen Archives Entertainment<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

Review:<\/strong><\/p>\n

John Wayne had already experimented with an image makeover in McQ<\/a><\/strong> (1972), playing a detective in a fairly dour story involving murder, police corruption, and outright betrayal, but for his second and final poke at the popular cop genre, the Duke opted for a story which embraced some of the elements from his westerns yet delivered the main ingredients of a cop thriller: subterfuge, a hot chick, and more than one car chase.<\/p>\n

The four credited writers (most sourced from TV) shaped the story into unsophisticated escapist fluff, wherein Wayne plays a kind of American sheriff who becomes a fish-out-of-water in London, England, befuddled by the local argot, chi-chi liquor, and particular breakfast fodder while trying to track down the kidnapped felon he\u2019s been sent to retrieve to face justice back in Chicago.<\/p>\n

Brannigan<\/strong> is a slight variant on McQ<\/strong>\u2019s elements where its eponymous anti-hero \u2013 a detective with a vigilante streak \u2013 must find both stolen booty and unearth corruption, but unfettered by an ex-wife and a teenage daughter, Brannigan is able to float around London, cracking skulls, carrying an unauthorized gun which even his British superior Swann (Richard Attenborough) can\u2019t snatch from his grasp, engage in thoroughly reckless behaviour with total impunity, and be partnered with a woman one third his age.<\/p>\n

Reassigned from vice to Brannigan\u2019s driver and culture liaison, Jennifer (Judy Geeson) is all smiles, and treats her new job like a cultural exchange, aiding and educating the Yank in local customs, and engaging in some mutually respectful flirting without any desire to go beyond friends and colleagues.<\/p>\n

Brannigan\u2019s also being shadowed by a supposedly reputable hitman (Daniel Pilon) hired by kidnapped kingpin Larkin (John Vernon, looking quite sleazy in long-ish hair) for past grievances, and both he and Swann are growing increasingly irritated by Fields (Mel Ferrer, wearing a perpetual merry grin), Larkin\u2019s slick and slimy legal representative who\u2019s only too willing to pay ransom funds, and seems far too at ease with his client\u2019s life & death conundrum.<\/p>\n

The comedic elements seem to have been drawn from more recent James Bond outings, some of which work due to Wayne\u2019s natural charm, and a few that are banal (notably the Swann\u2019s increasing frustration with Brannigan, which is usually expressed though much facial outrage and sustained close-ups on Attenborough).<\/p>\n

The worst offence is a bar room brawl that has no reason to exist except to please Wayne fans pining for more western-like elements \u2013 or so the film\u2019s producers may have believed. Designed to have Brannigan extricate a suspect soon to be offed by the hitman, it\u2019s an overlong escalation of silliness which similarly made Wayne\u2019s cheeky western, North to Alaska<\/strong> (1960), so uneven.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s also an obligatory car chase in which Brannigan commandeers a citizen\u2019s brand new car which gets rapidly trashed as the American drives a right side drive auto through the streets of London and over a parting bridge, but perhaps the following are more glowing examples of scriptorial dopiness.<\/p>\n

The first has Geeson being \u2018mistaken\u2019 for Brannigan by the hitman, in spite of the actress being short and female, and Wayne being tall and very male; the second is the extraordinary impunity with which Brannigan discovers a bomb-rigged lavatory in his apartment, and rather than call the bomb squad, triggers the bomb, blowing a hole through the wall and endangering the lives of tenants (if not the building’s structural integrity). There\u2019s also the hitman who puts himself in jeopardy by exposing himself in his loud black and red-striped Jaguar instead of trying to kill Brannigan more stealthily \u2013 like from a distance, or maybe by just hiding in Brannigan\u2019s apartment and finishing the job with a silencer-tipped gun.<\/p>\n

Unlike McQ<\/strong>‘s more realistic portrayal of police procedures, Brannigan<\/strong> is clear-cut escapism, and yet even with all the wonky moments in this weird amalgam of a Wayne western, detective thriller, fish-out-of-water comedy, and British caper, there\u2019s a peculiar charm in seeing Wayne easing through this fairly wan role, surrounded by a top-notch American and British cast. The real draw, though, is London, captured in 1975 with shockingly less traffic, and glimpses of many local residential, urban, and commercial locations which are now either swirling in traffic, or have been transformed by massive redevelopment.<\/p>\n

The finale at the Isle of Dogs<\/a> is a prime example, as is Covent Garden<\/a>, and the many streets which seem so uncluttered \u2013 a point that\u2019s heavily discussed by commentators Nick Redman and co-star Geeson. Director Douglas Hickox shot almost all of the film on location, and Brannigan<\/strong> may represent a rare snapshot of a post-swinging sixties London before the city underwent major transformations.<\/p>\n

Hickox remains a highly underrated and ignored director, largely because the expert second unit filmmaker headlined only a handful of movies in his career, but his extraordinary gift for composition, visual rhythm, and pacing often rendered banal scripts into visually arresting works, and Brannigan<\/strong> is no different. Opting for a gritty docu-drama style, Gerry Fisher\u2019s cinematography is nevertheless some of the most exquisitely composed \u2018scope for the detective genre, with every hand-held or car-strapped camera maintaining perfect 2.35:1 compositional balance. Malcolm Cooke\u2019s editing is equally sharp, especially in the amazing car chases \u2013 fast and slow \u2013 which Hickox covered using multiple angles and POVs.<\/p>\n

For the final showdown between Brannigan and the hitman, Hickox may also have been more than a little inspired by H.B. Halicki\u2019s Gone in 60 Seconds<\/a><\/strong> (1974), which treated the final moments of the central car like a wheezing animal. Hickox treats the \u2018death of the Jaguar\u2019 in a similar fashion, staging the showdown between Brannigan and the motoring hitman like a bullfight, with every tail-swerve, the exhaust fumes, and kicked up mud moving in slow-motion. It\u2019s a great sequence that proves the level of kinetics one can derive from good editing in place of ADD editing and digitally tweaked shots.<\/p>\n

Dominic Frontiere\u2019s score has some interesting orchestral jazz \/ rock fusion elements, but there are moments when one senses certain scenes were tracked with temp music from Jerry Goldsmith\u2019s Planet of the Apes<\/strong> (1968); it\u2019s a good score, but a little too evocative of POTA in spots.<\/p>\n

Twilight Time\u2019s Blu-ray is a really fine presentation of Wayne\u2019s third-last film that’s admittedly a lesser work in the actor’s massive filmography. Geeson says the star\u2019s illness wasn\u2019t obvious nor hindered his ability to play the tough cop, but he\u2019s certainly less agile here than in McQ<\/strong>, although the script does have his character doing more sitting and standing, being a fish-out-of-water paired with a British handler.<\/p>\n

Getting Geeson to participate in a full commentary is a major coup, and what often materializes are very candid and personal recollections by two former Londoners talking about their own stomping grounds, adding their thoughts to the city\u2019s transformation, as well as some of the cinematic icons in the cast. (Geeson had previously co-starred with Attenborough in the brilliant true crime film 10 Rillington Place<\/strong>.)<\/p>\n

Among the surprises are Ralph Meeker as Brannigan\u2019s Chicago captain, Kathryn Leigh Scott (TV\u2019s Dark Shadows<\/strong>) in a tiny role, a very young Lesley Anne-Down (The Great Train Robbery<\/strong>) as a hooker, Brian Glover as a bullish bookie, James Booth (Zulu<\/strong>, Twin Peaks<\/strong>) as Larkin\u2019s chief kidnapper, and an unbilled Anthony Booth (Corruption<\/a><\/strong>) as a suspect highly<\/em> unhappy in being questioned with a bright projector bulb.<\/p>\n

Wayne\u2019s final films were Rooster Cogburn<\/strong> (1975) and The Shootist <\/strong>(1976) before he passed away from cancer in 1979, whereas Attenborough would soon devote more time to directing, having made his debut with Young Winston<\/strong> (1972); after Brannigan<\/strong>, Attenborough would direct, with A Bridge Too Far<\/a><\/strong> (1977), the first of several notable epics.<\/p>\n

Geeson\u2019s career eventually switched back to TV, where she enjoyed a recurring role on Poldark<\/strong> (1975-1977), and later in Mad About You <\/strong>(1992-199) after moving to Hollywood. Douglas Hickox\u2019 films include Theatre of Blood<\/strong> (1973), Sky Riders<\/strong> (1976) and Zulu Dawn <\/strong>(1979), after which he settled into rather mediocre TV work.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a9 2014 Mark R. Hasan<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

External References:<\/strong>
\nEditor’s Blog<\/a> — IMDB<\/a> \u00a0— \u00a0Soundtrack Album<\/a> — Composer Filmography<\/a>
\n\u00a0<\/span>
\nVendor Search Links:<\/strong>
\nAmazon.ca<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.com<\/a>\"\" \"\" —\u00a0<\/span> Amazon.co.uk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Wayne had already experimented with an image makeover in McQ (1972), playing a detective in a fairly dour story involving murder, police corruption, and outright betrayal, but for his second and final poke at the popular cop genre, the Duke opted for a story which embraced some of the elements from his westerns yet delivered the main ingredients of a cop thriller: subterfuge, a hot chick, and more than one car chase…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[18],"tags":[3003,326,3004,3005,3006],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8nuyW-2uJ","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9593"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9593"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9593\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9615,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9593\/revisions\/9615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kqek.com\/mobile\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}