Brannigan (1975)

User Rating:

5.8/10   

Director:

Douglas Hickox

Writers:

Christopher Trumbo (screenplay) and
Michael Butler (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

26 March 1975 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Tagline:

Big Jim Brannigan takes on London - Chicago Style !

Plot:

Jim Brannigan is sent to London to bring back an American mobster who is being held for extradition...

Plot Keywords:

London | Chicago Illinois | Police | American Abroad | Sergeant

Cast

John Wayne	...	Lt. Jim Brannigan
Richard Attenborough	...	Cmdr. Charles Swann
Judy Geeson	...	DS Jennifer Thatcher
Mel Ferrer	...	Mel Fields
John Vernon	...	Ben Larkin
Daniel Pilon	...	John Gorman
John Stride	...	Insp. Michael Traven
James Booth	...	Charlie-the-Handle
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
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Tim Barlow	...	Customs Inspector (uncredited)
Mike Crane	...	Boyle (uncredited)
Alf Joint	...	Man in Bar (uncredited)
Steve Kelly	...	Gates (uncredited)
Raymond Mason	...	Club Clerk (uncredited)
Charles Pemberton	...	Arthur (uncredited)
Peter Porteous	...	Masseur (uncredited)
Nosher Powell	...	Man in Bar (uncredited)

Directed by
Douglas Hickox

Writing credits
Christopher Trumbo		(screenplay) and
Michael Butler		(screenplay) and
William P. McGivern		(screenplay) and
William W. Norton		(screenplay) (as William Norton)
Christopher Trumbo		(story) and
Michael Butler		(story)

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

Original Music by
Dominic Frontiere

Cinematography by
Gerry Fisher		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Malcolm Cooke

Casting by
Miriam Brickman

Art Direction by
Ted Marshall

Costume Design by
Emma Porteus		(as Emma Porteous)

Makeup Department
Alan Brownie	....	makeup artist
Dave Grayson	....	makeup artist
Jan Dorman	....	hair stylist (uncredited)

Production Management
Geoffrey Haine	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Ted Sturgis	....	assistant director
Bill Westley	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Josie MacAvin	....	set dresser

Sound Department
Gerry Humphreys	....	dubbing mixer (as Gerry Humphries)
Simon Kaye	....	sound
Les Wiggins	....	dubbing editor

Special Effects by
Steve Hamilton	....	special effects technician (uncredited)

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)

Camera and Electrical Department
Freddie Cooper	....	camera operator
Ray Potter	....	best boy (uncredited)
Laurie Shane	....	gaffer (uncredited)

Editorial Department
Chris Kelly	....	assistant editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Dan Wallin	....	score mixer (uncredited)

Other crew
Angela Allen	....	continuity
Arthur Gardner	....	presenter
Jules V. Levy	....	presenter (as Jules Levy)
Robert L. Levy	....	production assistant (as Robert Levy)
Sara Romilly	....	assistant to producers
Arnold Ross	....	location manager
Michael Wayne	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Levy-Gardner-Laven
• Wellborn

Distributors

• United Artists (1975) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• United Artists (1975) (USA) (theatrical)
• Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) (1976) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• MGM/UA Home Entertainment (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• GSE  titles (as G.S.E. Limited)
• Lee Lighting  lighting

Also Known As:

Joe Battle

Runtime:

111 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #24041) | Iceland:16 | West Germany:16 (nf) | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | Norway:16 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Battersea, London, England, UK

Company:

Levy-Gardner-Laven

Trivia:

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).

Goofs:

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!

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]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Lethal Weapon 2 (1989)

Soundtrack:

Let the Sunshine In

Trodding the Path of Eastwood

By the mid 1970s the western film had really become a thing of the past. The action heroes by that time were police of all different kinds of character. Clint Eastwood had sure proved that with the success of the Dirty Harry Films. In fact by the time Brannigan came out, Eastwood had two of them already done.

I suspect that John Wayne was also looking for modern stories for reasons of health. Those western locations were and are pretty rugged. Wayne was 68 when this was done and playing a man in his fifties. He also had only one working lung in those last dozens years of work after the cancer operation of 1964.

So in Brannigan Wayne makes a more successful transition from his western character to a modern policeman than he did in McQ. He's from the Chicago PD and in London to pick up gangster John Vernon who's skipped bail. An assignment that the San Francisco PD surely would have sent Harry Callahan on.

Vernon is not only not in custody with Scotland Yard, but he's been kidnapped and is being held for ransom. Vernon's lawyer Mel Ferrer arrives from Chicago to pay the ransom.

It's a merry chase from then on and while the ending is no kind of surprise the film is a lot of fun.

Richard Attenborough makes an effective British foil for Wayne's all American hero. And Judy Geeson who first became noticed by movie fans as a student in Sidney Poitier's class in Two Sir With Love, plays Wayne's driver and confidante as a police sergeant. The two of them have a marvelous father/daughter like chemistry.

Wayne films are not complete unless there is a fight scene. In this case a London pub is busted up like a frontier saloon in a scene reminiscent of The War Wagon. It's sort of out of place though in a modern film.

And the climax is a homage to Dirty Harry. Dare I say it, but I'm still wondering why Eastwood's Malpaso Productions didn't sue the Duke's Batjac company for that scene which is ripped off from Magnum Force.

Probably because Clint liked the homage.