Why John Wayne traded the American West for the streets of 1970s London
In short: In 1975, John Wayne stepped out of his traditional cowboy boots and into the role of a Chicago detective in London. Brannigan was a rare British-produced experiment for the star, attempting to blend his rugged persona with the gritty, rule-breaking police thriller trend popularized by Dirty Harry.
Directed by Douglas Hickox, Brannigan follows a tough Chicago lieutenant sent to London to extradite a mobster, only to find himself clashing with the restrained, upper-class policing style of the Metropolitan Police. The film serves as a time capsule of 1970s urban landscapes. It captures a Chicago that has since been razed and transformed, alongside a London docklands area—specifically West India Quay—that was nearly abandoned before its massive redevelopment into Canary Wharf.
The production was notable for its logistical challenges and unique access. To film inside the exclusive Garrick Club, producers relied on the membership of co-star Richard Attenborough, as the club traditionally prohibited cameras. The film’s most famous stunt, a jump across Tower Bridge in a yellow Ford Capri, was achieved using scale models. This sequence remains a significant historical record, as it features the bridge before it received the red, white, and blue paint scheme applied in 1977 for the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II.
Critically, the film was polarizing. While some reviewers dismissed it as a stale, commonplace crime caper, others appreciated it as a lively thriller that leaned into Wayne's mythic status. It was one of two police thrillers Wayne made after declining the lead role in Dirty Harry. Despite its mixed reception and commercial disappointment, the film has earned praise from modern directors like Quentin Tarantino and Edgar Wright, cementing its status as a curious, if flawed, footnote in Wayne's fifty-year career.
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- Summary by Intellect · source: Brannigan (film)
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