McQ [Blu-ray]

Overview

Undoubtedly having second thoughts after turning down Dirty Harry, John Wayne showed up in 1974 in his own "maverick cop" adventure, McQ. Wayne, 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, Wayne 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!

Product Details

Release Date:	06/07/2016
UPC:	0883929527533
Original Release:	1974
Rating:	PG
Source:	Warner Home Video
Presentation:	[Wide Screen]
Language:	English
Time:	1:51:00
Sales rank:	2,475

Special Features

Featurette McQ: John Wayne in Action; Theatrical trailer

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

John Wayne	McQ
Eddie Albert	Kosterman
Diana Muldaur	Lois,Actor
Colleen Dewhurst	Myra
Clu Gulager	Franklin Toms
David Huddleston	Edward M. `Pinky' Farrow
James Louis Watkins	J.C. Davis
Al Lettieri	Manny Santiago
Julie Adams	Elaine Forrester
Roger E. Mosley	Rosey
William Bryant	Sgt. Stan Boyle
Joe Tornatore	LaSalle
Kim Sanford	Ginger
Richard Kelton	Radical
Richard Eastham	Walter Forrester
Dick Friel	Bob Mahoney
Fred Waugh	Bodyguard
Chuck Roberson	Bodyguard
Azizi Johari	Bit Part
Steve Moriarty	Hospital Orderly/Driver
Larry Buck	Grogan
Leslie Carlson	Radical
Robert Dietrich	1st Heistman
Gary Lynn	1st Patrol Car Officer
Elmer Bernstein	Composer

Technical Credits

Lawrence Roman

John Sturges	Director
Arthur Gardner	Producer
Howard Jensen	Special Effects
Jules Levy	Producer,Producer
Lawrence Roman	Producer,Screenwriter
Michael Wayne	Executive Producer,Producer
Tex Rudloff	Sound Effects
Charles M. Wilborn	Sound Effects,Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

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.

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