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McQ (1974)
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Overview
User Rating:
Director:
Writer:
Lawrence Roman (written by)
Release Date:
6 February 1974 (USA)
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Tagline:
The cop no one can stop. Even the cops. [DVD] more
Plot:
Police Lieutenant Lon McQ investigates the killing of his best friend and uncovers corrupt elements...
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User Comments:
Corruption in the Seattle PD
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Cast
(Complete credited cast) | John Wayne | ... | Det. Lt. Lon McQ |
 | Eddie Albert | ... | Capt. Ed Kosterman |
| Diana Muldaur | ... | Lois Boyle |
| Colleen Dewhurst | ... | Myra |
 | Clu Gulager | ... | Franklin Toms |
| David Huddleston | ... | Edward M. 'Pinky' Farrow |
| Jim Watkins | ... | J.C. Davis |
| Al Lettieri | ... | Manny Santiago |
| Julie Adams | ... | Elaine Forrester |
| Roger E. Mosley | ... | Rosey |
| William Bryant | ... | Sgt. Stan Boyle |
| Richard Kelton | ... | Radical |
Additional Details
Parents Guide:
Runtime:
111 min
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Language:
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
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Company:
Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Stuntman (and later director) Hal Needham designed the car chase at the end of this film. It featured the first staged rollover of a car in film history.
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Goofs:
Continuity: At the end of the movie in the beach gun shooting scene, all three of the cars and occupants are at the edge of the surf, with waves coming up past the cars. As one of the bad guys walks up, he is walking up through the surf to get the briefcase when McQ fires at the briefcase, which can be seen partially in the water. As the guy jumps back, he is clearly up on dry sand, way up from the surf.
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Quotes:
Manny Santiago:
[speaking on a pay phone in the men's room] So, one less detective to worry about.
[McQ grabs him from behind and puts him in a headlock]
Det. Lt. Lon McQ: Yeah, one less detective to worry about! I got a message from Patty Samuels! He's sorry he blew it on McQ but he rang it up with Boyle!
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[McQ grabs him from behind and puts him in a headlock]
Det. Lt. Lon McQ: Yeah, one less detective to worry about! I got a message from Patty Samuels! He's sorry he blew it on McQ but he rang it up with Boyle!
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Mitchell (#6.12)" (1993)
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I've always felt that John Wayne did his two police films McQ and Brannigan for a combination of reasons. Some of his last westerns before these like The Train Robbers and Cahill were really not up to standard and didn't get the reception at the box office Wayne films could usually expect. I also think those rugged western locations were becoming a problem healthwise. And of course Wayne was bowing to the public's new taste in heroes.
In McQ Wayne is investigating the death of his partner, the way Humphrey Bogart investigated the shooting death of Jerome Cowan in the Maltese Falcon. He has to go private to do it, he actually resigns from the Seattle PD and gets a private license, courtesy of a friend, David Huddleston. The investigation leads him to some surprising and not welcome conclusions.
John Wayne is always the great symbol of law and order and at first glance you would think this might not be a role for him, investigating crooked cops. But when you think about it in films like Tall in the Saddle and Rio Lobo he dealt with crooked sheriffs in the usual Wayne manner. In fact the whole point of Rio Lobo is Wayne putting his whole life on hold to find a couple of guys who betrayed him and their country during the Civil War. So McQ is definitely in line with both of those films.
In the supporting cast my favorite is Al Lettieri the drug kingpin of Seattle. Lettieri's death a few years after this film was a great loss to cinema. During the first half of the Seventies, ever since playing Virgil Sollozzo in The Godfather, Lettieri created some really outstanding villains and Manny Santiago here is one of them.
The ending will surprise you and its more Maltese Falcon than you would think.