Rogue cop who is "out of control" (in a now-cliché'd Dirty Harry sort of way) John Wayne goes to England to retrieve the Sheriff from KILLER KLOWNS FROM OUTER SPACE. Once there, the chief/old guy from JURASSIC PARK assigns him to the possessed alien mom from INSEMINOID as his flirty tease of a partner. While on the case, they shake down the warden from ALIEN 3 while spied on by the cowardly soldier "Hookie" from ZULU, here teamed up with one of the Death Star generals from STAR WARS. However his only real lead comes in the form of a shifty lawyer, the guy who married Audrey Hepburn before going blind and trying to poison Caesar in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.As you can see, the cast of this movie is just marvelous and features a lot of "that guy"s from other movies you've seen. The chemistry between Wayne and the guy who directed GANDHI works really well as they have to team up from such opposite viewpoints to solve the mystery. Unfortunately for those seeking lots of action (Wayne enters the movie by kicking down a door and hitting a guy in the head with a 2x4), there's not much here. Wayne merely gets in one mediocre car chase and has a few close calls with a creepy hit man who tries to sneak up on people with the most conspicuous car possible and who would be a better shot if he hadn't hacked his broom handle Mauser pistol to fire full-auto. More often than not, the film decides to protract what would be smaller scenes in an American movie into 20 minute episodes. For instance, did we really need to witness every darn detail with the first money drop sequence? Or would our time have been better spend seeing Wayne (who looks quite tired) beating up a few more henchmen and spouting one-liners?All in all it's only made watchable by the cast and director Douglas Hickox's assured ability to enliven a lot of scenes that would otherwise have dragged far worse. There's a few nice surprises and some suspense, but you'd be better off just watching an full-blown Euro-crime movie than this tame and watered-down cross-pond excursion.

Jim Brannigan (John Wayne) is a tough Chicago cop on a mission to take in mobster Larkin (John Vernon). Larkin is keen on taking down Brannigan also. Brannigan goes to London to bring back Larkin for extradition only to find him gone while out on bail. Brannigan isn't convinced but his lawyer Fields (Mel Ferrer) brings them a tape of the ransom demand.John Wayne is old and dying, but he still has his iconic swagger. He's trying to do his version of Dirty Harry, but Father Time is never defeated. He looks old like grandpa trying to do action. This is especially obvious when Wayne starts a fight with Attenborough in an Irish pub. It looks like old fashion ol' western saloon brawl from the 50s.Cmdr Swann (Richard Attenborough) is the proper London cop who is working on the Larkin case. He brings proper acting to this action drama. It's good that he's there because Brannigan's foil is gone for most of the movie. When the movie starts, you'd think it would be mano to mano with the evil mobster Larkin. The kidnapping plot line really screws it all up.

Not bad, but what makes it for me is when John Wayne commandeers a young man's new Capri to chase a contract killer in the ultimate gangster car of the time, a sixties Jaguar. I love it where he drives over Tower Bridge and totally wrecks the car, while the Jaguar gets away. I've waited a year for delivery, as Wayne steps out of the ruined Capri and the door falls off. Also good at the end is an appearance of a battered E Type with the killer Gorman behind the wheel, firing a machine pistol at Brannigan, who has to dodge bullets before shooting him right between the eyes. Otherwise a bit ho hum, though Tony Booth has a decent role and Sir Dickie is good as Brannigan's superior. However, for classic car nuts like me, the orange Capri makes it.

The movie does really try hard to walk a really thin line. It tries to be a an action movie, a comedy, a thriller, a cop movie. And it also tried to establish "Branningan" as a brand name. Like Callahan, but softer and "funnier".Well I can tell you that it doesn't work. I really tried to love the movie, but it's not possible. The effort is there and John Wayne tries, but he is never really as smooth as the character should be. Still the movie can be fun, although not as much as it would like to. While other movies did create cool characters without effort, this is just a decent try, to do the same, without the same result. Nice movie, but nothing that you need to buy (unless you're a huge John Wayne fan).