John Wayne’s 70s Cop Thrillers: A Failed Attempt to Outshine Clint Eastwood

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John Wayne received his first and only Academy Award for his outstanding portrayal of gruff lawman Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 Western movie “True Grit.” This film represented Wayne’s final victory within the genre, which he had almost entirely ruled since his breakthrough role as a key character in the 1939 Western film “Stagecoach.

During the early 1970s, John Wayne’s position as a top box-office draw was challenged by an emerging group of young Hollywood leading men, with Clint Eastwood at their helm. As Eastwood rose to fame, coinciding with Wayne’s commercial downturn, this shift was accelerated when Wayne declined the lead role in the 1971 action-thriller film “Dirty Harry.” This decision allowed Eastwood to surpass the international acclaim he had earned from Sergio Leone’s “Dollars Trilogy” and establish himself as Hollywood’s premier action hero.

Due to his remorse over not taking the role in “Dirty Harry”, Wayne decided to venture into the contemporary action genre for the first time, creating the 1974 film “McQ”. This movie combined aspects from “Dirty Harry” and its sequel “Magnum Force” while also updating Wayne’s image on screen. In “McQ”, Wayne portrays Lon “McQ” McHugh, a detective who breaks rules to seek vengeance for his partner’s death. Subsequently, he tried to replicate the feel of “Dirty Harry” again with his 1975 production titled “Brannigan“.

Nevertheless, although the novelty of an older Wayne portraying his legendary gunslinger character in a contemporary setting sparked some interest, audiences generally showed little enthusiasm for Wayne’s transition into a modern action hero. Instead, it seemed that 1970s viewers were eagerly anticipating the cinematic collaboration between Eastwood and Wayne, a highly desired project that was ultimately thwarted by Wayne’s persistent image as an unaltered figure in an ever-evolving world.

‘McQ’ Proves That John Wayne Wasn’t a Good Fit for ‘Dirty Harry’

In the original script for Dirty Harry, the story was based in Seattle, but when Clint Eastwood replaced John Wayne, it was changed to San Francisco. When creating McQ, producers chose to relocate the narrative back to Seattle, as the protagonist, Lon “McQ” McHugh, resides on a boat at a marina and is retiring from his police detective career in this city. Throughout the film, McQ can be seen cruising around in a stylish 1973 Pontiac Firebird and brandishing an array of contemporary weapons, such as a MAC-10 submachine gun.

At the start, in a swift sequence full of action, McQ’s former partner, unexpectedly, fires fatal shots at two police officers. It’s later unveiled that this gunman is McQ’s long-term associate. Before meeting his own end at the hands of another mysterious shooter, this villain instigates a series of events that propel McQ into an investigation. Unlike the solitary, menacing antagonist Scorpio from Dirty Harry, the death of McQ’s partner triggers a chain of encounters with assassins, corrupt police officers, and drug dealers for McQ. The resolution of this case takes on the familiar feel of a 1970s detective television series finale.

Although McQ boasts some thrilling action sequences and Wayne delivers a powerful, amiable screen performance, what truly captivates is McQ’s role as a reflection of Wayne’s discomfort with the growing use of crude language and excessive violence that became characteristic of 1970s films. While Wayne adopts the character of the rogue cop, McQ’s law-bending antics pale in comparison to the brutal vigilantism depicted in Dirty Harry.

It’s hard to imagine Wayne taking on the role in the present version of “Dirty Harry,” unlike Eastwood, who seems unconcerned about his public image and others’ opinions.

Wayne Followed ‘McQ’ With a Second ‘Dirty Harry’ Rip-Off

It’s quite clear that John Wayne, at 66 years old when the film McQ premiered, was too advanced in age to take on the role in Dirty Harry. This is further emphasized by Wayne’s last contemporary action movie, the 1975 action-thriller Brannigan, where he portrayed Jim Brannigan, a seasoned Chicago police lieutenant. His mission was to apprehend a ruthless American gangster in London, but unfortunately, the gangster was kidnapped before Brannigan could secure him.

Although Brannigan features an engaging buddy cop dynamic, with its unconventional pairing of Brannigan, a fish-out-water American detective, and a rigid English detective portrayed by Richard Attenborough, a complex plotline and slow tempo give Brannigan a distinctly older feel compared to Wayne’s enduring Western classics such as Red River, Rio Bravo, and The Searchers. By 1975, these timeless Western films had garnered significantly more fervent fanbases than Brannigan and McQ have managed over the past five decades.

Wayne Didn’t Want to Work With Clint Eastwood

After the 1973 Western movie “High Plains Drifter,” a film that Clint Eastwood both directed and acted in for the first time, Eastwood showed interest in sharing the screen with John Wayne. The concept was a Western titled “The Hostiles,” where a gambler inherits half an older man’s estate and later forms an uneasy partnership with him. Eastwood acquired the script penned by Larry Cohen, planning to portray the gambler character while Wayne would take on the role of the older man.

Afterward, Eastwood was met with a strongly worded letter from Wayne, who voiced severe discontent towards the movie High Plains Drifter. In this film, Eastwood portrays an enigmatic gunslinger, named the Stranger, who is employed by the citizens of a morally degraded frontier mining town to safeguard them from three ruthless bandits who have been tormenting the locals. In his correspondence, Wayne criticized Eastwood’s depiction of the Old West in High Plains Drifter, where the questionable Stranger commits violent acts against a woman and administers harsh punishment to the outlaws.

Amazed by Wayne’s severe criticism, Eastwood decided not to proceed with “The Hostiles,” a project that ultimately remained unproduced. The closest collaboration between Eastwood and Wayne was indirectly through their shared mentorship under Don Siegel. Siegel had directed Wayne in his last Western film, “The Shootist” from 1976.

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2025-03-04 05:23