Brannigan (1975)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	Theatrical Trailer
Rating
Year Of Production	1975
Running Time	106:34
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (55:31)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Douglas Hickox
Studio Distributor	MGM	Starring	John Wayne Richard Attenborough Judy Geeson Mel Ferrer John Vernon Daniel Pilon Ralph Meeker John Stride James Booth Arthur Batanides Barry Dennen Lesley-Anne Down Del Henney
Case	?
RPI	$19.95	Music	Dominic Frontiere

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) German Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) French Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Italian Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s) Spanish Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.35:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	English for the Hearing Impaired German for the Hearing Impaired French Italian Spanish Dutch Swedish Finnish Norwegian Danish Portuguese Polish Greek	Smoking	Yes
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

    Although John Wayne is best known nowadays for westerns, this entry in a series of 1970s films that were inspired by Dirty Harry has a contemporary setting. James Brannigan is a Chicago cop of Irish extraction sent to London to bring back mobster Larkin (John Vernon), who has fled a grand jury indictment. Larkin is kidnapped before Brannigan can get his hands on him. With the help of senior bobby Sir Charles Swann (Richard Attenborough) and Detective Sergeant Jenny (Judy Geeson), Brannigan sets out to track down the kidnappers and bring Larkin to justice. But what he doesn't know is that Larkin had put out a contract on Brannigan's life, and he is being trailed by an E-type Jaguar-driving assassin who looks like a cross between Carlos the Jackal and the Reverend Jim Jones.

    It's hard to believe that Wayne has been dead for 25 years already. By the time of this film he was in his late 60s, obviously tired and the worse for wear, having had one of his lungs removed a decade earlier due to cancer. He would only make two more films after this one, both westerns, before a further bout of cancer ended both his career and his life. He is hardly convincing as a cop, but then again most of the performances in this film are terrible, so he doesn't look out of place. He delivers the often awful dialogue with more conviction than any of the other players.

    The direction is fairly pedestrian and occasionally inept, the dialogue laughable and occasionally sexist, and the music sounds as though it was composed for some blaxploitation film. Despite all this I still enjoyed it. Perhaps it's the Wayne charisma, or the fact that it doesn't take itself all that seriously, but this is still entertaining stuff. The best scenes are Wayne's first entrance (which is quite funny) and the fight in an English pub which recalls many such stoushes in western saloons. Several faded stars appear in small roles (Ralph Meeker, Mel Ferrer), while there are brief appearances by Lesley-Anne Down and a very young Baldrick. The nervous crim who identifies one of the kidnappers is Anthony Booth, father-in-law of the current British PM.

    In summary, this is enjoyable fare, but fare that probably won't stand up to repeated viewings unless you are a serious John Wayne fan.

Video

    The film is presented in the original 2.35:1 aspect ratio and is 16x9 enhanced.
 
    The image is quite sharp and clear, with a lot of detail present. Shadow detail is average, with the few dark scenes being a little murky. Colour is generally good, though flesh tones are not always lifelike. Blacks are generally not too bad, but when the light level drops they tend to look purple and sometimes have a light coloured sheen.

    Aliasing appears in most scenes, sometimes to a distracting level. The wide angle shots of the London cityscape abound with straight lines which shimmer constantly when the camera moves. The same applies to the frequent shots of vehicles. Car grilles show some moire effect, as does the brickwork at 2:08.

    This is not a restored print, so there are numerous film artefacts on display. There are the usual white spots and flecks, with dark pieces of dirt throughout. These are relatively small, but sometimes of a higher frequency that is distracting. There are also some more serious problems, like a tear at 10:09.

    There is also a patina of grain which is a little more pronounced than I would like.

    Overall the transfer is not too bad, and is acceptable if you are used to seeing these sort of artefacts.

    Subtitles are available in several languages. The English ones are pretty good if a trifle large.

    This is a dual layered disc with the layer change positioned slightly before a cut at 55:31 where it is slightly distracting.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The default audio track is English Dolby Digital 2.0 mono, with some alternate language tracks thrown in for good measure. There is no surround encoding.

    The audio transfer is quite good. Dialogue is easy to understand, and the audio generally is as good as you could expect short of a full restoration. The bass levels are quite good for a film of this vintage.

    The music score is by Dominic Frontiere. The opening theme is quite funky and does not fit the film. The rest of the music score sounds like it would not be out of place on an episode of Starsky and Hutch or Kojak, perhaps even The Sweeney. It is generic TV-style music and not particularly impressive.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Theatrical Trailer (2:05)

    This is an original trailer which is in poorer condition than the feature, but is in 2.35:1 and is enhanced for widescreen viewing. There are a few excerpts which might give the game away, so watch this after the feature. There is a slight audio glitch where Wayne sounds like he has been inhaling helium.

    There is a UK Region 2 release which is identical to the Region 4.

    I have not tracked down any reviews of the Region 1 release, but second-hand information suggests that it is single-layered, so I suspect that the transfer quality would be reduced accordingly. There is no reason not to purchase the Region 4 if you want to purchase this film.

    An enjoyable if not very good cop thriller, this one is worth watching for the laconic performance of the star.

    The video quality is pretty good for a minor 70s film.

    The audio quality is just fine.

    The sole extra is a trailer.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall