mcq be john wayne attempt to move away from the western genre with which he be most commonly associate ( although he have dip into other genre along the way ) . direct by a 63 year old director ( john sturges ) and and star a 66 year old movie star and one can not help feeling that the film have a fairly geriatric air about it . mcq seem to take it inspiration from movie like bullitt and dirty harry and which be big hit around that time . in this one and the plot be pretty similar to dirty harry and and the fact that wayne main character be name mcq could possibly be an in joke and intend to liken him to steve mcqueen ( mcqueen while mcq while get it . ) and who star a bullitt . honest and tough seattle cop lon mcq ( john wayne ) investigate the death of his partner stan boyle ( william bryant ) and two other police officer . strangely and mcq superior seem reluctant to let him handle the case but handle it he do and in his typical fist first and diplomacy later style . mcq suspect that local hood manny santiago ( al lettieri ) be responsible for the killing so he ignore order to leave santiago alone and start to tail his quarry . mcq unorthodox approach so outrage his boss that he have to hand in his badge and work almost a a vigilante to crack the case . among those help him be ex junkie myra ( colleen dewhurst ) and private eye pinky farrow ( david huddleston ) and council official franklin tom ( clu gulager ) . eventually and mcq discovers that his deceased partner be catch up in some high level police corruption and sell seize narcotic back to the drug lord on the street and pocket sizable amount of money in the process . that why mcq superior never want him on the case in the first place and a they fear their illegal activity might be expose if a loose cannon of a cop like mcq ever catch wind of their plot . angry and betrayed and mcq set out to bring down the corrupt cop and drug dealer whose greedy operation cause the death of his colleague . this be one of wayne poor film and even though it refresh to see him in a different sort of movie . for a chance to see him tackle the whole mean cop thing in a good film and viewer should seek out brannigan instead . mcq have a few moment that be effective and such a an exciting and cleverly edit car chase along a beach and and a claustrophobic action sequence in which mcq be sandwich in his car between two dump truck in a narrow alley way and and almost kill . the calibre of the cast be surprisingly high and too and with such fine support actor a colleen dewhurst and al lettieri and eddie albert and clu gulager and david huddleston involve in the mix . ala and none of them have particularly memorable role to get their teeth into . in fact and this unmemorable ness extends to the whole film and make it a turgid and indifferent affair . if you want to see john wayne in something different from his usual fare and then mcq might appeal to you but everyone else will probably come from the film feel rather disappointed .