McQ(1974): The Duke as 70's

[trekgeezer]

Clint was on Rawhide from 1959 - 1966. He made  A Fistful of Dollars  while on break between the 6th and 7th seasons of Rawhide. He played Rowdy Yates, the Ramrod, whatever that was.  This show was an endless seven year long cattle drive.

Clint was second in the credits to Eric Fleming, who starred in a lot of 50's B movies.  I know he was in The Conquest of  Space and I can't remember the title but he was in a movie with John Carradine  (playing Dracula) set in the old west.  Eric kills Carradine by shooting him with a bullet that has a small silver cross  embedded in it.

I like Rawhide for the fact that Clint's character and  Eric Fleming's (he's the trail boss) rarely agree on anything.  This show also featured Sheb Wooley  (best known for the pop song  "The Purple People Eater").

[Scott]

Wow, a seven year cattle drive. Nothing like a 3 hour tour I'm sure.

[Lee]

I have yet to see a John Wayne movie I don't like. :)

[BoyScoutKevin]

How odd, or maybe not. While "McQ" was the bigger hit here in the U.S., "Brannigan" was the bigger hit in Europe. As for myself, while "McQ" was filmed near where I lived at the time, I much prefer "Brannigan." Not only does it have a cool car chase scene through the streets of London, but, watch Wayne and Sir Richard Attenborough, as a Scotland Yard Inspector, duke it out with the patrons of a London pub. Just ROTFL!  Probably the greatest bar brawl or pub brawl since Wayne's "North to Alaska." And how can one go wrong with a cast that includes John Vernon, Judy Geeson, Mel Ferrer, and Sir Richard Attenborough.

As for "North to Alaska," not only does it star Wayne, but another one of my favorite actors, Stewart Granger, plus Ernie Kovacs, in one of the few films he made, before he was killed in an automobile accident, plus Fabian, Capucine, Mickey Shaughnessy, Karl Swenson, Joe Sawyer, John Qualen, and an uncredited Richard Deacon. Plus, as I said it had a great bar brawl and title song sung by Johnny Horton. But did I like it? No. It is one of the few films of Wayne that I dislike.

As for "Rawhide," it has the distinction of featuring one of the first television series to feature a black cowboy in Raymond St. Jacques. Black cowboys in the West, a topic not much covered by westerns, even though it is thought that one quarter of cowboys in the old west were black, Many of them being ex-slaves.

[Deej]

I haven't seen North To Alaska in years, I'd forgotten Stewart Granger and Ernie Kovacs were in it. I do remember it being enjoyable. As for great John Wayne Brawls. My list includes:

The Spoilers(1942)
Angel And The Badman(1947)
The Quiet Man(1952)
McClintock!(1963)
Donavan's Reef(1963)
Brannigan(1975)

[yaddo42]

I read in Garry Wills' book about John Wayne that "The Big Trail" was a victim of the start of the Great Depression. There was a widescreen 70mm version and a regular 35mm version. With the beginning of the Depression theater owners who were converting their theaters for sound had no money available for adapting to 70mm. So most people who saw "The Big Trail" saw it in the inferior 35mm  version.The studio owner, WIlliam Fox, was bankrupted, the Fox Stuidos went into recievership, and contract actors faced reduced film production or contracts not being renewed. The film was intended to save the studio, but instead helped push it over the edge.

[Lee]

The Quiet Man and McClintock! Two great movies each with a classic brawl. I haven't seen Donnavan's Reef yet but I've heard it is good.

[Neville]

Not a very good film IMHO. It has a better script than most 90s - 00s action films, but Wayne was too damn old for the role, and the action scenes he is in are poorly staged just to hide how old he was. Still, I like the final shooting and the 70s feel it has.

[Flangepart]

Well, Brannigan was the better film, as acop film....but i still prefer the Duke on a horse. The Duke was the best when he had a horse under 'em, a Winchester in his hand, and a gal by his side.....Humm....that did not come out quite as i intended,but....you know what i mean!