[Inspector Abberline]

The Laughing Policeman (1973)

Although fondly remembered for his comedy roles most notable being alongside Jack Lemmon in Odd Couple etc, Walter Matthau made some rather gritty thrillers back in the mid and early 1970's Charley Varrick The Taking of Pelham One Two Three and a drunk in the film Earthquake.After a machine gun massacre on a bus leads to the death of an off-duty police detective. Matthau discovers it was his partner, and that the killings all lead back to an early unsolved murder case. What sets apart this film from the slew of cop thrillers that litter the 1970's cinema is that it pretty much sticks to a realistic police procedure movie rather than driving around the streets of San Francisco blasting people away with a magnum and crashing through innocent stacks of disregarded cardboard boxes. (although that is fun as well) Matthau is as always brilliant as the world-weary dogged cop and Bruce Dern is also his usual gangly laconic self as Matthau newly appointed partner.This has more in common with the recent spate of nordic noir than it does say of Kojak or Starsky and Hutch of its time The one thing that did spring to my mind was how closely a scene involving a SWAT team entering a house reminded me of Romero Dawn of the DeAD where his SWAT team first break into the apartments.

McQ (1974)
Big tough cop, played by big John Wayne (my god he had massive hands) who in no way resembles another big tough cop called Harry Callaghan is investigating the murder of his partner ( wait a minute this sounds awfully familiar???) who is seemingly blasted in the back with a shotgun for no apparent reason. Well McQ does what all loose cannon cops do he infuriates his captain is insolent to his superiors he drives his green Pontiac Firebird like he was Steve McQueen in Bullit, he beats up main bad guy and leaves him laying in the urinals and is generally very destructive and violent, and that does not include machine gunning water-filled trash cans either. Well, it's hard not to ba a loose cannon cop when your in the midst of corruption, drugs and holding a mac 10 machine gun.John Wayne lumbers through the film like Godzilla,only instead of stomping with his big size feet he just punches and shoots his way through any obstacles that may get in his way like due process or people's rights. Apparently, Wayne made this after regretting turning down Dirty Harry, so that's him and Frank Sinatra then.

Brannigan.(1975)
Chicago cop Brannigan who does things his way or not at all,is sent to London to extradite Ben Larkin (John Vernon) of course being a Chicago cop in England things do not go that smoothly, apart from the fact he does not wear a tie in the Garrick club and he persistently carries a gun around with him puts him at odds with Commander Swann (Richard Attenborough).Yes you guessed it John Wayne is a fish out of water cop,how the hell will he cope with our lousy hamburgers and not being able to shoot people on the spot like they does back home,well he copes quite well actually considering a hitman is out to blow his head off with a shotgun and then just to doubly make sure even blows up his toilet in case having no head was not an incumbrance. Like all American movies made in England in the 1970's,every ****ing landmark of London is crammed into the running time ,and just in case we forgot it was London lets have another red double decker bus pull into shot. Brannigan is if nothing else entertaining and another nostalgic look at jolly old London in the 70's, And beside's there cannot be that many films that have John Wayne throw Baldrick into the Thames.