McQ (1974)

Director: John Sturges

Starring: John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur, Colleen Dewhurst, Clu Gulager, Al Lettieri

More info: IMDb

Tagline: McQ-he's a busted cop, his gun is unlicensed, his methods are unlawful and his story is incredible!

Plot: Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements of the police department dealing in confiscated drugs.

My rating: 4.5/10

Will I watch it again? That's a negative, Pilgrim!

Yawnsville, baby. McQ is a forgettable John Wayne cop flick that was filmed probably 6 years too late. Wayne looks tired (he was in his late 60s) and there's nothing in the script that gives you any reason to think this could be a classic. It's a standard detective story trying to capitalize on the somewhat recent successes of BULLIT (1968), THE FRENCH CONNECTION (1971) and DIRTY HARRY (1971) but this time they've got The Duke. I wanted to like it. The climactic car chase on the beach was really neat but that's about it. Wayne's usually fun to watch but here he's bland, bored and out of his element. The movie came too late in the genre and The Duke was too long in the tooth to make it matter.