Brannigan (1975)

A Chicago cop (John Wayne) is sent to London to extradite an American mobster (John Vernon). What should have been a simple case of extradition becomes complicated when the mobster is kidnapped and held for ransom. Directed by Douglas Hickox (THEATRE OF BLOOD). Of his expansive career, over 80 of John Wayne's films were westerns and it's the genre he's most associated with. But by1975, westerns (spaghetti westerns an exception) weren't as sure fire box office as they used to be so somebody thought it might be a good idea to put the Duke in DIRTY HARRY territory with this fish out of water tale of a tough American cop clashing with the by the book Scotland Yard. I'm a big Wayne fan so I had a good time with this one although it's far from great. The contrast between Wayne's crusty cop and Richard Attenborough's traditional British policeman makes for some amusement and there's a sweet father and daughter-ish chemistry between Wayne and Judy Geeson as the policewoman assigned to him. On the downside, there's one of those endless and unfunny pub brawls and a "been there, seen that" reckless car chase through London that could have been dispensed with. With Mel Ferrer, James Booth, Ralph Meeker, Lesley Anne Down and Daniel Pilon.