Brannigan (1975)

INFORMATION FROM IMDb

Plot summary
Jim Brannigan is sent to London to bring back an American mobster
who is being held for extradition but when he arrives he has been kidnapped
which was set up by his lawyer.
Brannigan in his American Irish way brings American law to the people
of Scotland Yard in order to recapture this mobster with both
A price tag on his head and a stuffy old London cop to contend with.

Full Cast
John Wayne ... Lt. Brannigan
Richard Attenborough ... Cmdr. Swann
Judy Geeson ... Jennifer
Mel Ferrer ... Fields
John Vernon ... Larkin
Daniel Pilon ... Gorman
John Stride ... Insp. Traven
James Booth ... Charlie 'The Handle' Kane
Arthur Batanides ... Angell
Ralph Meeker ... Capt. Moretti
Barry Dennen ... Julian
Lesley-Anne Down ... Luana (as Lesley Anne Down)
Pauline Delaney ... Mrs Cooper (as Pauline Delany)
Del Henney ... Drexel
Brian Glover ... Jimmy-the-Bet
Janette Legge
Stewart Bevan ... Alex
Anthony Booth ... Freddy
Tony Robinson ... Motorcycle Courier
Don Henderson ... Geef
Kathryn Leigh Scott ... Miss Allen
Enid Jaynes
Tim Barlow ... Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Mike Crane ... Boyle (uncredited)
Harry Fielder ... Passerby Near Tower Bridge (uncredited)
Alf Joint ... Man in Bar (uncredited)
Steve Kelly ... Gates (uncredited)
Raymond Mason ... Club Clerk (uncredited)
Michael Munn ... (uncredited)
Charles Pemberton ... Arthur (uncredited)
Peter Porteous ... Masseur (uncredited)
Nosher Powell ... Man in Bar (uncredited)

Writing Credits
Michael Butler screenplay
Michael Butler story
William P. McGivern
William W. Norton
Christopher Trumbo screenplay
Christopher Trumbo story

Produced
Arthur Gardner .... producer
Jules V. Levy .... producer
Michael Wayne .... executive producer

Original Music
Dominic Frontiere

Cinematography
Gerry Fisher

Stunts
Peter Brayham .... stunt coordinator
Jack Cooper .... stunt driver (uncredited)
Steve Emerson .... stunts (uncredited)
Alf Joint .... stunts (uncredited)
Nosher Powell .... stunts (uncredited)
Doug Robinson .... stunts (uncredited)

Trivia
Brannigan's revolver, as pointed out by Cmdr. Swann, is a Colt Diamondback .38 Special with a four-inch barrel. He carries the same handgun in McQ (1974).

Del Henney is dubbed.

The motorcycle dispatch courier, thrown into the Thames by John Wayne, is played by Tony Robinson who would later find fame as Baldrick in the TV series "The Black Adder" (1983).

Detective Lieutenant James Brannigan, played by 67-year-old John Wayne, was supposed to be in his late fifties.

The production was difficult for John Wayne since he had heart problems and had just recovered from a severe bout of pneumonia.

The film proved to be one of John Wayne's least successful movies at the box office. Wayne himself said he would not have made the film if he had known McQ (1974) was only going to be a moderate success.

In 1975, United Artists theatrically distributed this film in the USA on a double bill with Moonrunners (1975).

This film would be the second, and final, time that John Wayne would play a cop. The other time being in McQ (1974).

Goofs
* Audio/visual unsynchronized: Early in the movie, the informant picks tries to fire an empty Luger. He pulls the trigger twice, and each time there is a loud click. The Luger, as a single-action semi-automatic pistol, would not click when it's empty.

* Continuity: When Brannigan in the Ford Capri lands after jumping the open span of the Tower Bridge, the order of the cars stopped in the other direction is: 1 white unknown car, 2 red Mini, 3 black Mercedes sedan, with a green Mini several vehicles further back. (This is at 1:21:45 (US DVD) or 1:18:23 (UK DVD) of the movie.) When the Ford Capri ends up on top of the dumpster/skip and Brannigan kicks the door open, the order of the vehicles has changed to: 1 white unknown car, 2 red Mini, 3 green Mini. (This is at 1:21:53 (US DVD) or 1:18:31 (UK DVD) of the movie.)

* Continuity: During the film there is a sequence where a red Post Office van is being followed by the police through the streets in London, from the post-box in Picadilly Circus to a large post office. Although the van type appears to be similar in all three cases, the registration number of the van changes from scene to scene. Two vans (TJJ 855M and VLK 326M) have the newer (at that time) black characters on white or yellow background number plates, and one (EMM 497J) has old-style white characters on black background number plate from a totally different year!

* Continuity: During the bar room brawl, a woman wearing a blue skirt and striped top is first seen on the first floor of the bar, then on the balcony overlooking the bar, and then finally on the first floor again.

* Errors in geography: New Scotland Yard does not have a view of the Houses of Parliament or County Hall. The view is actually from the top floor of St Thomas's Hospital beside Westminster Bridge.

* Audio/visual unsynchronized: Late in the film, one of the villains says "your big...fat...rear!" But his lips are clearly saying "arse".

* Revealing mistakes: When one of Larkin's henchmen falls from a window, the dummy that takes his place for the impact shot lands head-first and crumples unrealistically.

* Errors in geography: Brannigan's apartment wall is blown apart, revealing the Albert Memorial head-on at eye level. This view would only be possible if his flat were in the Royal Albert Hall.

Several of the actors who played minor parts are listed by actor's name in the opening titles but are not listed by actor's name and character's name in the closing credits.

Memorable Quotes

Filming Locations
Battersea, London, England, UK
Beckton Gasworks, Beckton, London, England, UK
(finale)
Beckton, London, England, UK
Broadgate, London, England, UK
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Covent Garden, London, England, UK
Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, Mayfair, London, England, UK
Garrick Club, Covent Garden, London, England, UK
Hyde Park, London, England, UK
Lambeth, London, England, UK
London Heathrow Airport, London Borough of Hillingdon, London, England, UK
London, England, UK
Maida Vale, London, England, UK
(Jennifer's house)
Mayfair, London, England, UK
Paddington, London, England, UK
Pall Mall, St. James's, London, England, UK
Piccadilly Circus, Piccadilly, London, England, UK
Piccadilly, London, England, UK
RAC Club, Pall Mall, St. James's, London, England, UK
Shepperton Studios, Shepperton, Surrey, England, UK
(studio)
Soho, London, England, UK
St. James's, London, England, UK
St. Pancras Station, St. Pancras, London, England, UK
St. Pancras, London, England, UK
St. Thomas' Hospital, Lambeth, London, England, UK
(Sir Charles' offices)
The Lamb Tavern, Leadenhall Market, Lime Street, Broadgate, London, England, UK
(pub bar brawl)
Tower Bridge, London, England, UK
(car jumps over bridge)
West India Quay, Canary Wharf, Isle of Dogs, London, England, UK

Watch the Trailer

[extendedmedia]

Previous discussion:-
Brannigan

Brannigan is a 1975 British thriller film set principally in London,
directed by Douglas Hickox, and starring John Wayne and Richard Attenborough.
It tells the story of a Chicago detective sent to Britain to organise
the extradition of an American mobster (John Vernon).

After turning down the role of Dirty Harry,and seeing the subsequent success of the film
Wayne made two police thrillers in quick succession.
After McQ he made this "cop out of water" film in the same vein as
Clint Eastwood's Coogan's Bluff.

KNOCK, KNOCK!!

This film I consider, just McQ Part II.only Seattle, becomes London!
and like it!
However it didn't fare well, with audiences and critics!
They branded it, the same old western plot, brought up to date.

Variety reported,

Quote

BRANNIGAN is an okay, John Wayne actioner

However, I enjoy watching the film, and I thought it was alright!

User Review

Quote

Another good cop movie for Wayne.
25 June 2004 | by inspt71-1 (Kentucky)

In Brannigan, Wayne plays the role of Jim Brannigan, an American cop who goes to London
to capture a runaway fugitive played by John Vernon.
Wayne soon finds out that London cops are not at all alike American cops.
Most of the English cops don't carry a gun and Richard Attenbourough
made sure that Wayne didn't use it unless absolutely necessary.
Brannigan's partner well played by Judy Geeson is more like a shaparone
hen a partner because she drives him everywhere and works along side of him
to make sure he behaves himself.
Wayne also get's in a wild car chase in the busy London streets.
With a farly good screenplay and a good 70's score by Dominic Frontiere,
this film is worth three stars.

Display More

Memorable Quotes

[Brannigan approaches a motorcyclist who has just thrown a bag in the Thames]
Brannigan : Can you swim?
Motorcyclist : Yes.
Brannigan : Go get it!
[pushes motorcyclist into the river]

Brannigan : [after kicking down door] Knock, knock!

Det. Sgt. Jennifer Thatcher : [quoting her father] The problem with you Yanks is: 'you're oversexed, overpaid and over here'.
Brannigan : I walked into that one, didn't I?

Hi Danny,
Thanks for pointing that out,
I must have been getting weary at the time!!
Anyway I've sorted it,

Duke's Movie Locations-London

LONDON- England

brannigan_lamb.jpg ******* The Lamb Pub
do215.jpg ******* The Dorchester
towerbridge.jpg ******* Tower Bridge

Information from
The Worldwide Guide to Movie Locations

A US cop comes to London to apprehend an escaped villain, in John Wayne's only English picture.

The criminal mastermind is quite obviously the English Tourist Board, as every event takes place in front of a famous London landmark. The muffed postal drop filmed in the middle of Piccadilly Circus, where the villains manage to escape through convenient, if unlikely, sewers (isn't there a tube station down there somewhere?).

Villain Ben Larkin (John Vernon) stays in luxury at the Dorchester Hotel, 53 Park Lane (previously seen in 60s classic Morgan ‚ A Suitable Case For Treatment).

Jim Brannigan (Wayne) and Det Sgt Thatcher (Geeson) enjoy a meal at famed celeb eaterie Mario and Francoís Terrazza, which is now now Lupo, 50 Dean Street, Soho (tel 020.7434.3399).

Brannigan has to borrow a tie when he lunches with top cop Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough) at theGarrick Club , 15 Garrick Street, the gentlemen's club which numbered Charles Dickens among its members.

Another famed gentsí club: Larkin is kidnapped from the lavishRoyal Automobile Club (RAC), 89 Pall Mall. Just look at the famously extravagant swimming pool.

Brannigan's temporary London home is 61-80 York Mansions, Prince of Wales Drive alongside Battersea Park, south London (though when the villains booby-trap his toilet with a bomb, the resulting hole in the wall mysteriously reveals a view of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park). Whatever.

He moves in with Jennifer Thatcher, at Douglas House, 6 Maida Avenue, Maida Vale, west London (next door to A Fish Called Wandaís ëKipling Mansionsí).

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c187/john-wayne/John%20Wayne/New004-1.jpg[/IMG]"]

The obligatory pub fight, where everyone ends up flailing at everyone else, was filmed in The Lambin the centre of the Victorian arcaded Leadenhall Market at the foot of the new Lloyds Building (tube: Bank),which also houses The Leaky Cauldron in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

The most famous scene is the car leap across a half-opened Tower Bridge. The Metropolitan Police HQ, Scotland Yard, seems to jump the Thames too,from its usual home in Victoria. The view from the windows is obviously south of the River Thames. These scenes were shot in St Thomasí Hospital.