Review of McQ (1974) by Tuomas R — 19 Jun 2012

Directed by John Sturges (Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957), The Magnificent Seven (1960) and The Great Escape (1963)), this started out life as an abandoned treatment for Magnum Force, then it became a potential vehicle for Steve McQueen (hence the title), before it was given to John Wayne.

It was his first cop film after years of westerns and war films. He does well in the role too, but he's looking a bit old for it, and he should have made this sooner. In Seattle, it begins when Detective Sgt.

Stan Boyle (William Bryant), has been picking off police officers is himself shot in the back by someone he was working for. His partner Lon McHugh (Wayne), also known as McQ, is assigned to investigate, and it takes him to shipping businessman Manny Santiago (Al Lettieri), who has been known to deal drugs.

But McQ's excessive force ends up with him being kicked off the police force, or rather, he resigns. So, he teams up with private detective "Pinky" Farrell (David Huddleston), and continues to investigate the web of deceit and lies that involves the police have been stealing drugs and swapping them with sugar, with Captain Edward Kosterman (Eddie Albert) wanting to keep McQ out of trouble.

Even though it's all been seen before, Wayne proves to be a dab hand as a cop, and he should have started doing them sooner, this makes a good double bill with Brannigan (1975). This benefits from good cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr.

and a soulful score by Elmer Bernstein.