Wayne as a tough,unorthodox cop

Cristi_Ciopron

Wayne had,towards the end of his career,the courage,the skill and the flair to reformulate his screen persona.In "McQ",he does a tough,unorthodox cop.I find it admirable that he managed,in the '70s,to catch up with Eastwood,Hackman,Widmark and the Siegel approach of the thrillers,and he did it with a first-hand movie,"McQ",that I find better than the Coogan/Dirty Harry movies,only Madigan (1968) is a show,in the same vein, superior to "McQ"."McQ" has a very classic and straight narration,and this make it so pleasing also.It is also a Vigilante movie,as McQ is no more a cop during the larger portion of this show.

I find it also admirable that one can pick,by choice,his own access into an actor's filmography,and that he can make a quite unconventional choice (e.g.,for me Lancaster is the one from Ulzana's Raid ,1972).Maltin dislikes and slams "McQ",but,for me,Wayne is primarily the one from his three '74-'76 thrillers,as I think they are his best.A very good end for such a career.

Wayne was able to make exciting any movie,but here he got a clear and rational,classic script,some fine actresses (Diana Muldaur and Colleen Dewhurst) and a first-class director (Sturges). Wayne was at ease in this kind of urban thrillers,making the 3 (more or less) famous characters:Det. Lt. Lon McQ ,then Lt. Jim Brannigan and John Bernard Books .The '70s were a peak decade in his career,as he made Rio Lobo (1970) ,The Cowboys (1972) ,McQ (1974) ,Brannigan (1975) ,Rooster Cogburn (1975) ,The Shootist (1976) .

For many people,the prejudices and the received ideas seem to be too strong and enslaving,and much stronger than the good sense.It is surprising and disappointing to see how sour are so many comments about Wayne and his movies,here on IMDb;it looks like he has got extremely unpopular.I do not know one good show of his,that is not memorable,be it Stagecoach (1939) or Red River (1948),She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949) or The Cowboys (1972).Ford,the director,seems to share pretty much the same fate,as many of the comments about him are also very sour.

So,at the end of his career,Wayne found the courage to re-profile himself,and he began with this urban thriller,"McQ",about a tough cop confronted with the dishonesty of his own mates.McQ turns into a vigilante with a 9 mm gun.So,as an actor,the '70s urban thrillers trend suited him,and he had his share in this class.

score /10

Cristi_Ciopron 5 November 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1514241/