McQ
| McQ | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | John Sturges |
| Produced by |
Jules V. Levy Arthur Gardner |
| Written by | Lawrence Roman |
| Starring |
John Wayne Eddie Albert Diana Muldaur Colleen Dewhurst Clu Gulager |
| Music by | Elmer Bernstein |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling Jr. |
| Edited by | William H. Ziegler |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by |
Warner Bros. NBC (1976, TV) Warner Home Video (1995-present, VHS & DVD) |
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Release date
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Running time
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111 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $4 million |
McQ is a 1974 neo-noir crime film directed by John Sturges, starring John Wayne. The film made extensive use of Seattle locations. The beach scenes were filmed on the Pacific coast at Moclips.
Eddie Albert and Diana Muldaur co-star. The film also features Roger E. Mosley as a pimp and police snitch, Clu Gulager as a corrupt police detective, Colleen Dewhurst as a cocaine addict and Al Lettieri in one of his final roles, as the most visible villain of the film, the drug king Santiago.
Wayne had rejected the lead in Dirty Harry a few years prior to this film, which he later admitted to regretting. The producers of that film chose Seattle as its location in an earlier version of the script; it was later changed to San Francisco when Clint Eastwood became connected with the project. The film has a dramatic car chase, with Wayne in a green 1973 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am "Green Hornet," influenced by Steve McQueen's chase scene in Bullitt.
One of Wayne's famous lines from this movie is delivered after his character is trapped inside his car after it was crushed between two large trucks. He says to one of the reporting officers "I'm up to my butt in gas."
It is just before dawn in Seattle. A man dons dark glasses and gloves and loads a 9mm silenced automatic handgun. He drives into town, where he shoots a policeman (Officer Philip Forsell; in the film the character is identified only as Hyatt) on his beat, then drives to a police impound yard and shoots the officer on duty (dialogue identifies him as Wally Johnson). At a luncheonette, as he washes his hands, he momentarily flashes a police badge belonging to Detective Sgt. Stan Boyle (William Bryant). When a car pulls up, Boyle goes outside and gives the driver a satchel containing the 9mm and proceeds to his own car – but is shot in the back by the unseen driver.
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Wikipedia