Main Cast: Dick Friel, John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur, Colleen Dewhurst, Clu Gulager
Release Year: 1974
Country: US
Run Time: 115 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
Plot
Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, playing McQ, a veteran detective, turns in his badge when he's officially denied the opportunity of clearing the name of his late best friend, who has been posthumously accused of drug pushing. Investigating on his own, McQ becomes romantically involved with his friend's widow (Diana Muldaur), who unbeknownst to him is up to her neck in police corruption. Considering the usual flag-waving content of John Wayne's 1970s films, it is rather startling to discover that the real villains in McQ are a coterie of crooked cops! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
This cop-movie programmer represents an intriguing but not entirely successful attempt to place John Wayne's persona into a modern filmmaking context. McQ benefits from a strong script by Lawrence Roman, which applies an amusingly cynical edge to the plotline and offers plenty of decent twists along the way. John Sturges' direction is bit too stately, causing the pace to lag in spots, but he handles the action sequences with a craftsman's skill. His work is further enhanced by a fantastic musical score by Elmer Bernstein that mixes 1970s style funk elements into its driving, orchestral approach. Unfortunately, John Wayne feels a bit out of place in this scenario -- he handles the tough-guy stuff with aplomb but doesn't seem to connect (or feel comfortable) with the moral ambiguity underpinning the storyline. Thankfully, he is backed up with an excellent supporting cast that helps him carry the weight; Eddie Albert supplies a believably stuffy authoritarian presence for Wayne to butt heads with, Al Lettieri is appropriately menacing as the movie's resident mobster, and Roger Mosley is quite witty as the pimp informant who trades verbal barbs with Wayne while passing along information. Ultimately, McQ might be too uneven and languid in its pace for some viewers, but Wayne fans and action buffs are likely to consider it a reasonably entertaining oddity. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide
Lawrence Roman - Co-producer, Ric Rondell - First Assistant Director, John Sturges - Director, Ron Rondell - Second Unit Director, William H. Ziegler - Editor, Elmer Bernstein - Composer (Music Score), Walter M. Simonds - Production Designer, Harry Stradling, Jr. - Cinematographer, Arthur Gardner - Producer, Jules Levy - Producer, Michael Wayne - Producer, Anthony C. Montenaro - Set Designer, Howard Jensen - Special Effects, Charles M. Wilborn - Sound/Sound Designer, Lawrence Roman - Screenwriter
The film features a young Roger E. Mosley as a police informer, Colleen Dewhurst as a cocaine addict and Al Lettieri as the most visible villain of the film, the drug king Santiago, in one of Lettieri's final roles.
Wayne had been passed over for the lead in Dirty Harry a few years prior to this film.[1] The producers of that film chose Seattle as its location in an earlier version of the script; it was later changed to San Francisco when Clint Eastwood became connected with the project. The film also has a dramatic car chase, with Wayne in a green 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am, influenced by Steve McQueen in Bullitt.[2]
One of Wayne's more famous lines from this movie was after the character of Lon McQ was trapped inside of his car after it was crushed between two semis, he states to one of the reporting officers: "I'm up to my ass in gas."
Lieutenant Lon McQ (Wayne), a detective with the Seattle Police Department, investigates the murder of his longtime friend and partner, Sgt. Stan Boyle. The police department initially thinks that Boyle was shot by counterculture radicals. McQ thinks it was a hit by crime chief Manny Santiago. Interference from his superior over his pursuit of Santiago causes him to tender his resignation so he can investigate the case privately. He ultimately finds corruption in the police department related to confiscated illegal drugs. It hadn't been Santiago after all.
One other noteworthy element of the film was its introduction of the MAC-10submachine gun to the general public and creating a demand for it.[3]
Notes
^ Dowell, Pat. - "John Wayne, Man and Myth". - (book review of: John Wayne, American by Randy Roberts and James S. Olson). - Washington Post. - September 25, 1995. - Retrieved: 2008-08-05
^ Clark, Mike - "Behind the scenes with John Wayne". - USA Today. - May 22, 2007. - Retrieved: 2008-08-05
